Mothering as an Intellectual Pursuit

One thing I always really feared about being a stay-at-home mom was feeling the little grey cells go *pop* as they died gory little cellular deaths from lack of usage. Diapers, Cheerios, bandaids -- yeah, scintillating.

I just got back from a week at a family gathering, about 15 people staying in a 4-bedroom house. (And about 15 more at nearby hotels, all converging on the house for meals.) Upon our return, I flopped into a chair and said, "Finally, I can stop thinking!"

I was just constantly plotting and planning when we were there. She [2.5 yr old daughter] didn't get enough sleep, so she needs to have a lot of exercise for an hour, then have some milk and a non-chocolate cookie, and then I will go up to the room and close all the shades and try for a nap. Oh, wait, Amy and everyone will be coming back from their expedition to the Bargain Center right about then, and that will be loud. So I guess I will have to stretch the exercise part out. But if she is still awake when they come home she will want to play with Amy -- can I try to make it earlier, so she is already in the deepest phase of sleep when they get home? And then she will have more time to play with them when she wakes up, too. But that's risky, because it will be before she is really sleepy, and so she may not fall asleep in time, and then if she gets too close to falling asleep without, actually, falling asleep, it will be much much harder to get her to go to sleep later, and a late nap will push back her bedtime, and we have to leave for the picnic pretty early tomorrow and she HAS to get enough sleep overnight or she'll be a total grumpy-pants. Hmmm. Oh! I know! A car! If she doesn't fall asleep by say half an hour before they're due home, I'll drive her around, and that should get her to sleep no matter what, without worrying about noise. Whose car can we borrow? Brian's out, Amy's out, maybe Grandma's car... I have to ask her. That also means we have to get the carseat out of David's car before they leave...

CONSTANTLY. For 5 days. And that's just for one nap -- there was also bedtime, and balancing exercise with playing and not getting overwhelmed, etc., etc. Everyone was just AMAZED at how wonderful and sweet and friendly she was -- "I've never seen her grumpy!" -- and that was fun. I also felt like saying, "Ya think that just happens?"

She is a sweetheart, though.