Sometimes I just want to be me

In an alternate reality I live in a world where I am completely selfless, well-rested, and perfectly healthy. In that reality, I have the energy and enthusiasm to devote hours of my time to my children. I would play with them, do enrichment activities with them (cooking, art, music, physical play, literacy, etc.), and make sure that Ava and I get at least 30 minutes of direct, targeted therapy time every day.

In this reality, our household has spent more time sick this winter than well. This makes everyone tired and cranky in addition to the actual symptoms of the current illness (stomach bugs, colds, sinus infections, pink eye, etc.). I seem to be operating on a constant sleep deficit which is being exacerbated by Ava’s desire to wake with the sun. In our area, the sun is currently beginning to show up before 6am. And, to be perfectly honest, I am selfish. I want some time to call my own. I want some time separate from my children. I want to read, or blog, or play a game, or do a craft activity, or have a quiet moment where I do absolutely nothing. As a stay at home mother, I am with my children from the moment they wake till the moment they go to sleep all seven days a week. As much as I love them, that is a lot of time to spend with a two year old and a three year old who don’t know the meaning of independent play yet.

Each day, Ava wakes from her afternoon nap at least an hour earlier than her brother. This is supposed to be her therapy time. It’s the perfect time to do it in theory. She’s well rested and with a small snack, well fed. Sometimes I just don’t want to. I’d rather let her watch tv while Michael finishes his nap. This effectively extends my afternoon break from about one hour to about two. But I feel doubly guilty about this desire. First, tv is the root of all evil (ok, not really, but how many articles do we read about how bad tv is for our children?). Second, it’s her THERAPY. It should be non-negotiable. I shouldn’t even be considering letting it go. It doesn’t matter that she’s getting it elsewhere anywhere from three to five times a week. I have the skills to supplement her therapy myself. I should be doing it. Boy do I hate the word “should.” Anyway, sometimes I just want to be mama (and an imperfect one at that), instead of being a therapist.

And that’s my confession of the day.

Mini Review - First Hundred Words

This is a mini-review of First Hundred Words. Each time we see Ms. J (not including our initial visit), she sends something home with us to work on. The first time she sent home the book First Hundred Words with the instruction to use it to work on two word phrases.

This book isn’t simply a picture book like so many vocabulary oriented books. It is actually similar in concept to the Big Book of Exclamations. It consists of a series of two page spreads that feature a family in scenes that would be familiar to a young child. I’ve returned the book to Ms. J, so unfortunately this will only be a mini-review.

From what I can remember the picture spreads include a waking up scene, breakfast scene, bath scene, park scene, and bedtime scene just like the Exclamations book, but this book is longer and includes several other scenes as well. Because I don’t actually have the book any more I can’t tell you all of them, but one was a swimming pool scene and another was a drying off/getting dressed after the pool scene. These picture scenes are an entirely different illustration style from the Exclamations book, but I like them and there are so many details to find and discuss. This book is also much more reasonably priced than the exclamations book and is available in paperback which is a little easier to handle. I would definitely recommend it.

Here is a link to an article called Babies, Books and Speech Development. This is an article that reviews the Big Book of Exclamations and also gives some nice specific tips for using books to help encourage speech development. The article is definitely worth reading.

Completely unrelated rant

I admit it. Where cell phones are concerned I was remarkably reluctant to enter the modern world. I have had one for about 12 years, but it was a pre-paid phone that I left off all the time. I kept it with me only for the purpose of making outbound calls in an emergency. I turned it on once a month or less. My husband hated not being able to reach me when I was out, but I was stubborn on the issue. I didn’t want to mess with it. I thought being on the phone when out was rude.

Then I had children and realized that I needed to be available. I needed the person with my children to be able to reach me. So that simple necessity, combined with an iphone has made me a changed woman. I still use the phone as little as possible, particularly when I’m out, but it is turned on and always near me. I absolutely love to read books on it. I also play a few games. I use the calendar. I take pictures and videos of my children. I occasionally make or receive calls.

I still have the same phone number for my cell phone that I’ve had since I got my very first cell phone. I like the number. I’m attached to it. A couple of years ago, Ava’s first summer, I began receiving debt collection calls on my cell phone. The calls are for Michelle D. I am not Michelle D. After hanging up on the automated message about 20 times over a period of about a month, my husband finally called the number back, spoke to a real live person and had my number removed from their database.

A few months ago I began receiving debt collection calls for Michelle D. again on my cell phone. I have no idea if it’s the same company, but it’s still an automated message. My only option, if I am not Michelle D., is to hang up. At first they called once every couple of weeks. Then it was once a week. The past few days they’ve called 3-4 times a day. If you call the number back you always get routed to voicemail. I’ve left 2-3 messages. My husband has left 3-4 messages. The calls aren’t stopping. I can’t get a real person on the line. This is becoming more than an occasional nuisance, and I can’t seem to do anything to stop it. Shouldn’t this be illegal? Anyone have any ideas?