I'm Back

..... to my early morning routines of running for the bus, standing impatiently on the metro platform as I wait ten minutes for the next train, coffee shop stops that always end with me cursing my inability to make breakfast before I leave the house and, of course, inevitable realization that I forgot something at home.*




I like being back, seeing people, feeling productive, eating lunch. My favorite thing to do at work is creep into a corner conference room with my papers and handwrite while I sit in the sun. My cube only allows a glimpse of a window, and I'm a person who'd be happy living in a porch, so the corner conference room that looks over our entrance and the food trucks the ideal place for me to write and daydream. The daydreaming usually involves food.




Louisa has started her fall activities. Note: when I nannied for a family in college I was slightly unnerved by the amount of activities both children were involved in. Summers for us were about exploring the woods by our house, sleeping in, making our own creative lunches to share with the dog and neighbors with Dirty Dancing on in the background, and playing kick the can until 11pm. Now, I know EVERYONE says their upbringing was ideal, and I do think New Ulm has the edge to any suburban or urban upbringing, but I understand it wasn't all perfect. However, my point is that these kids were way overly involved. I think the best afternoon they had was when they tried to teach me how to do a flip on their trampoline. I'm suspicious of kids being overly involved, particularly in one sport because, seriously, how do they know how to just be? Amos's soccer team with Arlington meets and plays so often, even on holidays, that there is no time for anything else. Plus, particularly what I know and what the world knows about entitled athletes, showing seventeen year old boys that their activities and hobbies must be the center of everyone's world? That doesn't bode well for the future.




Anyway! I digress! I do have LJ in a few activities and it is mainly because the after school time is the most difficult, especially now that Alvaro is back in Spain. We joined JW Tumbles (JW Tubs as we affectionately call it) so we can see my friend every week. Louisa is a bit old for the class but she loves it! And because she is 1.5 years younger than some of her classmates at school, she struts around proudly as the big girl at JW Tubs. We also have swimming on Thursdays; her first swimming class without her parents in the water. Last week there were two other children, both were crying, so LJ basically had a private lesson. And I read so we both enjoyed the 20 minutes. Finally we are doing Mommy and Me Yoga. Louisa and I have been doing Cosmic Kids Yoga in the evening. It's fabulous and creative and, essentially, was my strategy to settle her down at night. It didn't work, but we enjoyed the yoga. So I signed her up for this class and, I realized, it was far too close to her quiet time. She was tired which meant she was difficult and defiant and I was less patient than I should have been, making everything worse. But the perk is that it is right next to the German bakery we love so we had brats and sauerkraut for lunch.


Elizabeth is in Music Together as Louisa had been. We made it through the entire cycle of albums and are back to the original album we started with when baby Louisa took the class. The music is so nostalgic for us and makes me think fondly of Poopland, despite it's traffic, bugs and lack of fluoride. I have great memories of listening to Louisa's music while driving out to the barn, or dancing with Louisa in our beautiful apartment with our wonderful nanny (who also tired of Poopland and moved back to the Midwest), or having more freedom because we had one child and reliable childcare. Sigh. Good times.


So EC has yet to roll over. I guess I could be stressed but she sits up perfectly, can stand if holding onto something, is incredibly verbal already (Tuttles, man, we like to talk), and is utterly happy and smiley and responsive to everything. When I put her on her tummy she clearly wants to move and she can slightly nudge, but certainly is not close to crawling. When she's on her back she doesn't even attempt to roll, but it could be because she loves lying on her back and talking. Who knows? Both girls have eye appointments this week for EC's supposed turned in left eye (although our neighbor baby also has turned in eyes, isn't that a baby thing?) and LJ's failure of the eye test at her three year. Whatevs. I'm sick of stressing.


So I'm having problems uploading photos AGAIN. I try to select them and then my computer stalls. I'll try again tomorrow. TTFN!


*I am not impatient while waiting for the metro right now. And this is because I discovered Audible. I will never ever actual subscribe because it is way too expensive, but my friend subscribed last year briefly but was able to save all her books which I can simply tap into. Right now I'm listening to Amy Poehler's Yes, Please! It's hilarious, political, tender, irreverent, and wonderful. I love my commute right now. It also makes me wish I had never read Bossy Pants just so I could read it again.