Either I am coping really well with having a second child in the house, or I am just turning manic. I am vacillating between the two options, although I would really like to believe it is the first one! I feel like I am doing more and getting more done during the day than, well, ever, really. My laundry is under control, my kitchen is staying clean, the house looks pretty decent, my daughter is getting reading lessons, played with and read to, Gregory is fed, changed, walked, etc. as necessary, and we are even getting out of the house for errands. We are also doing more social type stuff than we have done in the past - we had a play-date this morning, another one tomorrow, a park day with the local homeschoolers on Thursday (which I have been trying to get myself to go to for ages now) and we may have one on Friday. I went to a Mom’s club social event on Saturday, a board meeting last night, and book group meeting tonight, and I’m not collapsing. Hmm… probably manic. :-)

I do need to do more social stuff for Emma’s sake though, poor kid. I kind of wish we had a child in between Emma and Gregory, as I think Emma would have enjoyed that. Not that they wouldn’t have fought and driven each other nuts, but still I think it would have been a good thing. As we were leaving our play-date this morning I drove past the elementary school I went to and pointed it out to Emma. She mournfully asked if she could go to school there soon, and I asked her why. She said that she wanted to go to school there so that she could be around other children. I told her that she wouldn’t get to play much with the other children at school because that’s not what it is for, but she said that would be ok. She said that she didn’t want to just be home with me and be all alone without any other children around. Ah, poor kid, I guess we need to get out more. I asked her if we were to start doing more with other children during the day if that would help, and she said that it would, so I think I need to really make an effort to be more social. Too bad I haven’t met anyone with a child my daughter’s age that I could even imagine spending an hour with while Emma plays… all the moms I’ve met that I’ve liked in the least all have younger children. The little girl Emma played with today was 16 months old and they both had a good time, but I could tell that Emma would have liked to do a bit more than what a toddler can do! The little boy we’ll be with tomorrow is only 10 months old… at least the little boy we’ll most likely see on Friday is (almost) 3, that should be a bit better. *sigh* Pairing an anti-social and shy mother with an outgoing and social daughter is not an easy match… but then again, I believe parenthood is all about growing, learning and developing for both parent and child. Also, I’d hate to inadvertently give my daughter any of the same neuroses I have (I think the phone-phobia thing is the worst of them, thank goodness for email!). I seem to have inherited many of my mother’s, although in milder forms, and I’d rather give Emma the opportunity to develop her own. *grin* I want to give Emma some more social opportunities and help myself in the process. I can only hope!