Well I’m certainly not going to set the single parenting community on fire like this, am I? Real life has taken all the energy and focus away from cyberlife, what can I tell you. We went up north, now we’re back, time keeps going by.
What’s Taking Up Space in My Brain
In addition to mucho transitionos at work, some painful, some not so, I am encompassed by the Latest Major Life Decision I’ve concocted for myself: whether to move yet further south, to where my brother, s-i-l, and nephew are. It’s a big deal, since we just made a major move a year ago, and I don’t want to drag myself, and more importantly Phoebe, through it again without being pretty damn sure it’s the right thing to do.
In addition to the standard stress and upheaval of a major move to a new and basically unfamiliar place, in order to do this I’ll need to go through a major renegotiation with Ex about visitation. We had a nasty battle last year to get permission to move down here, and while jurisdiction may have changed, the players haven’t, and I’m not pleased with the prospect of doing it again. If at all possible, this time I will not go the court route. I’d like to at least try to do it more quietly, calmly, and with less confrontation (and legal expenses). There’s no way we could visit as frequently as we do now, so things would Have To Change.
The Thorn In My Side
I’m eager to get even farther away from Ex, and not at all eager to re-engage him on a controversial topic like moving another 500 miles away, given the past week of dealing with him last week while we were up north. He makes tons of noise (literally) about how much he misses Phoebe, how much he loves being with her, how awful it is when we go home… but we were up there for a week and as far as I can tell (and as merely the mother, custodial parent, and sole caregiver, I’m not entitled to any information about what he does with her), he did nothing actually child-oriented with her at all. No museum, no playground, nothing of the kind.
He bought her a ton of crap, with absolutely no regard to size or appropriateness (he bought her a pair of boys’ skateboard shorts, about size 9. I’m not kidding). He gave her candy and ice cream for breakfast (also not kidding. But not on the same day, so why am I complaining?). And now that we’re home, he’s calling repeatedly and berating me about why she’s not playing with the crap he bought her.
Oh God. I just got afraid that one of these times he’s going to take my non-tv-watching child to some PG-13 movie with sex and violence and product placement and who knows what-all else.
But, Growing Things
When we got back, there was a radish! We picked it and ate it proudly. Sadly, Phoebe didn’t like it. They are pretty strong and peppery I guess. Maybe I can get her to eat them in a salad with salt and other stuff to cut the flavor. Any kid-friendly radish serving suggestions?
In other garden news, Tthe peas are much bigger and I’m pretty sure there are little lettuces and chards coming up (it’s kinda hard to tell the difference between them and the weeds), but no carrots yet. I don’t really understand – it’s not like carrots are hard to grow. We still have to plant sunflowers, pumpkins, corn, squash, and maybe something else. I know, time’s a-wastin’.
Welcome back! Cute radish—it looks pink! I always thought radishes were red, but that gives you an idea of how often I encounter them.
Sorry about the problems with your ex. That cannot be easy to deal with at all.