Emily is lost without Nora.
Emily does not know what to do with herself.
I am at my wits end.
It did not occur to me that Emily would not be thrilled to be at home alone with her mom. I just assumed that we would have a grand ol' time, just the two of us. After all, she has been sharing me with Nora since the day she was born. DUH! She has been around Nora since the day she was born, and now Nora is gone for five hours a day, five prime time playing hours of the day. As far as Emily is concerned, things have changed, and not for the better.
To make things even worse, I had all these new plans for our mornings. Working on her language skills. Teaching her to pick-up her toys. Potty training. This would be in addition to the normal walks around the block, swinging in the backyard, and reading stories. Well, I've tried these things, but they aren't exactly working. No, let's be honest, they are crashing and burning. Case in point: the walk around the block. This is something the three of us used to do every day it wasn't raining. We had it down to a science; once a neighbor even told me he was amazed at my ability to "herd cats". Now, she won't walk. She runs into the road, she sits on the sidewalk and refuses to move, she attempts to pick flowers out of everyone's landscaping. But walk?? No way. You can just imagine how much luck I've had with the "new" activities. She will be in diapers till she's 10!
What's even worse is that Emily is amusing herself by being totally naughty. She loves to flush the toilet repeatedly. She loves to flush entire rolls of TP. She loves to take all of the cans out of the lazy susan and stack them on the kitchen table. She likes to dump all of Nora's toys on the floor. She has stopped napping. She has continued to take off her diapers, so I am cleaning up at least one mess a day off the wood floors. Every time I turn around, she is doing something she isn't supposed to. I can't even shower anymore unless Ryan is home to keep an eye on her. (That's the ugly portion of the title; me in old PJ's with yesterday's mascara under my eyes). Oh my god, I need something stronger than coffee to keep up with this child!
So its back to the drawing board. Its like having a new baby!!! This week I started putting her in the kitchen instead of the dining room for her morning snack, so she can watch me cook and clean while she eats instead of leaving her in the dining room while I run back and forth. She seemed a little happier. I also brought the stroller back out; today's walk went surprisingly well. Plus she will, eventually, get used to Nora's absence. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we can try some new/old things and see if we can craft some special time together before Emily needs to go off to school.
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