The Doldrums

Other people get these, right?  Those days (and strings of days) where snack-making, activity-doing, going-out-organising is just too much and you end up parking the kid in front of the television and hoping they just keep quiet for a week or so.  Where one more demand for any kind of attention (from anyone) feels like it's going to blow one of your gaskets.  Where you just can't bring yourself to care (again) that the cat or dog "did stuff", or to explain *why* endlessly, or admire the all round awesome of your own flesh and blood (and all of their bodily products!), who at that moment you'd quite happily neglect shamelessly for an episode of your favourite TV show (uninterupted) and a good lie down (also uninterupted, and possibly in a different time zone). 

I'm not a bad parent, in fact I'm pretty damn good at my job.  But I'm in the doldrums.  My sails are flat.  My brain is fuzz.  I am a limp biscuit.

The Doldrums: apparently "warm air rises and loses its moisture" is code for "parent loses motivation to walk upright and talk in complete sentences."

I had revived a tad, in the past few weeks, but this damn cold has plonked me back in the "warm air rises and loses its moisture" zone again. 

It doesn't count when you're sick, right?

Just a cold, but feeling a tad sorry for myself yesterday and today...  I'd pay decent money to NOT have to care for a 3 year old right now.  TV is my drug of choice when sick, none of my shows are ok for kids to watch (think True Blood) and she won't watch anything longer than 20 minutes to let me get my iPad magic on.  Oh the woe!!  Or should I be grateful, as this girl's stubborn refusal to be tranquilised by television is surely just support for my new policy enforcement?  *le sigh*

I'd ask DinnerDad to do it, but he's sick too, which just compounds everyone's misery by a factor of 10.  Don't you hate it when you're hanging out all day for the other parent to come home, and the swing in the door (early, causing premature flutters of gratitude) just as sick and miserable as you!  I unfairly feel unreasonable resentment about it, purely because I wanted a break.  I'm not proud...or particularly awesome when besieged by germs. 

Fortunately, Smash made dinner last night, and disappeared with Lolly for a good long time jumping on the Jumpoline. I take back everything I said about lazy teenagers with no sense of familial responsibility.  Most of it.  Some of it.  A couple of sentences at least.

Continuing our theme of unicorns, how can I resist this one?

[Image credit]

 And now I return to listlessly lolling about the house, staring down the ever increasing pile of washing up, and the fresh layers of toys no one has tidied, and being very glad it's not a Snail week.