Update

By way of explanation, my husband has Monday/Tuesdays off and I usually work 4-tens so have been taking Wednesdays off.  Before he went back to work I had Fridays off which meant EVERY weekend was a holiday (yeah!)...but Mondays were hard.  I know this is one of those "my tiara is SO heavy" moments but when he got his job it was the first time we had to stash the kids anywhere.  In a freak bit of luck there's an excellent inclusive pre-school/daycare nearby but they didn't have room on Fridays so I switched my day off to Wedn.  This has worked out brilliantly because we were able to ease our girl into daycare just twelve hours a week.  (He doesn't start till 12, they close at 6.  The boy's been hanging with his cousins after school). 

Nevermind that I see my husband exactly never.  We agreed, with varying degrees of resignation, resentment, and sulking that it was Temporary and Best for the Children but yikes. 

Except instead of working 10 hrs on Thurs/Friday, I have to leave about 2 hours early to make sure I get there before 6.  That, plus some increased work, and probably a little bit too much time online in the morning and I'm behind.  Noticeably behind.  Can no longer fix in one Saturday behind.  The school had freed up some room in January so I set up our girl for an extra day "just for a month", so I could work on Wednesdays and catch up.  Except I played hooky this Monday because I hadn't spent 24 hrs with my husband in 4 months.  Also because I was up till 1am and knew I had Wedn covered.  Also next week is Special Day at the boy's school + girl's cardio check up so will have improved exactly nothing in the first half of January.  Hence the source of some of my ranting earlier today.  Guilt, all around, but right now especially with my fabulously lenient employer who I am abusing. 

I'm not a big fan of the (now) Wedn-Thurs-Friday gig.  Bless all the single parents out there... I feel bad about leaving early, tired from what time I did put in, and am scrounging around offering the kids cereal and canned fruit for dinner because no way I'm spending the extra 2 minutes to saute a veggie.  They're tired, hungry, and clingy too.  But I'm busy wondering how early I can pack them off to bed without triggering State intervention.  On these days, only basic needs are met - subsistence living. 

But tonight... at risk of high cheese factor here... was awesome.

The boy's been working on a "Me" poster for school.  Tonight he asked if he could cut up an extra Christmas card so he could glue on a picture of his sister.  He's fine with her but they don't really have much in common.  He's starting to express a little excitement when she's signing something he knows but otherwise they seem to travel in separate orbits.  [So does that make me the sun?  a narcissist?]  I've had to request omissions be corrected in other family drawings.  But tonight he wanted to include her, unprompted. 

And tonight, when reading Moo, Baa, LaLaLa, my baby pointed at the inside cow with her pointy finger, then turned the book back to the cover and POINTED AT THE COW ON THE COVER.   THEN REPEATED THIS WITH THE SHEEP.  (she wasn't so much into the singing pigs). 

My heart burst.  I've still been trying to get a video of her using her index finger (the previously promised Great Reveal) but MATCHING things takes this to a whole new level.