Reorientation

Things have toned down a bit for Eris, and she's talking more directly about what's stressing her out. Which is good, but it's still very frustrating to deal with going over the same concerns over and over again. She's stressed out about the pandemic. (So I guess the "stressed out for reasons I don't fully understand" from a few posts ago is mostly "stressed out for reasons I completely understand", just manifesting in some ways that are a bit odd, albeit thematically connected.) Not so much about the prospect of getting sick, it's just that we aren't going places like we used to pre-2020. That pediatric vaccine can't come soon enough, though I'm wondering if getting vaccinated first is too much to hope for. It might be. I think it's better enough (given uncertainty) that it's still worth the attempt if that means forgoing some fun activities in favor of others, but that doesn't mean we're not feeling the absence of what we miss.

I'm frustrated that Julie keeps setting Eris off in predictable ways, even though kid's reactions are totally unreasonable. For one thing, that's left kid wanting me to handle everything re bedtime and those late-night interruptions. Which is a reversal of the previous arrangement. But I need a lot more sleep. I feel like I'd be pretty good at parenting if I was alert and sharp more of the time, but I'm so often not.

Kid wants a lot of focused attention from her parents.

I've been reading her The Phantom Tollbooth chapter by chapter as a bedtime story, and she's enjoying it. So that's fun.

In some ways, things are going a bit better. But lately my inner monologue is frequently just wordless screaming. A lot is going well though. Stress and exhaustion grind, no matter what else is going well.

School orientation was today, so got to briefly meet Erica's new teacher, Ms. Young. Kindergarten starts a week from tomorrow. Kid has some mixed feelings, reasonably, she's been in Arminda's daycare since she was three months old and it's been good. But she's overall excited.