The new plan

I took this online test called Strengthfinder to assess my (you guessed it) strengths, a program created by Gallup and distributed to me by my church (which may be the only thing Gallup and the Catholic Church have ever had in common), and it told me one of my strengths was adaptability. That apparently means that while some people may consider me flaky, I actually just excel at maneuvering through many options and finding the most suitable path for the given moment, as conditions change. I try to keep telling myself this as I maneuver through a plethora of childcare options, having just dissolved my care swap with Sam, on account of her kid getting sick all the time, always seemingly on the days I needed to send Jack to her. She might well now be one of those people who considers me a flake. But with almost exactly three months left on the PhD clock and still two chapters to go, I cannot afford to not have reliable care for Jack. And with a family that already got a nasty stomach flu that put Danny out of work for a week once this winter, I cannot afford to let her keep sending over her little vector of disease to get the rest of us sick, or to make me feel guilty when I don't. So, the new plan begins.

The new plan involved a lot of scrambling and shuffling and a miracle or two to come to fruition. Tuesday Mom has now moved to Thursdays, and I moved a few mountains to make room for myself in my friends' nanny share on Tuesdays (Jack will be hanging out with his friends Isabelle and Reuben, who he has known before he was born, since they were technically all hanging out together in utero at the birth class). Mondays I will have an undergrad come over in the afternoon, Fridays Danny is going to work a half day so he can come home to take Jack in the afternoon, and Wednesdays I will go down to my grandma, who has heroically agreed to play with Jack while I ensconce myself in the computer room upstairs to work.

Yesterday was my first day trying out the nana-nanny, and I was astounded how well it worked. I thought I would get distracted by treats calling to me from the kitchen or by Jack being so cute with his nana. I mean, seriously. Look at them.

How could you not sit and watch that all day? Jack is just enraptured by her. But, remarkably, I was able to tear myself away and made some significant progress up in my computer enclave. Every once in a while I would hear them making noises to each other down below me and would find myself giggling in the midst of my spreadsheets. I think this arrangement is going to work out just perfectly. I would do it every day if I didn't worry about being too much of a burden and/or if I wasn't accountable on campus and for teaching and/or if 880 weren't such an unpleasant excuse for a highway. But Wednesdays will be just perfect.

And I think the rest of it will be, too. Some people might call this new schedule schizophrenic (but then, some people might call me a flake). For a kid as outgoing as Jack, though, I think it will be stimulating. He gets some time with other kids, some time with his daddy, some time with his mommy, some time with his favorite not-mommy, and very very specially, some time with his precious nana. I can't resist one more.

You are a lucky boy, Jack.