Balance

Life is humming along on these beautiful summer days, and things feel in balance. Brian has been working a lot this week, and I know that it's wearing him out, but aside from that, I think that things feel quite at ease here. And, of course, it probably feels less at ease for Brian right now for me--I guess this is more a personal update than a family one.

I've found a nice balance of priorities and areas of my life that receive my attention and focus at various times. Sam is with Maia and me for about 15 hours every week, and I've really come to value my ability to be at home with Maia and yet also help her learn some important aspects of emotional intelligence that come from interacting with others. I think she's been able to learn a lot about patience and sharing and cooperation. She's very thoughtful with Sam, but she's definitely had many opportunities to practice speaking kindly to him and understanding that he has a personal bubble (both in terms of space and in terms of wants and needs) just as she does.

I've also struck a very nice balance with work. It felt very validating to pass my LCCE certification exam; I'm very fond of certifications and licenses for their own sake, because I think the process of preparing for the exams (LCCE) or seminars (DONA) or inspections (State of MI child care) is a very valuable one. I guess I'm just a sucker for formalized study and things that a community of professionals can have in common. I like that kind of thing. Anyway, my childbirth teaching is deeply enriching, and I feel really engaged with discussions surrounding the current state of maternity care in the U.S. I think we're going to see a lot of talk about prenatal care and birth now that so much attention is being deservedly paid to the outrageous costs (and, often, not so great outcomes) of health care in this country--finally! Now that I've attended several births, taught this material dozens of times, and worked my way through a lot of current research, I'm feeling really solid with my knowledge in this area, and it feels really intellectually stimulating and challenging.

We've been without our cable for many months now, and I've substituted vegging-out on the sofa in front of the T.V. with vegging-out with my book. Of course, I always was a reader before, but I've gained whole blocks of time that used to get partially consumed by TV watching, almost without me realizing that I was doing it. Talk about "mindless"! I'm at the pace of reading a nonfiction text or novel about once every week or every other week. Just today, while Maia was napping, I finished a book about contemporary China called Oracle Bones, and it helped me get a deeper understanding of the up-to-the-minute events in western China (riots, ethnic tension, economic issues, etc.). I didn't plan it that way--the developments in the news over the last few days coincided with my finising the book.

We just learned last week that a new family has moved into our neighborhood, and their oldest child was born exactly two days after Maia. Maia and I spent a wonderful chunk of time at their house yesterday afternoon, and it was such a treat. I guess the usual term for this would be "playdate," but that's one of the words in common usage that I absolutely can't stand (not sure why . . .), so we'll just call it plain old "playtime." :)

And, of course, another aspect of balance is my regular exercise. I'm running three days per week now, preparing for the half marathon in Detroit in mid-October. I've been in a bit of a holding pattern the last couple of weeks, in that my training schedule has me running 5Ks for the longest distance, but this weekend that increases a bit with a 4-mile run on Sunday. After that, every other week, I go up one mile in distance on my Sunday long runs: 5 miles on the 19th, 6.5 on August 2nd, and so on.

That's enough for now, I think. I have to go comb through my bookshelves and figure out what I'm going to read next. I'm contemplating a re-read of Anna Karenina again, but I might do something else. Maybe The Red Tent?