Past lives with a wooden spoon.
It's easy to forget other lives. Even my own. I can rationally recall life in Auckland when I had no kids. But I can't really understand how I was so busy. I only had myself to look after, for goodness sake!
It's not that long ago that I did less paid work and spent far more time at home. I can't really remember it properly, though I remember I was busy and tired a lot. But this week some of it is coming back to me. Fionn has asthma and I found myself making a steam bath at 4.15am on Monday morning, just so he could breath well enough to sleep. I rang work at 7.30, drove in to make arrangements for the work someone else would have to take over and then came home and was more tired and had less energy than Mr Asthma Man. Out. Of. Practice. Today he was actually worse, but I was better. He came to work with me for a chunk of this morning, and then went to our lovely childminder after school so I could do a work meeting. In between, I hung out in the kitchen.
Ah. That's what I used to spend a lot of time doing. Making chicken stock, hummous and pumpkin soup. Preparing the vegetables so dinner would be ready very soon after the work meeting. Making steam baths with essential oils for Mr Asthma Man at regular intervals. Pulling out the Malcolm Harker's lung tonic and checking breathing symptoms regularly. And today was easy peasy because my daughter was at school, no longer the two year old emptying the cupboards while I hung the washing out.
Fionn has what I would describe as episodic asthma, where he is fine most of the year but will get 2-3 significant bouts per year which will lay him quite low. I have learnt (I thought) to tell the warning signs, though this time I hadn't seen it coming. I thought he was off strength for much of summer, but couldn't track what it was or how to help beyond good food and good sleep.
Tomorrow he will be off school again. I've brought some work home to do with me for the morning and then he will come with me for the latter part of the day. We are maintaining a hopeful silence around the Superheroes Night at Cubs on Thursday. He and his buddy spent much of the weekend making their costumes a la Lord of the Rings and he will be devastated if he misses the special night. This afternoon he unpicked his overly large camo fleece scarf which I made him last year in order to make some kind of cape to go with the axes and armour and belts... now he has a new skill - using the quikunpick!
It's not that long ago that I did less paid work and spent far more time at home. I can't really remember it properly, though I remember I was busy and tired a lot. But this week some of it is coming back to me. Fionn has asthma and I found myself making a steam bath at 4.15am on Monday morning, just so he could breath well enough to sleep. I rang work at 7.30, drove in to make arrangements for the work someone else would have to take over and then came home and was more tired and had less energy than Mr Asthma Man. Out. Of. Practice. Today he was actually worse, but I was better. He came to work with me for a chunk of this morning, and then went to our lovely childminder after school so I could do a work meeting. In between, I hung out in the kitchen.
Ah. That's what I used to spend a lot of time doing. Making chicken stock, hummous and pumpkin soup. Preparing the vegetables so dinner would be ready very soon after the work meeting. Making steam baths with essential oils for Mr Asthma Man at regular intervals. Pulling out the Malcolm Harker's lung tonic and checking breathing symptoms regularly. And today was easy peasy because my daughter was at school, no longer the two year old emptying the cupboards while I hung the washing out.
Fionn has what I would describe as episodic asthma, where he is fine most of the year but will get 2-3 significant bouts per year which will lay him quite low. I have learnt (I thought) to tell the warning signs, though this time I hadn't seen it coming. I thought he was off strength for much of summer, but couldn't track what it was or how to help beyond good food and good sleep.
Tomorrow he will be off school again. I've brought some work home to do with me for the morning and then he will come with me for the latter part of the day. We are maintaining a hopeful silence around the Superheroes Night at Cubs on Thursday. He and his buddy spent much of the weekend making their costumes a la Lord of the Rings and he will be devastated if he misses the special night. This afternoon he unpicked his overly large camo fleece scarf which I made him last year in order to make some kind of cape to go with the axes and armour and belts... now he has a new skill - using the quikunpick!
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