The Allure of a Productive Day

Today Sydney had her first art class at the 4 Cats art studio.  It was so fun.  The kids got to do a pastel drawing, paint their own giant piece of canvas material and then make some fun shapes with clay.  Sydney was absolutely covered in paint by the time we left, despite her smock, it was everywhere, in her hair, on her face and hands and all over her clothes.  She had so much fun.  I have the feeling that this art class is fast going to become one of our favourite activities during the week.

Since becoming a Mom, the one thing that I find the most challenging is how unproductive my days are in quantitative terms.  I am incredibly productivity-driven, have always loved making lists and get great pleasure from scratching things off of my "to do" list and seeing how quickly I can accomplish a list of tasks.  None of this works when you are a Mom, I have learned.  You simply cannot have your own agenda or any expectations of what you think you can accomplish in a day.  I have learned this lesson over and over again the hard way many times since Sydney's birth and today I once again flew too close to the sun and learned it yet again....

I have been so inspired to get Sydney's playroom finished that I stayed up late last night looking at all sorts of websites to see if I could find some of what I needed to buy to get it completed.  IKEA had so many great things in the primary colours I was looking for, I found four things that I needed to get that I could easily pick up there.  So today, after art class, against my better judgement, I drove out to IKEA with Sydney in tow to see if I could get what I needed.

Silly, silly me.  What ever was I thinking taking my very active toddler to a warehouse where she could run free like a gazelle with wild abandon?  I had visions of her sitting quietly in the cart while I quickly grabbed what I needed and bee-lined it for the cashier but she would have none of it.  I lost her three times in the store and frantically ran around looking for her.  She thought it was hillarious seeing me chase her down and would laugh like crazy every time I found her, poor helpless and harassed Mom.  There was no reasoning with her whatsoever, she wouldn't sit or be carried or push the cart or eat a snack, all she wanted to do was run like the wind.

I eventually gave up and chased her down, tossed her in the car and headed home empty-handed.  Grrrrrr.  So incredibly inefficient and unproductive.  I have never felt more like driving my fist through a wall as I did at that moment that I was hauling her screaming and crying, under my arm like a football, out of the store.  I wanted to drop-kick the few people that were giving me dirty looks as though I was disturbing their quiet afternoon of shopping with my bratty child.

The car ride home was a quiet one except for the long lecture that I gave Sydney about how if she doesn't listen to Mommy in the store she is not going to be able to come shopping with me anymore.  When I asked her if she understood she answered firmly, "No!"  Grrrrrr.

So, lesson learned once again.  I am now going to jump online and order what I can to be delivered to my door and forget about ever setting foot in a store again.  Live and learn.