Columbus Day 2011

My third Columbus Day holiday ever. The last two were serene, golden days spent walking hand in hand with K, kicking leaves, and listening to street musicians play. This one was... not.

X is still sick and is sprouting his first tooth. He was in a good mood about half the time and spent the other half yelling and hitting me.

K has been extra-demanding lately, and to add insult to injury, after I spent the entire day running after him and playing with him until I literally passed out, his account of his day when Daddy came home was, ""Watched a video, then ate breakfast... played with my friend... and that's it."

I got an hour of respite when K went next door to play. X napped for part of the time, and then I had a little alone time with him. A friend called for parenting advice the second I put X down for his nap. (I love giving any kind of advice, but I'm not sure why she thinks my advice will be any good. Hopefully she has other advisers too.)

We had some nice moments, like when we played hide and seek. I started making noises to help K find us, and X laughed and gave us away. Then K and I kept trying to make him laugh with funny noises. The magic of baby laughter works even on 4-year olds. We had fun at the playground together in the morning, and went out for ice cream in the afternoon. But there were also plenty of times when I caught myself thinking, "Is it Tuesday yet? When do I get to go back to work?" Thank goodness I'm not a stay-at-home mom.

Sometimes I think K needs more one-on-one attention. But then when I try to give it to him, he can never get enough. He sucks up all my energy. I feel so annoyed when I just spent an hour playing with him and the second I go to do something else, he starts in with, "MOMMY. HEY. MOMMY. PLAY with me."  I don't know if it's him or me, or both. Maybe I am just grumpier than usual. I'm tired all the time. Maybe he's just going through a phase. Maybe it's X. He never complains when I need to go care for X, but maybe he feels like when he does have my attention, he needs to latch on to me and never let go.