It's a good tired. This tired comes from a place of absolute concentration on one, specific thing...parenting.
I like this. It's unusual for me to focus in this way. In my real life, I teach, write, volunteer, coordinate non-profit services, schedule community conversations, serve on three boards and balance a marriage and parenting.
Right now - just the parenting.
The kids are doing well with a few hiccups here and there. Tomass was great for the first five days but yesterday we all had flashbacks to last summer. At bedtime, he was tip-toeing across the edge of the bannister while imitating the, "who-ha-ha-ha" laugh from old vampire movies. He'd hidden the ipad under his butt when he finally got into bed and, after Kevin took it away, he shot off into the girl's room to steal an old Fanta from under Mairita's bed. An orange filled-with-corn-syrup-and-sugar Fanta. Yeah, that's what he needed.
Mairita and Lilly are adjusting to one another. It turns out, the addition of Lasma (Mairita's best friend who is being hosted by our friends Chris and Nancy) has thrown a wrench in the fragile bond that Lilly and Mairita achieved last summer. Lasma is threatened by Lilly. She drags Mairita off and they whisper and giggle while Lilly escapes to her room to Facetime with her friends or listen to boy bands. Lilly's not hurt. She'd rather not try, which is bugging me. I want my daughter to care more abut Marita's feelings and understand her fear of rejection. So yesterday, I took Lilly and Mairita to the mall, gave them each twenty bucks and copped a squat on a bench (occasionally nodding off in front of complete strangers.) The girls shopped together, helping one another to choose matching wallets and fashionable tops. When we got home, they split off into different rooms and Mairita wrote in her journal while Lilly listened to music. Small victories are still victories, right?
Toms is his usual, sweet self. He helps with Tomass, plays enthusiastically with Casey and finds joy in most of the activities we plan.
This week, Chris suggested that we all pile into our mini-van and drive to a farm to go strawberry picking. For us, this is a novel, fun activity. But for the Latvian kids, it was business as usual. They live on a farm...
Still, Toms and Mairita filled boxes of strawberries so fast that today we will be making jam and yesterday I whipped up four strawberry pies.
So im noguris. But it's all good. It's all really good.
