Friday, February 5, 2010

A General Mellowing

On vacation last week (blog report post due!) and back at work full time this week, I had two instances where I realized I've mellowed out a lot when it comes to parenting. I'm not sure if it's because I have to under my current circumstances, or simply because I've already had one baby - probably a combination of both - but my outlook is definitely more relaxed.

1. At a Bengali "restaurant" in Khajuraho. We were sitting at our table, waiting for our thali (set meal). The place was well swept, all plastic chairs were in tact, metal tables weren't rusted, and Beth's chai was even served in a china cup with match saucer. For a $1 per person meal, in the middle of a small Indian town, it was clean.

Then, as Patrick reached out and touched the table ... and a few seconds later a stray dog wandered by our outside table ... I all of the sudden envisioned all the mothers who vigorously disinfect mall food court tables with disposable Clorox wipes. The reality of being here - and my adjustment to accept a general state of dirtiness - even to the point of having considered the restaurant clean - hit home. I'm now, by default, subscribing to the "let kids eat dirt" method of building immunities.

2. At home, with Sarwary. As I've mentioned, as smart as she may appear, she's illiterate. Thus, all communication is verbal by necessity. There's no way I'd get a "daily report" like William's day care did - what time he ate and how many ounces; what time wet and poopy diapers were changed; how many 15 minute segments of tummy time. Instead, I just check how many bottles are gone off of the shelf. She tells me if it was a good nap day (seems to be defined by naps of at least one hour) or a bad nap day (only dozing; no long stints) and how many poops. And, to my surprise, I'm Ok with that. Patch and Wm are both all smiles when I come home -- what better way to judge how their day was?

2 comments:

Elaine said...

If they are smiles,that's all that counts. Maybe they will paint your front porch

Beth said...

Miss you already! Can I come back an have dinner with the stray dogs?