Monday, September 17, 2007

Cue the Crickets

This morning I did something new. I dropped LP off at day care and came home to do work. Once before I brought her to day care and went into the office, and several times before the Hoos has dropped her off on a Monday or Friday when I would typically be home with her; but this is the first time in a long time that I have actually been alone in my house on a Monday or Friday. It feels weird. I feel guilty.

I have mentally rationalized the decision to bring her in: 1). She was home with us last Thursday, a typical school day; 2). I plan on picking her up before 3, so she will only be at school five hours or so today; 3). I have conference calls from 11-12 and 12-1:30, it wouldn't be fair to her to have me distracted for 2.5 hours when she thinks we should be playing; and finally 4). The Hoos came up with this one - yeah, it sucks for her to have to spend the day hanging out with her friends and playing.

However, on a less than rational level I feel guilty. To compensate for this I have tried to fill every minute of my day so I am not "wasting" my time away from LP:

9am - Drop off LP
9:15 - Go to Stew's to buy milk
9:30 - Eat breakfast and check email
10 - Return dressy shoes I bought LP that she won't wear enough to justify the cost. Besides, I found them cheaper online.
10:15 - Return books to the library
10:45 - Prepare for conference calls
11am - 1:30pm - Conference Calls
1:30 - Eat lunch and get ready for class
2:00 - Prep LP and Daddy's dinner
2:30 - Pick up LP

Am I nuts? Or is this a genius move that will convince me to bring LP to day care and work from home every Monday?

3 comments:

Mrs. Booms said...

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who feels like time away from my children is "wasted" if it's not productive. My husband and I are both in a wedding next month. I'm having the hardest time going to the bachelorette party because in my mind I didn't have children to be away from them and that's what I enjoy doing. I think I might be a little nuts for thinking that way.

Wenderina said...

I'm not a parent, (just a friend of the parent here) so I guess I see the huge advantage is all you got done so when LP is home, you're free to totally focus on fun with her. But my real comment is...what does Cue the Crickets mean here?

AmyBow said...

It was so quiet around my house without LP that I could almost hear the crickets...