Monday, January 18, 2010

navigating simplicity

so, where to begin? our little sprout is 4 months old, I'm back at work, about to launch into part-time childcare for Nina (something I'd never really envisioned...), and trying to figure out how to simplify our life, weave together the experiences and needs of one pre-existing child with my priorities for our family, and not spend so much of that time on the internet!

small accomplishment: I have knitted a couple of cloths for Nina, which were to be washcloths, but seem to be little lickie cloths at the moment. I made them with red yarn from a never-completed sweater for a friend's son. son is now 15. (!).

I just may follow my friend Casey's lead and start ordering a weekly vegetable delivery from Boston Organics -- which seems like a compromise between a CSA which hasn't been the right mix of veggies for our family, and going to a farmer's market, which just isn't in the cards yet due to my still trying to navigate my life.

the hard part: Hali was single for several years before we met, working full-time and going to school, and Jo has Cerebral Palsy and is (basically) an only child (she has 2 older half-sisters, but they're grown and in the world. As a result, Hali became accustomed to Jo watching a lot of junky TV -- it was the only break Hali had to do things like make dinner and such -- and we also own a Wii. Apparently the Wii is, in theory, good for Jo to work on strengthening her muscles and coordination (she uses one with her OT), and as a child who is sporty -- and an only child, and one with CP, and therefore not so easily able to play sports with other kids -- the Wii makes some things possible that wouldn't otherwise be an option without a tremendous effort of time, money, and/or expense, none of which we have at the moment.

So what do I do? I don't want Nina growing up with iCarly in the background. Probably I mostly need to chill the heck out, but I'd love others' perspectives on becoming a simple-living family. Hali does support my interests for the most part, and TV watching has gone down, so perhaps I need to be more patient and put more energy into what I can do and less into what others are or are not doing, and go from there...

3 comments:

Casey from LifewithRoozle.com said...

Our favorite thing is that you can add on items to Boston Organics, so we get salad mix, bananas, coffee, eggs, bread, and our regular box of fruits and veggies every week. We hardly ever have to go to the grocery store. I then fill in with a big peapod order for milk and "supplies" once a month. It's fantastic.

I think it's a good idea to focus on what you CAN do rather than what others are doing/not doing. I am working on that myself. Michelle likes to watch a lot of tv, and mostly what I consider to be useless tv whereas if I am going to watch tv, I would rather watch PBS or something. Instead of stopping her, I am trying to see more that it is her way to unwind (much like the IVP is for me) and she enjoys it. That is perfectly okay. So I am going to try to take the time when she is watching a show or two to read in the other room and have my own quiet time, something I rarely take. Your house is big enough too that if you really want Nina away from the Wii, you can play her some quiet music in the front room or count how many beets you got from boston organics. :)

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