Fizzle

Our nanny graciously took a week of vacation to visit her family before the semester started instead of doing it after the semester started. In her absence, we've scratched out a schedule in which we are both getting some work done, but essentially have zero time to do anything by ourselves. We were ready to rip each other's heads off by Tuesday.

Interested people keep asking me if two kids is that much harder than one. In some ways, yes: getting two kids ready to get out the door somehow manages to take four times longer than one, it is ridiculous to plan more than one errand/trip per day, there is much more stuff to keep up to appropriate (toys, cloths) which takes a lot of brain power, and just dealing with all the drains of having a little baby (recovery from pregnancy/birth, sleep deprivation, lactation) while simultaneously dealing with a toddler consumes a lot of energy.

In other ways, though, the answer is no. Mostly because I've lucked out and had some really sweet, calm, easy children. In day-to-day terms, now that Huxley is day-night oriented, one simply has to deal with two children instead of one for the same amount of time each day. I do 4 to 7 hours of child care per day. No matter what, it just takes those 4 to 7 hours. And it some ways it is easier because they are both there. Turing helps me take care of Huxley. Huxley likes to watch Turing. When one or the other is napping, we get special one-on-one time. Sometimes it is frustrating to "just" watch one child because they actually don't require constant attention. They merely require near-constant attention and those 30 second or 2 minute gaps in which I am neither spending time with my kid or doing something else (not necessarily productive, but something) are really frustrating to me.

Those gaps don't really happen with two kids. This is both good, because the day goes faster, but bad because it is relentless. And, of course, the disasters happen when both kids NEED you at the same time. Like when Huxley needed to nurse during Turing's bath last night and Turing lifted the knob on the faucet which started the shower: disaster.