2004-04-27, 7:47 a.m.

Fear of Laundry

I had a terrifying thought this morning. When I go back to work, when will the laundry ever get done? Dear god. Add this to the growing list of things I'm trying not to get freaked out about.

Sigh.

We seemed to have reached a new stage, the boy and I. He will be 6 weeks old on Thursday night, and thus is entering the 'longer periods of wakefulness in which I need YOUR attention' phase. I suspect this goes on until he's a teenager and decides he hates us for several years, but still wants our attention, just not in any parentally demonstrable way. So I ought to be grateful - some day he won't want me to bask in every smile and rejoice at every giggle. But I had just gotten used to the routine of the last 2 weeks - the morning nap. I was really looking forward to that nap this morning. I am so tired that I could fall asleep typing. Or doing the laundry. But in the past few days my boy has gained a whole new appreciation for being awake and hanging out. Suddenly, every potential outing is no longer a guarantee of napping, and if he does sleep, that means he won't sleep later.

So add an alert, attention-needing child to the list of things I'm worried about dealing with when I go back to work. And then remind me not to think about it again until June.