sweet summer

We haven’t gone to the beach, or anywhere really, which to me is usually the mark of a great summer, but I think I’m actually having one of my best summers ever. Summer is sort of an abstract concept to me, these days, but it really only relates to the weather. My life is no longer measured in semesters. Claire’s developmental preschool is year round. My husband doesn’t get summers off from the ER, despite my never ending disappointment that only students get a summer break. And after getting over my weirdness about planning fun for just Etta and me because of “guilt” about Claire being “left out,” Etta and I have kind of gotten into a little routine.

Our routine is this: we drop Claire off around 8:30 or 9:00, and then we go anywhere but home until 11. Part of it is I have finally made some fellow stay-at-home-mom-friends– generally we meet up with at least one other mama and kiddo, and we do all sorts of stuff. Storytime at the library. Berry picking. The zoo. Playgrounds. Even the Chick-Fil-A playplace. Then we come home, she naps from 11 to 1:00ish (my time to do dinner prep, blogging, laundry and TV), and then we have a late lunch, maybe some water play outside in the baby pool or do an art or cooking project if I really have my act together, and then it’s time for us to pick up Claire. Where I used to feel like I was floundering to fill up a whole day at home with Etta, wondering where the time went and why we were always cranky with each other, now it feels like we have a good routine where we’re not totally twiddling our thumbs or feeling trapped in the house all the time. I actually kind of feel competent most of the time. A long way from the olden days of tiny baby twins and endless frustration.

It turns out, while I like cuddly infants, I feel much more sane spending my time around toddlers who can enjoy outings and share experiences and crack me up on the regular.

I do sometimes feel like I’m missing out on my Bear Bear this summer, but I’m feeling a lot better after Etta took a 5 day trip to see Nonni and Poppi last week and I got lots of uninterrupted time with my Claire Bear. I know school is where she needs to be right now, and have seen the amazing progress she made, but it makes the time we do get together that much sweeter!