By Mei Yee
After my post about my truth as a single parent, someone asked me about my daily life. A typical day can be dull around here, haha.
I start the day with coffee. (I actually start the day with water and my anxiety meds, but I fast-forwarded to the coffee.)
I don’t need coffee to wake up. I honestly just like the taste of it. Normally by the time I get up and move around, I have been awake for a few hours, just laying in bed playing a game on my phone while the girl’s sleep.
After coffee, I go downstairs and ride on my bike. Depending on what time I go down there, I end up riding 5 to 10 miles.
Quick shower, then off to wake up the girls!
Usually, Natalya has ended up in my bed at some point throughout the night. She usually brings all her things with her, too, and then hides under like twenty blankets. I think she thinks if I can’t see her, then she isn’t there and doesn’t need to go to school.
With Kisa, it almost feels like waking up a dragon for school. Of course, you need to, but there comes a lot of anger with it. No matter how I wake her up, she is angry. So, I just tap on her door twice (it is open), say, “Kisa let’s go,” and run away.
Hear her grunting from down the hallway, then she usually flicks or throws something. She then follows it up by yelling, “I didn’t break anything.”
Both of them are finally awake, yay… And cue them fighting. Over everything; the bathroom space, the toothpaste, making eye contact with each other. Then onto, “Mum, she hit me!” followed by “she hit me first!” That fight could go on for a while, so I yell, “hurry, we are late,” even if we aren’t because it at least gets them to separate.
They both somehow lost the clothing I just handed them, so I help them look for it while getting them something to eat.
After all of that, I get Kisa on the bus, then Natalya to the preschool, and then go to work. Well, I work from home now, so I go back home.
On my breaks, I take care of things I need to; things with the school, pay bills, do laundry, prep for dinner.
Before, I didn’t have much time to prep for dinner, and we honestly ate out a lot more than I care to admit.
I get Kisa off the bus, then head to get Natalya. If needed, we go to the store. Otherwise, we come home. I help with homework while finishing getting dinner ready.
After dinner, we kind of do our own thing. Kisa goes into her room to listen to music and play games or draw. Natalya will play on her tablet. And I either work some more or clean up or both. Still, somehow the girls end up fighting even when they aren’t in the same room. (This is where I feel I could do more with them, but I am also tired. And I only work sometimes during this time if I need time off during the week. My boss often tells me to use my PTO, so I don’t overwork myself, but with the flexible schedule, I just adjust the times I work, is all.)
Now time to get ready for bed, showers for everyone. And I brush the girl's hair out, which can take an hour or so itself. Not because we don’t brush it daily. They both just have so much. Kisa's hair is short, but she has thick/coarse hair. Natalya has longer hair, but she has spiral curls, so it all curls back up.
Again we are back at the bathroom to brush our teeth.. or another time for the girls to fight. Then they go back and forth for 30 minutes of wanting to give each other hugs. Which also leads to them fighting, haha.
After they are asleep, I sneak out to the living room, grab myself a ginger beer, and watch tv or play on the switch for a bit. My way to relax for a bit.
(My favorite brand!)