With Ivan’s parental leave over, he and I are both back at work during the day, while Mariah attends her dayhome. It’s a bit of an adjustment not having either of us home to catch up on laundry or tidying. But then again, the house is much cleaner when it’s empty all day. Our new routine is for me to drop Mariah off at dayhome in the morning, since Ivan starts too early for us diva’s to get ready…and he picks her up in the afternoon. I’m lucky to have Wednesdays off – which is such a nice treat in the middle of the week! Mariah and I got to sleep in a little bit this morning, lounge around in our pajamas, and we’ve started attending a sign language class for babies. While the younger babies obediently watch the instructor sing songs and teach signs, Mariah prances around the room sometimes heading for the door and telling us all ‘bye’…sometimes making herself comfortable in another mom’s lap without an invitation.
Veronica, her dayhome provider, tells us Mariah’s transition has been a bit of a roller coaster. Many days, Mariah clings to Veronica and tantrums if she even dares to pay attention to the other children. Mariah sometimes refuses to eat, or worse yet, refuses to nap, so by afternoon she becomes an irritable little ball of cranky toddler. Other days, she eats double servings, plays with the kids, and let’s Veronica breathe here and there. Since there are so many activities and things to do there, I have a feeling Mariah almost thinks of the dayhome as her own little ‘job’. We’ve noticed she often brings her work home these days since she feels the need to keep busy in the evenings. She’s lost interest in most of her toys, but has become very drawn to tedious, repetitive tasks (I’m pretty sure she gets that from me). Mariah has a basket full of clips in the kitchen that somehow keeps her entertained for far too long. She shoves those little clips into boxes, pretends they’re phones, and the novelty has yet to wear off. Mariah also has discovered the joy of magnets. She takes one at a time and moves them from the fridge to the dishwasher and back again – with a look of determination in her eyes that says ‘wow, I’m being productive…too bad this job really never ends!’. I joke with Ivan that she must have been raised in the Jackson household since apparently Michael’s dad used to make him and his brothers move a pile of bricks back and forth on their front lawn to keep them out of trouble and teach them discipline (harsh parenting…but I guess it worked!).
In addition to finding Mariah’s futile tasks entertaining, I also try to remind myself that she’s a good mirror. Who’s to say that her work is any less important than mine or yours? She’s staying active, keeping herself entertained, and appears happy in the process, which is more than many of us can say. It’s so easy to get caught up with the hussle & bussle of life that sometimes we all get tunnel vision and forget to have fun. So watching Mariah is a good reminder that it’s great to have focus and strong work ethic as long as you remember to be a child (or one at heart) afterward.
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