My classmate in London, conducting PhD research into bilingualism. You wrote a book on raising bilingual children, undoubtedly influenced by your own French/English speaking family. It occurs to me that I should be finding the finished product about now.
It had never hit me before just how much of motherhood is concerned with bodily fluids. Not to mention bodily solids and bodily gasses. Really, when the biggest laugh of the day concerns a combination of crying and actively smelly projectile diarrhea farts, well that must mean that you've become a mother. Can any experienced parents let me know about how long this phase can be expected to last?
Thor to our daughter: You are so young, and yet you are already an expert in chemical warfare.
A field trip to a Japanese restaurant, clearly your first experience with Japanese cuisine. You pre-ordered sashimi and lobster, but were not expecting raw fish and a live lobster. The waiter grudgingly allowed you to change your order.
I'm sort of on strike. Since mid-afternoon, in bed, enjoying the warmth and irregular newborn breathing of the pixie-faced, diaper-clad baby lying on my stomach. My man-servant on call, willing and able to ensure my comfort. I plan to stay here, reading, internetting, but mainly just relaxing, for as long as possible.
What about you? What have you been up to?
Today marks the anniversary of the end of Nazi occupation of Denmark. Liberation Day. Freedom Day. In this case, freedom from occupation, but also a day to ponder other freedoms, other liberations. What is freedom? What do we need to be free from?
Recently, I find myself battling old demons in new guises. I know that sounds veiled and mysterious, but it really isn't. Just that it's too mundane to really make sense put into words in a public forum. I am battling (and winning, I believe, but it'll be a long battle) with questions like, what is motherhood? What does it mean to be a good mother? What does it mean to have balance in life? What counts as a relationship? And the answer to all of these, to some extent, is freedom. Being liberated from the necessity of finding a 'right' answer to a big question (or any question). Being liberated from the necessity of finding a permanent answer to questions. Being mindful of both questions and answers, yet aware that both of these constructs are tenuous at best.
What, for you, is freedom, liberation? What battles are you waging, and how do you think the fight is going?
My long ago long-term lunch partner. Mother of two young-ladies-in-training. One of my many motherhood role models, the right amount of caring and laid-back. Which would be of more use except we’re both so bad at keeping in touch.
On a visceral level, I mean. The tiredness. The total inability to get anything done, even when the baby is asleep. The exhaustion. The feeling that everything in life has disappeared, but hasn't yet been replaced by anything. And have I mentioned the lack of sleep? I have been told that it's all worth it (and I know that this is true, I feel it), and that it won't go on this way forever, but at the moment, it is a wee bit overwhelming.
My big plan is to make a list of things that I really need to keep doing. Blogging will quite likely be on that list. But first, I think I'll go and take a nap.
