Third Culture Kid(s)

banging my head against the wall.

It’s been quite a weekend at Casa del M.  Among the highlights:

• On Friday night - beginning of a three-day weekend for M. - I managed to get into an argument with him concerning my inability to do anything of substance on the phone.  Let’s just say that I have an irrational fear of phone confrontations, with “confrontation” encompassing anything falling between asking about movie times (was I the only person who was happy when all that became automated??) and challenging a credit card charge.  This time, it’s potentially to the tune of $157, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it is right now.  I managed to keep us both up talking until 2 am, which substantially cut into my prime sleeping time (generally, the period between 11-ish and 2-ish, although lately it’s been about midnight until 2…ugh).
• MM has finally gotten over the newness of having C. at home and has become freakishly needy.  Usually - and predictably - when I’m feeding or otherwise attending to C.’s needs.  On the very, very plus side, she hasn’t been taking it out on C. himself; he seems to still have an aura of difference that she likes.  But it’s been “can you play/read/sit/eat with me??” almost nonstop, and always in her little heartbreaking way (”Can you pway wif me, Mommy?”).  M. really stepped up to the plate over the weekend and pwayed with her as much as possible - and he also had her “help” with making dinner, made her hot chocolate for the first time (and emphasized that hot chocolate was a big girl drink), etc. - in a way that made me very glad he’s the Dad here.  But today it’s just us again…and I’ve typically got her watching Totoro (she asked for it, for the record) while I grab a few minutes to myself.  Sigh.  And she’s still the 5:10 kid - wakes up like clockwork every morning at 5:10 am.  And this is the kid who used to sleep until 7. *cue Mommy weeping*
• No work happened over the weekend.  In fact, no work has happened since I last posted.  Well, except this morning; M. went down to his university yesterday and picked up some books for me at the library.  Hmm.  Rereading all of this, I realize I really should cut M. a little freaking slack.  He’s been working his butt off for me lately.
• Which is all perspective I would probably have more of if I were getting more than three hours of sleep per every 24 hour period.
• And, of course, there was the waking up on Sunday morning to a smashed driver-side window on our car - yes, we’d left our GPS (our CHEAP GPS - I mean, they’ll be lucky to make $50 off of it) visible, and it was stolen.  The GPS isn’t the issue; we have one car, that’s it.  When it’s out of commission - say, to have a window replaced - it means that someone is going to be seriously inconvenienced.  As in possibly missing work (M.) or having to figure out how to juggle a toddler and an infant while getting the repair done (me).  We did call the guys who come to your house to do the repair, and he was here in the freezing cold at 9 yesterday morning, but with the wrong glass.  So M.’s driving around with my dad’s clever, but not long-term, Plexiglas solution.  And it’s supposed to rain/snow today.

So, it’s been that kind of weekend, and that’s why I’ve been pretty scarce.  I did manage to get 30 min. of reading in this morning, so there’s that.  But the worries that I’m never going to be done are lurking in the back of my mind, and it gets in the way sometimes.  MM’s having a better day today, it seems, so there’s that, too.  C. is sleeping right now - you would if you’d spent a good part of the night awake.