A Day Off… Kind Of: Mum Life Without a Toddler

Today my son was off to daycare and I had a day to myself. Little did I know, by the end of it, my laptop would be hanging on for dear life… and I’d be out of bananas.

My morning started at 6:50 when I was woken by an alarm going off on our baby monitor. It was the temperature alarm letting us know the room temperature had dropped to 15°C (59°F). Since our son is still too young to know how to use a blanket, we have to try and keep his room warm. I spent five minutes nagging my husband about how we were going to manage that. Then, I realised that if I got up straight away, I’d have time to prepare our son’s breakfast before he woke up.

While I waited for the toaster to pop, I checked all my social media notifications. As usual, I had to deal with the daily vultures that have started contacting me thinking I have money to pay them for their services. Today I had two:

• A website designer tried to convince me I should list my digital products on Shopify, and then immediately asked if he could help design the store. I just ignored this one.
• An author felt the need to message me to let me know they had published 75 titles and I could check them all out on Amazon. Then they asked me to share a link to my work so they could offer tips to help me “boost my book.” Honestly, if these people just spent five minutes checking my profile before they start trying to sell me something, they’d realise I have never written a book and have no money to give them! They could save themselves the awkward small talk and move on to their next victim.

I was also surprised to see a couple of new Instagram followers on my quote page. One stood out in particular: a company that turns placentas and umbilical cords into framed art. I was terribly disappointed that I didn’t know about this when I was pregnant. I could’ve turned my son’s umbilical cord into a butterfly that we would hang in our front entry for everyone to admire as they walked through the door. Missed opportunity there! I guess this is the kind of audience I attract now I’ve committed to the Zombie Mama theme.

I got my son up, dressed, and off to daycare.

On the way home, I stopped at the shop to buy milk. I usually allow myself a daily coffee budget so I can treat myself to a café coffee. This week, after a playdate where the kids had a drawing table, I decided my son needed one too. So, I sacrificed my daily coffee for a day to buy him paper and crayons, and today was that day.

The crayons keep him busy… sort of. He spends a whole three seconds drawing, and then I spend the rest of the time chasing him around the house trying to stop him drawing on the walls. Money well spent there!

After I left the shop, I remembered I was also supposed to buy a banana for my son’s breakfast tomorrow, but I forgot. Oh well, at least I still had the milk for coffee!

Once I got home, I tackled a few chores that are almost impossible when my son is around: changing the cat litter, cleaning the kitchen, putting new sheets on the bed, and doing some laundry.

With all that done, I sat down with a homemade iced latte and got to work.

I worked on some more digital products for my Etsy store. Today’s project was Zombie Mama colouring pages for tired mums. I also made a few more quotes for my quote page. I noticed I was swearing at Canva a bit less than usual, so I must be getting better at this. Baby steps!

At some point during the morning, I got off the lounge too quickly and my laptop, that was already hanging on by a thread, is now hanging on by... air? One sneeze from me now, and it will be launched into oblivion. I’m currently using a box of children’s books to prop the screen up. I have an office set up in our spare room, but I’m working from the lounge because I do not want to risk moving this baby.

At around 11:30, I decided it was time for some lunch and a bad horror movie. Lunch was a ham and cheese croissant. I know, sounds fancy for someone whose laptop has lost the will to live. The movie was Rosario.

Here was my downfall, and it usually is, as I was getting myself set up to watch the movie, I got the idea to write this. Then, of course, throughout the whole movie, I kept thinking of things to write and taking notes on my phone, missing most of the plot. I swear my attention span is worse than my toddler’s!

After the movie, I started prepping dinner as it is always much easier when I don’t have a toddler attached to my leg. Tonight’s dinner was chicken meatballs with broccoli pesto. It’s a great variation on a children’s favourite, spaghetti and meatballs. It has vegetables hidden in the sauce, very handy for fussy kids.

After that, I got straight to work writing this.

Then it was 4 p.m. and time to pick up our son. This part of the day is always amusing for me. We walk into the room, he sees us, his face lights up… and he runs straight past me to his father. Once, I even went to take him from Dad and he would not budge. The daycare staff always laugh at this. I’m convinced he does this on purpose to embarrass me.

Of course, as soon as we get home, he becomes permanently attached to me and I have to carry him everywhere.

We had a nice little hour to spend with him before it was time to start the bedtime routine. By 6 p.m., he was tucked in bed, and hubby and I were enjoying our chicken meatballs and watching TV. I always savour these last few hours to myself on a Thursday before it’s back to full-time parenting duties on Friday.

Looking back on today, it’s made me realise how simple, weird, and accidentally funny my life can be. I wouldn’t change a thing… well, maybe the laptop. Oh, and the banana.