Time. We all wish we had more of, and sometimes we wish it would just slow down. Suddenly having a toddler makes me wish this more than ever – every day I find myself thinking, where have the past 20 months gone??
My challenge, therefore, is to spend December thinking about time. What I do with it, and how I can get the most out of every hour in the day.
I’ve always been very organised. Okay, extremely organised. I’ve always been a list-writer and this is something I still do. But now, my lists say things like Wash towels. Hang towels. Bring in towels. Empty dishwasher. Blog. Bake. If it’s not on the list, there’s a high chance I will forget to do it, even if it’s only a two-minute task.
And it’s not like I don’t have the time for a two-minute task, or even a twenty-minute task. Tiny is happy to play with his toys and books (or utensils and plastic containers) while I take a moment to make a call or pay a bill, and he loves coming outside to help hang the washing or pull some weeds.
My problem is that I spend too much time on the laptop. Each time I walk past the table, I think, I’ll just check my email… even though it’s only been five minutes since my last check. And once I’ve checked my email, I have to check Facebook, and my favourite blogs, and Kiwi Mummy Blogs, and Pinterest… All those checks add up to a LOT of time online, and when you add in how long it takes me to write and edit and re-write a blog post….phew!
Soooooo, the goals for this month are:
- Spend less time online looking at – and for – nothing in particular, whether it’s trawling online shopping sites, or Pinterest, or interesting photos and updates on Facebook.
- Use evenings and nap-time more wisely – to read, or craft, or watch a movie with Tall, or call a friend, or bake, or sleep.
- Make better use of the weekends and enjoying having time to spend with Tall – we both tend to use the weekends to do all the things we didn’t get done in the week, which means one of us stays home with Tiny while the other races off somewhere. Not exactly quality time spent together, especially now that Saturday afternoons are taken up with Tall playing cricket.
Christmas is all about family and spending time with the ones you care about, and I plan on doing everything possible to enjoy every moment of the festive season.
Edit: for some reason I missed out the most important goal for the month, which is:
4. Spend more time playing with Tiny, doing things with him instead of near him.
Stop using his awake time to get my own things done; just because he’s happy to
amuse/entertain/occupy himself, doesn’t mean I should just leave him to it all the
time (except when he distinctly says: “Bye, mummy!” which usually means, “Bugger
off, would ya?!”)
Tall, Short, Tiny & a Pickle 
Hear hear. Great post Ange. We just thought a bit more about the craziness that is always our weekends and how to get more out of our limited time together as we usually have to spend 2 hours every Saturday morning doing the grocery shopping, so ordered online instead tonight for the first time ever. Will let you know how it works out 🙂
I got to that point with the computer also – it got so bad that every time I even looked at it Button would start grizzling… so it is now up in our bedroom (has been for a few months), and I only get up there 2-3 times a day. You know what – I don’t miss it during the day… totally surprised myself!
Pingback: An Update on Time | Tall, Short & Tiny
Pingback: Journey to 35: Complete | Tall, Short & Tiny