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enter, represented by a bear
Feb. 25th, 2014 10:34 amNow that Rocket is no longer a newborn, and I have time to write some things down:
(I have time because we are both home sick today and yesterday. Mastitis for me PLUS some other type of general viral bullshit for both of us, says the doc. What fun, say I.)
Having a newborn is hard like running away from a hungry bear while chained to a cinderblock. Oh my god, is it hard. Physically exhausting. Emotionally exhausting. Filled with constant terror.
BUT, on the upside, it does not really require a lot of strategy or planning. Alive at the end of the day? Yay, you've done your job! There is no issue of finding motivation. Your motivation is the screaming, or the fact that the baby won't eat, or the fact that you need to eat something before you pass out, or, metaphorically, the bear. There are a limited number of things you can try (milk, diaper change, white noise, something to suck on, swaddling, rocking, change of position, check his temperature) and once you've gone through them all, you just have to grit your teeth and hang on with one of them until dawn.
Having a two-and-a-half-year-old is hard like pulling three all-nighters in a row to study for a calculus final. Exhausting, yes. But! Not exhausting like running for hours! I've had finals, and I've run races, and I know the difference! Exhausting in a much more mental way. You can take breaks! Honestly it is easier.
But: if you can take breaks, you are the one who has to motivate yourself to come back from them. You have to think, you have to think really hard all the time. It's no longer just about keeping his little butt clean. Now you're teaching manners while you're keeping his butt clean. You're teaching language, and problem solving, and emotional stability, and perseverance, and how to cook, and neatness, and road safety, and negotiation skills, and you need to figure out what you're going to do about school, and you want to keep an eye on his dawning social life. You have to think about your strategy, and you have to plan, and you have to do all the right away stuff too, and you don't know for sure if much of the stuff you're doing is the right thing or if it's going to pay off. Oh, you'll find out eventually, but will it be too late?
This is, of course, only what it's been like for us. YMMV.
And of course having a toddler and a newborn has been like trying to do calculus while running away from a hungry bear all night. I must say that I think the quality of the problem solving has suffered somewhat.
(I have time because we are both home sick today and yesterday. Mastitis for me PLUS some other type of general viral bullshit for both of us, says the doc. What fun, say I.)
Having a newborn is hard like running away from a hungry bear while chained to a cinderblock. Oh my god, is it hard. Physically exhausting. Emotionally exhausting. Filled with constant terror.
BUT, on the upside, it does not really require a lot of strategy or planning. Alive at the end of the day? Yay, you've done your job! There is no issue of finding motivation. Your motivation is the screaming, or the fact that the baby won't eat, or the fact that you need to eat something before you pass out, or, metaphorically, the bear. There are a limited number of things you can try (milk, diaper change, white noise, something to suck on, swaddling, rocking, change of position, check his temperature) and once you've gone through them all, you just have to grit your teeth and hang on with one of them until dawn.
Having a two-and-a-half-year-old is hard like pulling three all-nighters in a row to study for a calculus final. Exhausting, yes. But! Not exhausting like running for hours! I've had finals, and I've run races, and I know the difference! Exhausting in a much more mental way. You can take breaks! Honestly it is easier.
But: if you can take breaks, you are the one who has to motivate yourself to come back from them. You have to think, you have to think really hard all the time. It's no longer just about keeping his little butt clean. Now you're teaching manners while you're keeping his butt clean. You're teaching language, and problem solving, and emotional stability, and perseverance, and how to cook, and neatness, and road safety, and negotiation skills, and you need to figure out what you're going to do about school, and you want to keep an eye on his dawning social life. You have to think about your strategy, and you have to plan, and you have to do all the right away stuff too, and you don't know for sure if much of the stuff you're doing is the right thing or if it's going to pay off. Oh, you'll find out eventually, but will it be too late?
This is, of course, only what it's been like for us. YMMV.
And of course having a toddler and a newborn has been like trying to do calculus while running away from a hungry bear all night. I must say that I think the quality of the problem solving has suffered somewhat.
