Rhythms

This week hasn't been exactly normal so far.  On a normal week, I stay home with Little Bear 78% of the time. Maybe, maybe, I'll have the car two days out of the week; Little Bear eats when he wants to, naps when he wants to, tears the house apart the rest of the time and I kinda sorta keep things clean and make supper. It works for us, even if there are days I feel like I'll go crazy with no adult interaction.

This week, Little Bear and I have been all over the place. Errands and more errands and a meeting and adoration yesterday, errands and dentist and playing at Grandma's house today, and Matt has a work function this evening so I get to fly solo during bedtime, yay. More errands and running around with friends and dinner at Grandma's house tomorrow, and maybe if I'm really crazy I'll try to get to Mass Friday. And there's something on Saturday, too, but I can't recall what. How did my week get so hectic? And what happened to me, that a week like this sounds hectic?

We like our rhythms, and right now our home rhythm is a very peaceful one. It's rare for me to have to plan dinner around picking Matt up from work, or to try to time Little Bear's nap so that we can get to such-and-such a place at a certain time. When he's tired, he sleeps. When he's hungry, he eats. Nothing has to happen at a particular time, because no one else is affected by our day. It's quiet, relaxed, lovely.

But even in the unstructured day-to-day, we still fall into a steady rhythm. When he wakes up, he wants to eat. Two to four hours after he wakes up, he will be ready for a nap. If we are out in town in the morning, he will almost always go down for a nap as soon as we get home; woe to me if I try to put groceries away first! After his nap, we will play and read and clean and cook, and Little Bear will get frustrated that I'm cooking and push me out to the couch and bring me more stories.

With all of the extra things we have going on this week, it's anchoring to recognize that organic rhythm still flowing through our days. If we are out all morning, he falls right asleep and we pick up our afternoon as usual. Tomorrow's commitments are in the afternoon, but because we are getting up early to drive Matt to work, I know that Little Bear will still have time for his usual nap. Doing so many things over the week doesn't disrupt our daily rhythm; it stretches it in places, condenses it in others, but the inherit flexibility of not usually caring when anything happens allows even these full days to hold moments of that familiar peace.