It is only Wednesday, but already the week has taken its toll on me. Monday was an especially difficult day. The kind of day I can't write about here. The kind of day where I rush home to be with my daughter and hold her close, never wanting to let go. Yesterday was better.
The weekend was nice though. We had Mouse's soccer class on Saturday. It was the second to last class, and I am kind of glad for that. Still, it has been fun. It is a parent/child class, and my husband and I take turns going through the exercises with Mouse. Mouse's attention wasn't quite on the game this past Saturday. She was more interested in following around her friend, another girl in the class. They are quite a pair! During all the goofing off and not paying attention, I was quite surprised then when Mouse stepped forward when the coach asked who wanted to go first and dribble the ball to a designated spot where the child would then kick the ball into the goal. My kid can follow directions when she wants to. Being the two year old she is, Mouse was back to wandering off and chasing after her friend again directly after.
Sundays have become our quiet family days. We do not do much, but they can be fun. I taught Mouse how to play hide and seek recently and that's become one of her favorite games. Her idea of hiding is to curl up in a ball in a corner on the floor--and as soon as you start looking for her, she pops up and says, "Here I am!" When it's my turn to hide, she makes a point of telling me where to hide, will make sure I'm there, and then will proceed to look in all the same places I made a show of looking for her. "Not under the table." "Not under the blanket." "I found you!" It's moments like these that I treasure.
Getting back to the subject--or at least where I intended to go when I first started writing this post--I am no longer going home for lunch during the week (bye, bye audio book time) and instead am camping out in an empty office where I can read uninterrupted for an hour each day. I am enjoying having this precious reading time back again, but confess I do miss going home for that short time too. I may start going home at lunch time once a week at least, depending. We'll see. I used to be such a workaholic and would work through my lunches, full speed ahead. Now I not only want the time away, I need it.
I took advantage of my extra reading time to read Laura Lippman's And When She Was Good. I am still processing my thoughts on this one, but I did enjoy it. Laura Lippman is an author I've read before although not much of. I can see why so many people love her books. Earlier this week, I started reading Menna van Praag's The House at the End of Hope Street, a book I have had my eye on for awhile now. I'm quite smitten with it so far.
What are you reading right now?
Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where
participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a
book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.
The house has stood at the end of Hope Street for nearly two hundred years. It's larger than all others, with turrets and chimneys rising into the sky. The front garden grows wild, the long grasses scattered with cowslips, reaching toward the low-hanging leaves of the willow trees. At night the house looks like a Victorian orphanage housing a hundred despairing souls, but when the clouds part and it is lit by moonlight, the house appears to be enchanted. As if Rapunzel lives in the tower and a hundred Sleeping Beauties lie in the beds.
It was the description of this book, The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag, that first sold me on it: "Past residents have included Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Parker, who, after receiving the assistance they needed, hung around to help newcomers—literally, in talking portraits on the wall . . ." I am about a half of the way through this charming book right now. This is one of those books that reminds me to slow down and savor each paragraph--just as I knew it would after reading the first paragraph.
Would you continue reading?
© 2013, Wendy Runyon of Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
It sounds like a great weekend. I remember fondly those simple times when they are so easily entertained and want to hang with you! That is very sweet. Right now I'm about 3/4 of the way through a book called The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty and i'm very entertained. I fell in love with her book "What Alice Forgot".
ReplyDeleteSandy - It was! Mouse is at such a fun age, and I love seeing her imagination evolve.
DeleteI will have to look for The Hypnotist's Love Story. I haven't read anything by Liane Moriarity before.
It has been a rough week but hopefully things will get better.
ReplyDeleteKathy - These kinds of days and weeks come with the job. Coming home to my daughter makes them seem not to so bad.
DeleteI hope that next week is much better for you :) Enjoy the reading time at lunch!
ReplyDeleteJennifer - It's nice to get some quiet reading time. I'm taking full advantage. :-)
DeleteI've long been a "work through lunch" type, and I've started taking time out to read and do other things. I have to. The space is necessary!
ReplyDeleteLove the sounds of Mouse's soccer class. Fun stuff!
Andi - Yes, we really do need to force ourselves sometimes to step away from the work for a short while. It especially helps on those rough days.
DeleteThe soccer class has been so much fun! Seeing all the two and three year olds out there on the field, kicking the ball around--or not, depending. LOL
My little niece used to play hide and seek but always gave herself away while saying, "I find me!" It took a YEAR for her to understand that we are supposed to find HER and that she is not supposed to find herself. Kids!
ReplyDeleteI live too far away to drive home for lunch but I usually find an empty classroom or lab to read in. If it's nice, I will eat outside but lately the crazy squirrels have been a bit of a bother. Falling out of trees, jumping into my lunch box, etc. I can't read when I am constantly watching them for rabid behavior.
Ti - Haha! They are so fun at this age. I'm amazed at how creative Mouse is at such a young age. I imagine it's normal for two year olds in general, but it's new to me.
DeleteI'm picturing crazy squirrels chasing you back into your building. LOL We have a breakroom in my office building, but too many people come looking for me with work questions and such. I think most everyone knows which office I hang out in, but they seem to respect that they shouldn't bother me there. I am not sure why the difference . . .
Sorry to hear you don't get to go home, but at least you do keep that reading time (crossing my fingers for that office staying empty!) You games with Mouse sound precious, there's something wonderful in games that don't 'work' as adults, that you can really join in with for the children. Sounds strange, but it's true.
ReplyDeleteI think I would continue reading, especially if further paragraphs showed the house to be quite a character itself.
Charlie - I do miss going home, but even the short commute eats up so much time (not to mention gas) and leaves me with only 20-25 minutes at home. It's nice to have the full hour to read when I bring my lunch. I think I'm pretty safe about the office staying empty during the day. It's actually an occupied office, but the person who it belongs to works a weekend shift so we never see each other (I used to pump in there back in my pumping days).
DeleteI'm with you about playing games with young children. Mouse comes up with some fun ones, which I can't imagine playing as an adult with other adults.
I have the same lunch break dilemma. I do go home, but then I just waste the time away.
ReplyDeleteLisa - Same here! That usually happens when I go home at lunch time too.
DeleteI can only imagine what happened Monday but knowing what you do for a living I know it had to be traumatic. Sorry that your job sometimes breaks your heart!!! I have really treasured my reading time while eating lunch because it seems that I'm too busy when I get home making dinner and then walking afterwards. By the time I get settled in for the night I fall asleep!!!!
ReplyDeleteMouse is going to be so coordinated and talented!! Love her little face and the photos of her having fun!
Take care!!
Staci - Thanks, Staci. Having a daughter of my own, has made my job harder in some ways, especially when something comes in in relation to a child Mouse's age.
DeleteI find that too. I sometimes am able to squeeze in reading time before bed, but usually I'm so tired I'd rather just go to sleep. If I didn't have to wake up so early . . .
I had hoped to find something for Mouse to do this summer, but it's so hard because I work outside the home and most activities for young children are scheduled during the weekdays. It's very frustrating. I had been hoping to get her in swim lessons. I can't afford the private ones, and since we don't have a pool (other than the little inflatable kind), my options on that front are limited. I'm so disappointed the YMCA was closed. Their Saturday classes were perfect. :-(
Wendy, sorry your week was tough. I treasure my (1) hour lunch to read in a quiet corner as well.
ReplyDeleteI liked that intro, and it is definitely a book that I hope to read as well.
Diane - Thanks, Diane! That hour can do wonders in helping me relax, not to mention give me some much needed time away.
DeleteLove the hide and seek story! Gage does the same thing. The past few weeks though have been fill with "find the ____" where he will 'hide' something and expect you to go around looking for it- even though it is often in plain sight and probably the last place he hid it, LOL! Fun age :)
ReplyDeleteStacy - They are so funny, aren't they? :-)
Delete