I don’t know why we bother to have clocks in the house anymore. Maybe once upon a time we needed a clock to say something like, “Hey… it’s almost time for the Phil Silvers Show. Warm up the ol’ Dumont, will ya?”*
(*These are references to a rather old TV show and a very old name for a television. I’m making a humorous statement to emphasize how obsolete clocks seem to have become.)
With on-demand viewing, however, we are not shackled to TV schedules. We are not shackled to the conventional concept of time. I’m a freelancer, so my hours are pretty much all the time, regardless of time. While M is working, she kind of needs to know what time it is, but that’s what smart phones are for (certainly not for calling anyone, amiright?).
This is all just as well because Jack doesn’t know what a clock is and, frankly, could not care less. And because Jack doesn’t care what time it is, he feels that we shouldn’t either.
Hence…
Our sleep schedules aren’t so much schedules as they are opportunities to catch a quick nap whenever we can.
We do not leave to go anywhere on time. Oh, we try… but we’ve been late for a number of things because young Jack has decided that he can’t leave the house without exploding another diaper and/or needing a surprise feeding. (Surprise!)
Case in point, I just had to pause in the middle of writing this to feed young Jack who sucks down food like he’s afraid the British are coming to take it away. (It’s an Irish thing.)
In leaving for anywhere, it’s a minor production involving clothing the child, which he sees as a crime worthy of trial at the Hague, and wrestling him into the carseat. That’s after the surprise feedings and diaper changes. It may not sound like a lot, but it’s all enough to require us to add an additional 45 minutes to an hour to anything we attempt to schedule.
Then there is the old work schedule. Mine, that is. As a freelancer, I have a lot of options for when I sit down to work, but they aren’t entirely free options. My biggest clients are located in the UK and in Japan. I like to be able to work when the UK people are in their office so I can quickly reply to their e-mails. My client in Japan (an American expat) is used to working with American-based freelancers, so we catch up on business during his evening/my morning. It’s a system that has worked for years.
Nowadays, however, things are little more loose. Sometimes during those hours I’m usually at the computer and working I am, instead, feeding the child, trying to catch up on chores, or asleep (intentionally or not). Fortunately, I can work at other times of the day so it’s not really hurting my production output, but it may sometimes mean that an e-mail gets delayed a little. In both cases with my major clients, they’re pretty laid back anyway and are, I think, bemused by how seriously I take things like this, but the secret to being a freelancer is to stay on top of things as much as possible.
So I get around the schedule and baby Jack is no real hassle or impediment now that I’m getting more used to it. But I do sometimes forget what day of the week it is. For instance, did you know today was Tuesday and not Monday? Or that yesterday was Monday and not Friday?
Again, not really complaining. I have yet to miss a deadline. I’m fortunate to have a very flexible schedule, but at the same time I recognize that I can’t lose track too much, for that way lies total chaos. We would prefer to not have chaos.
Chaos = Bad.
But I can say now that it is 9:15 am on a Tuesday morning. We have a 9:30 appointment at a place about twenty minutes away. We won’t be going out the door to the car for at least another four or five minutes, and this post won’t see the light of the Internet until a few hours from now.
C’est les infants.
On the plus side, we’re going to be all doing this together. Family time. Bonding time. And I have no regrets or resentments.
I welcome the new normal each day it comes, and with each change it brings.
Cheers!
–John
Follow-up: We were only 7 minutes late for our appointment which affected our tasks not at all. We count that as a win in our book. See? We’re getting the hang of this whole timing thing!
