What Next?

Today is my last day at home alone with Maxime. I'm going back to work on Monday, and Maxime is having another "practice" day at daycare tomorrow. While I'm excited about new professional opportunities awaiting me at work (they're making me Webmaster, and one of my mandates will be to completely redesign the company's Web site), I'm also feeling a little sad and anxious about how busy life is about to become.

I had a conference to attend for work on Tuesday, in Longueuil of all places, and arrived home a little before 6 in the evening. Everyone had had their dinner, Émilie was too busy playing on the computer with her Dad to give me the time of day, and even though Maxime was still happy to see me (my little man!), I only got an hour with the kids before it was time to give them their bath and put them to bed. I felt strange, I felt like an outsider. I remember feeling this way when I went back to work after my maternity leave was over with Émilie. Suddenly, you go from being the most important, central figure in their lives to barely getting to spend an hour with them a day during the week, and not much more on weekends, with the frantic running around to get all the chores done for the next week. Meanwhile, Phil gets more one on one time with the kids, because he picks them up from daycare everyday (he works 8 minutes from home, I work downtown). It feels like you're not even a part of the family anymore, you're just that weird lady who happens to be renting a room in their house.

Whew! THAT was depressing, wasn't it? Apologies to everyone for sounding so glum, I usually make an effort to be funny and cheerful on this blog. I'll be OK, I remember that the feeling of estrangement doesn't last forever (mostly because you simply don't have time to think about it).

Yesterday Émilie had her first ever dentist appointment, and I couldn't have been prouder of her. She did great, as opposed to her Dad (who has been going to that same dentist since HE was 3 years old!), who apparently threw a temper tantrum in the hall before ever getting to the chair, his first time around. No cavities to speak of, but the dentist was concerned about her two front teeth (all I want for Christmas....), which are really starting to stick out because of her incessant thumb sucking! We're going to try and break the habit over the coming few weeks, but every time I pointed out to her that she was sucking her thumb this morning, she cried. I sucked my thumb until the mature age of 8 or 9, so I completely understand what she's going through. Of course, I was lucky that I never actually required braces. I hope we'll be able to avoid it, but if not, oh well, it's not the end of the world.

Today Maxime and I have what will hopefully be our LAST physiotherapy appointment. As my readers may recall, he developed torticolis fairly early on, and has been going to physiotherapy since he was about 7 months old. During our last appointment, the therapist said that his torticolis was actually cured (is that the right term?), but that she was still concerned that he wasn't yet crawling and that he was only in the 25th percentile for mobility for his age group. This didn't concern me much, because Émilie was a late crawler and walker as well (11 and a half months, and 16 and a half months, respectively), but she didn't care, and scheduled a follow-up appointment. Well, he started crawling a couple of days after his last appointment, and while he isn't walking yet, he's always pulling himself to a standing position, and has even managed to stay upright solo for a few seconds at a time. I can't wait to tell her to stick THAT in her hat! HAH!!!

Not much knitting content today, I'm afraid. I'm still working diligently on the Good Stripe Dress. I've started the flared skirt section, and as there are more and more stitches on the needles, the progress is getting slower and slower. I took a wee break last night during the hockey game (which we lost, and shan't speak of), in an attempt to finish the first Leafling sock, but alas, I've still got a few rows to go on the toe. Maybe I'll finish it up this evening. I need a boost.

Happy Knitting Everyone!