Booking a Holiday and Seeing a Child Therapist
Yesterday was a public holiday and we had a superb day with the Kid. In the morning we went to a park closer to the center because, yes I am a snob. The Kid found the only damn puddle in the place and spent 30 minutes playing in it. Several people took his picture and hey I don't mind. Unless of course they use his picture in an ad and then mommy wants her cut. In the afternoon we walked around the neighbourhood and it was great. Middle of the day, not so great. Instead of our nap (the Husband and me), we decided to look at holiday options. We've narrowed it down to Greece. The 3 hours kinda went like this.
G: Which Greek island is closer to Austria?
Me: Why?
G: So the flight will be faster.
Me: It won't make a difference. Greece is small anyway.
G: (spluttering) It's huge!
Me: Sweetie, I'm from Canada., Greece is a pimple on a map
45 minutes later we've narrowed it down to Rhodes
Me: Ok, what about this place? Looks amazing!
G: There aren't any water slides.
Me: So?
G: I like water slides.
20 minutes later and he's only agreed to ones that have a water slide
Me: OK, so we've agreed that we need a family room, a sea view, slides, kid pools and close to the airport and on a beach.
G: Doesn't have to be on a beach.
Me: Yes it does.
G: We can walk to the beach, this one's only 500 meters away.
Me: After we walk through the garbage dump.
G: So?
30 minutes later and I'm about to throw the laptop out the window
Me: Ok, we've got it narrowed down to 6 places. We're getting closer. Which one is your favourite?
G: (Points to one of the places that isn't on our list) This one.
Me: That's not even on the list!
G: Look, it has a pirate ship in the pool! In the pool! And slides.
Me: No. No. It also had a dead rat in the room according to Trip Advisor.
G: They've probably removed it by now
At this point I started looking up divorce lawyers. Some people have triggers in their relationship and this is definitely one of them for me. I hate hate hate hate booking holidays with the Husband. We always have an epic fight because of water slides. Every.single.time. I'll let you know what we end up booking or divorcing. Until then, I'm on Xanax.
On Wednesday I met with a child therapist for the second time. My son is two. He doesn't need a therapist. But according to his daycare, he has tantrums once in a while. That's just crazy. He's two. Like the calmest age ever. So in order to be proactive, I looked up an English speaking therapist and met with her. She's great and I felt super relaxed after talking to her. She suggested she would visit the daycare and watch the Kid in action. She went last week and so we decided to meet again after.
It was a great meeting because it finally hit me that the Kid is, well, exactly like me. Apparently he has a lot a lot a lot of energy. He never just walks somewhere, he freaking runs. He is impatient. He is a non stop talker (nobody knows what he's saying but that doesn't stop him... or me either). He is extremely determined and likes to have lots of projects on the go. Yup. I gave birth to a mini me. What she also observed is that he is an incredibly happy child. That made me smile. I haven't broken his spirit yet. After she watched him, she talked to the daycare providers and asked them why they think he might have temper tantrums (besides the fact that he is, I don't know, TWO!). Their theory is that I, the mother, work too much. Oh well, that is just fanfuckingtastic. Dad can work 80 hour weeks, shoot up heroin in front of a child and beat him with a belt and that's fine, but Mom decides to work a normal 38 hour work week and she's suddenly Joan Crawford. Face palm. GAH! Fuck me! In the end, nothing really came out of the visit but I am glad that we are showing that we care. The therapist is great and super sympathetic and on the same wave length. We talked about child rearing and tips and it was nice to hear that I am not permanently damaging my child by choosing to work. So that's been what's up recently. Woot woot.
G: Which Greek island is closer to Austria?
Me: Why?
G: So the flight will be faster.
Me: It won't make a difference. Greece is small anyway.
G: (spluttering) It's huge!
Me: Sweetie, I'm from Canada., Greece is a pimple on a map
45 minutes later we've narrowed it down to Rhodes
Me: Ok, what about this place? Looks amazing!
