ChiKat

My long-term career goal is to write for non-profits focused on improving inner-city life.

Currently, I'm writing about recycling rates for plastic resins and designing templates for project planning. Which is to say, I'm not doing anything to improve inner-city life (unless you count the pretty flowers that I plant in the summertime).

But despite being far from non-profits, I've been pleased with my freelancing lately. I try to cram everything I need to accomplish in the day (shower, write, dishes, feed dog, world peace) into his naptime. Some days, having to race to get everything done totally drains me. But other days, like today, I'm totally satisfied when I am able to accomplish non-baby tasks and it re-charges my desire to stay at home with my son.

The day-to-day caring for a child can be totally overwhelming. My son is 10-months-old. He eats baby food now, but I have to spoon feed him. If I give him the spoon, he will eventually learn how to eat by himself, which is a good thing because I don't want to be spoon feeding a teenager. But letting him have the spoon means food gets everywhere. Not just on the boy, but on the dog, me, the floor and sometimes the ceiling. And it's mushy peas. The DOG doesn't even like it.

So some days, I am tired and don't feel like cheering my son on while he hurls food around the room in an attempt to feed himself. But other days, when I've completed a project and a client tells me I did a good job, I'm totally able to be the cheerleader and enjoy these monumental developmental milestones that are so amazing in retrospect, but so excruciatingly frustrating when you are in the trenches.