We've arrived, we're unpacking, we're drowning in boxes and making 5,000 trips to Target a day to buy things like lightbulbs and toilet paper and bathtub drain stoppers, each trip somehow costing upwards of $50. Eva is having a hard time adjusting and has been throwing on the floor, kicking and screaming tantrums. She even tried to bite me yesterday, earning her a timeout (which she sat for, thank God. It was a whopping 30 seconds, but it seemed to get the point across. But still...) She just needs some stability and routine, but it's shocking how little I manage to get done every day.
I owe 1,000,000 people an note or a call or an e-mail, and I'm slowly getting through the list, but my computer died and is not coming back (not that we have Internet picked out anyway. Turns out you need the Internet to research Internet options, in a rather prickly little catch-22).
While we figure out all of that, I have to say that I think I'm really going to like the house and neighborhood. We're adjusting to less space, but there are a lot more benefits to this house as opposed to the last, such as double closets in our bedroom, 1.5 baths, and a beautiful yard with a deck.
Anyway. Stand by for some kind of return to normalcy. I'm online in the library posing as a student with Mr. M's login info, after trips to two different coffee shops proved that the Wifi thingy on his laptop isn't working.
*sigh*
We'll get there.
2 comments:
It took Maggie some time to adjust when we moved to MT. Eva will get there :) Have fun settling in!!
It struck us during our visit that Eva isn't quite at the age yet where she can think in terms of hypothetical situations. She's ALMOST there, but not quite--and certainly not when under stress. You know this, but I thought your readers might like some examples, soo... .
1) When we were playing in the yard, I asked where Aunt Carrie was and she pointed inside the house. And I asked who else was in the house, and she grinned and said "Mama!" OK, but just a day earlier when she really needed a nap and you left to get something out of the car, you weren't "out of sight" but "gone."
2) She's at that age where she loves to answer factual questions ("what color is this," "what sound does this make," "who is that") but doesn't really have the wherewithal to answer--and certainly not to ASK--hypothetical questions. She just doesn't do it, is the proof.
So...she simply can't say, "why are we living HERE instead of THERE," or "why are things otherwise," or even "could things be otherwise?" And without being able to frame things in those terms, all she has left is tears and teeth.
But honestly we had a lovely visit with Eva! Wow. She was so cute, like when we asked her where her toes were for the 50th time and she said "In my Crocs!" or when we asked what color Aunt Carrie's hair was and she turned aside and said "pretty."
Obviously it's impossible for you to do that kind of distraction while also trying to unpack boxes and make a stable universe for her...which means shifting the boxes about, which destabilizes things all the more. So I feel for you. On the bright side, though, this is great for her brain:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16gopnik.html?_r=1
&sq=baby%20smarter&st=cse
&scp=1&pagewanted=all
And it might be a baby step toward giving her a sense of herself as someone she can rely on, a sense of an inner life as something she can develop and explore. Many a famous writer sprang bright-winged from the chrysalis of childhood loneliness and stress, compared to which this is small (and as Wendy says temporary) potatoes. No one going by the name of Milkweed needs to feel guilty about it, though exasperation is perfectly understandable. (Stability: so close, yet so far!)
Anyway, we had a good time. And we're still so happy about the new job and the beautiful, beautiful house! You're making a good move.
Post a Comment