G: There aren't any water slides.
Me: So?
G: I like water slides.
20 minutes later and he's only agreed to ones that have a water slide
Me: OK, so we've agreed that we need a family room, a sea view, slides, kid pools and close to the airport and on a beach.
G: Doesn't have to be on a beach.
Me: Yes it does.
G: We can walk to the beach, this one's only 500 meters away.
Me: After we walk through the garbage dump.
G: So?
30 minutes later and I'm about to throw the laptop out the window
Me: Ok, we've got it narrowed down to 6 places. We're getting closer. Which one is your favourite?
G: (Points to one of the places that isn't on our list) This one.
Me: That's not even on the list!
G: Look, it has a pirate ship in the pool! In the pool! And slides.
Me: No. No. It also had a dead rat in the room according to Trip Advisor.
G: They've probably removed it by now
At this point I started looking up divorce lawyers. Some people have triggers in their relationship and this is definitely one of them for me. I hate hate hate hate booking holidays with the Husband. We always have an epic fight because of water slides. Every.single.time. I'll let you know what we end up booking or divorcing. Until then, I'm on Xanax.
On Wednesday I met with a child therapist for the second time. My son is two. He doesn't need a therapist. But according to his daycare, he has tantrums once in a while. That's just crazy. He's two. Like the calmest age ever. So in order to be proactive, I looked up an English speaking therapist and met with her. She's great and I felt super relaxed after talking to her. She suggested she would visit the daycare and watch the Kid in action. She went last week and so we decided to meet again after.
It was a great meeting because it finally hit me that the Kid is, well, exactly like me. Apparently he has a lot a lot a lot of energy. He never just walks somewhere, he freaking runs. He is impatient. He is a non stop talker (nobody knows what he's saying but that doesn't stop him... or me either). He is extremely determined and likes to have lots of projects on the go. Yup. I gave birth to a mini me. What she also observed is that he is an incredibly happy child. That made me smile. I haven't broken his spirit yet. After she watched him, she talked to the daycare providers and asked them why they think he might have temper tantrums (besides the fact that he is, I don't know, TWO!). Their theory is that I, the mother, work too much. Oh well, that is just fanfuckingtastic. Dad can work 80 hour weeks, shoot up heroin in front of a child and beat him with a belt and that's fine, but Mom decides to work a normal 38 hour work week and she's suddenly Joan Crawford. Face palm. GAH! Fuck me! In the end, nothing really came out of the visit but I am glad that we are showing that we care. The therapist is great and super sympathetic and on the same wave length. We talked about child rearing and tips and it was nice to hear that I am not permanently damaging my child by choosing to work. So that's been what's up recently. Woot woot.
The awesomest kid I know (no offense) was in daycare at 6 months so that his mom could resume her career as a physics professor. He is well adjusted, funny, and sweet. So suck it, Austrian daycare workers.
ReplyDeleteAww! Thanks for that! I think there is just a real bias that I work full time and that the Husband takes him to daycare more than I do... (not the past 5 weeks and what a surprise, the Kid is doing so much better...) Fun fun.
ReplyDeleteMy kids have both been in daycare since they were 4-months old. I now have a brilliant and precocious 5-year-old and an insane and silly 3-year-old. They both have fits from time to time, and they are loved to pieces. I'm so sorry you have to live with that bias against you, as if women don't do well enough berating themselves on their own.
ReplyDeleteI learned early on that I HAVE to work for my own peace of mind. If I wasn't working, I would go batty. My kids have a better mother with more to give BECAUSE I work. It took a while to come to terms with it, and now that I have accepted it about myself, I don't care about the sancti-moms who give dirty looks because I work full time.
As long as you love your baby, you've done it right.
Thanks Anna! You are so right! Sancti-moms is an awesome term... My mother told me that in the 70's, stay at home moms were villified and that the only way to parent was to be a working mom. I think the pendulum swings every generation! Austria is an awesome place to call home but sometimes...:) Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDelete