Friday, March 05, 2010

High needs

People might look at my home or how much I'm online and assume I'm simply lazy or that I don't care about the state of my home. They would be wrong though. I love having a clean home, keeping my windows open, and having people over but my high needs child is keeping me from reaching those goals. I'm intensely frustrated by this too. I sit here (nursing said toddler and typing one handed) and see all that needs to be done and feel embarrassed and anxious. I feel extremely limited by my child. We eat far too much take-out, have few people over, loose patience far too often, and are limited by which invitations I can accept.

I spend most of my day mediating fights and doing things one handed so I can carry Ivy. Some people suggest carrying her on my back but she rarely wants to be in a carrier anymore (and I don't even have a comfortable back carrier). I end up with a sore back, tired arms, and mad. I know I shouldn't be mad because of my child but it is what I feel often these days.

I know part of the problem is that I'm overly tired and underfed and as well I rarely get time for myself. Most days I have only a few minutes in which I'm not touching and/or talking to one of my children.

Yes, I know this is a phase and soon we'll be on to something different but that doesn't help me right here and now. Right now I'm frustrated, I'm tired, and I need my child to let me lay her down alone while she sleeps and to do even a small portion of the things I ask without throwing a tantrum that I fear will dislocate her shoulder or cause a concussion.

I have perspective and know that there are far worse things that could be happening in my life and I'm thankful that they aren't happening to us right now. But please know that if you see me with greasy hair, or if I never invite you over, or if I seem short with my kids I'm not a jerk I'm just doing the best I can at that moment (or at least trying).

4 Comments:

Blogger Jacob Blankenship said...

Amen, sista.

While my high needs toddler is no where near as cute as yours, and is also nearly 88 years old, I understand completely. It is a lot of thankless work, and somehow just keeping him from destroying everything around me requires constant hyper vigilance. It is like a black hole which sucks away all of my time and energy. It is hard to feel productive when all I have to show for my day is survival. You know what I mean? It may not look like I have done much, but the fact that I am not standing in a pile of rubble, or ash, and everyone is still alive and fed and not crying and intact, means I have put in a FULL day of tactical manoeuvrings.

10:00 AM  
Blogger Megan said...

Jacob, you always make me feel better. Based on those standards I'm super productive!

11:01 AM  
Blogger Heart Salve said...

I totally understand. I'm sure having 3 makes it even harder! I think we should just make a co-op where we just go to a different person's house one day a week and clean, declutter, make a few meals and chat.

11:02 AM  
Blogger Megan said...

Emily, we tried that once but it ended up being a huge failure. Everyone brought their kids of course and they made a mess of everything. Perhaps with babysitting that might work. I'm totally up for you watching my kids (that goes for you too Jacob!) ;)

The third child has totally broken me of the desire to go everywhere with my kids.

6:35 PM  

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