01:22 - 22.08.07
Care Givers
Number four son's wife returned to work not long ago. Their babysitter wanted time for holidays already planned so I spent yesterday over at their home looking after my youngest grandson. Left home at 7 in the am for the first walk of the day. It was 6 C/40 F, so I wore a sweater over my skort and denim shirt. Just comfortable. As I was leaving my community I noticed a young man waiting outside the medical clinic in the next community over. Synchronistically enough the van he had arrived in bore the logo of a company that one of my brother-in-laws worked for some time ago. One notorious for workshop accidents and injuries, but which never seemed to come under scrutiny for same. Hmmmm. The young man was pacing restlessly outside the closed office. I wondered why he would choose that then remembered my wait times at the hospital emergency and the average wait time posted for receiving care. Even if he had to wait a couple of hours for the clinic to open he would still "save" himself four hours of sitting in a place where he might come away sicker than when he arrived. Nothing wrong with his reasoning faculties anyway.
Crossed the highway immediately after seeing that little vignette marvelling at how quiet the traffic was. After all it was a Monday morning rush hour. That said, the tempo will increase in another couple of weeks when students and teachers from the surrounding bedroom communites and farms start making their way back to classes. I opted to walk inside one of the communities boundaries rather than sticking to the freeway route I had taken a couple of days before. Less lights and traffic to contend with meant the travel was a little quicker that way. It also gave me the opportunity to have a look at how other homeowners were planting their yards and gardens as well as dealing with the entryways to their homes. A lot of really interesting ideas that might not have occurred to me otherwise. The downside was that the entire journey was now relegated to paved areas which is much harder on the ankles and knees than grassy verges such as line the freeway. I guess I need to get used to that for when I find a job. I intend to continue my lunchtime walk regardless of where I end, up just to keep my health on an even keel.
Arrived at my son's home with about 20 minutes to spare before his wife left for her job. My grandson was still feeling quite sickly. The basis of his discomfort is still his teething though - the pain making him weepy and irritable, poor little guy. His Mom is struggling to cope with a first baby and it obvious from her comments that she was finding it very difficult - she even told me to call her Mom if I felt overwhelmed. I think she forgot that I raised six little boys, including her spouse, without much back up especially after my Mom died. I think she is finding leaving her baby to go back to work a lot harder than she thought. It was obvious my grandson wanted the comfort of his Mom when he was feeling so sick but I did the best I could to keep him comfortable during the day.
First order of business after she left was to give him the homeopathic remedy his Mom had found for the teething pain. Camillia - worked like a charm. He could use the vial that held the fluid for a teething ring too. I had brought the first book in the "Dark is Rising" series "Over Sea, Under Stone" to read aloud to him. He laid on the carpet, head on a pillow and a blankie covering him, and listened quietly until he fell asleep for his morning nap. About a chapter into the story.
I made our lunches while he slept. He woke up quite happy. That lasted until after we had eaten and were playing with his toys. I picked him up just as he filled a very big, messy diaper. One of those covered from shoulders to heels events that left my shirt covered too. That elicited more tears - from him, not me since my grandmother always said such things brought good luck, you know, by keeping wild animals at bay. Those changed to smiles and laughter as he realized that he was going to get a bath for his efforts. A lot of young children are afraid of the water but not this little guy. He obviously thought he was in heaven. Once he was out of the tub - under great protest, mind you - we continued with the afternoon activities. He was intrigued as I spent some time trying to figure out their washing machine - his clothes and mine needing immediate attention. One of the shows that my youngest granddaughter really enjoyed cycled up on the childrens' tv channel and he was entranced for the entire 15 minutes it played - the fine arts show. Gave me enough time to do a couple of chores that required concentration anyway. He protested when I put clothes back on him, but sick babies need to be kept warm - right?
Like most little boys food is really important to him. He is still very slender because he is constantly walking about playing. We spent a lot of time playing various forms of ball games. He cheers at "up" moves and is happy to make his grandmother chase his wild tosses all over the house. Read a little more of the story to him, then he went down for another nap. The teething pain really was tiring for him. When he woke there wasn't a lot of time until his parents returned home. Took him outside to play "soccer" for a while. It was pretty breezy - felt cooler than when I had left home in the morning. He wanted to watch the traffic flow gazing up across the park that backs onto their home to the roadway. He especially enjoyed the busses. Back to the toy box playing with puzzles and shape sorters as well as an entire menagerie of stuffed animals and cartoon characters. His Mom especially loves frogs and there were dozens of them, but no Kermit. We'll have to see if we can rectify that oversight won't we. My son arrived home a bit late so I left for my second constitutional of the day just after 6 in the pm. I tried a variation on the route I had walked in the morning just to see if it was quicker. Not, but I did have the chance to look at some more new ideas for my home.
Today was spent trying to catch up on all the job applications I had set aside in order to spend the past three days with my son's family. My priorities are family first but I still hav to find a way to pay my bills too. Too bad the governments who say they want to provide adequate child care don't consider providing the funds to pay family to take care of the little ones instead of only paying to warehouse them in day cares. I'd happily stay home and look after my grandbabies if I could cover my own expenses. Not a whisper of that anywhere though. I think the politicians are caught in a mental time warp - "back to the the 1950's", when a family could live on one wage and there were Moms and extended family at home to provide the care for "free". It is now a different century, buckos, with very different dynamics in the family unit. Get with the program.
I did receive one call from one of the employers I had contacted with my resume late last week. I was in the process of fighting with the website of one company that insisted that a job apllication required one to use their intake process even after submitting one's resume. The problem was that the "continue" function wouldn't work even after using all the tech directions to rectify the problem. The system had hung up on the question about whether one had any criminal record. I don't even have any traffic tickets let alone any criminal record, but it seemed that the only one of the three answers the system would accept was the one that indicated one did have some sort of shady past. I guess I could make up a story but that's lying isn't it? I finally found a website address where one could actually reach a technical support person and sent off an email describing the problem "in detail" as directed. I had ignored the ringing phone because I was afraid that I would come back and find that I had forgotten one of the steps or missed some information that might help resolve the IT issue. The upshot was that I played telephone tag with the caller from the one employer for the balance of the afternoon without ever speaking to her directly. Bother.
Guess I'd better get some sleep now so that I can try ringing her first thing in the morning. Good night dear diary.
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