This will be the third time that I have taken parental leave, and I think this will be the best one yet. For starters, it will be the longest--I took 8 weeks after Andres was born, and 10 after Celia. For Lucia I will take 12. The next time I will willingly see the inside of my cube will be June 3, and on that day I will likely cry like a baby.
My two previous leaves have taught me that the time goes quickly. The days can get behind you fast--there is both so much and so little to do that mornings can pass in a flurry of diaper changes and phone calls and small errands, and then all of a sudden a whole day has passed and you are one day closer to the end. The secret to a relaxing leave is to stay ahead of the days: to plan them out, and to be aware that once they are gone, they are not coming back.
Today, number one of sixty, was a fantastic day. We did very little of substance. I hustled all three kids into the car by 8:10. I dropped everyone off where they needed to go, and then with my main charge hanging out solo in the back, I crisscrossed Newton completing many items on my months-long to do list. We hit the bank (Lucia has a savings account now, FYI), did some PTO-related errand, and swept through Trader Joe's. We were home by 10 and already I felt like I had done more on this day than I do most days at work. Granted, the tasks are different--but it was gratifying to feel like I had accomplished a number of discrete, necessary tasks before the end of morning drive-time radio. I do not miss email.
Lucia had done well in letting me take her all around town. She napped a bit during the drive, but when we arrived home she made it clear that she was getting hungry, so I fed her a bottle. She was content after that, a few burps, and a change.
One of my goals during these sixty days is to increase my photo portfolio of Lucia, since I have approximately 8 pictures of her since we brought her home from the hospital. This is of course not her fault at all. My camera (and, if I am to be brutally honest, my interest) is often drawn to the two older kids, who are mobile and imaginative and growing at light-speed. I look at Lucia and I still see a baby who cannot roll over, a baby who is hard to pose because she cannot sit up. But soon she will be able to do all these things, and I will regret not having taken pictures of the time before she could do these things, much like I already regret not getting more images of her tiny feet and hands in the first two weeks after she was born. She is not a wrinkly baby any more. She smiles when she is happy, or when she is gassy, or when her siblings are around. (For the last couple weeks, whenever she throws a smile Celia's way, Celia will come running towards me saying "Daddy! She smiled at me! Lucia smiled at me!") Her eyes are a striking azure. And she is babbling now, too, likely an attempt to communicate with her sister, who is inclined to use seven words when two will suffice.
So anyway, we took some pictures.
 | ||
| Lucia and the doll that Andres and Celia picked out for her. |
 |
| Having a laugh with daddy. |
It was now noon and the day was entering into the uncomfortable middle phase where it was too late to start any other big errands (since I had to eat, Lucia had to sleep, and we had to get Andres by 3) and too early to lie on the couch and take a nap. I cut the difference by puttering around the kitchen making chili for dinner. Lucia made only a half-hearted attempt at taking a nap, sleeping only for 20 minutes before issuing her demands to be out of her crib. Once she was out, though, she had no clear preference for what to do next, and spent the better part of the next hour in a cranky mood. Eventually I fed her again and at 2:00 we hopped in the car again for a couple more quick errands before picking up her brother from school and her sister from daycare.
All in all, a good day. An efficient day, and one that sets a constructive tone for the next 59. Yikes--only 59 left! They find a way of getting behind you. Carpe diem.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment