Milestone Markers
This has been a full, strange kind of day. But instead of boring you with all the petty details, I just want to mark two milestones that today will be remembered for.
Milestone One:
Today marks my fourteenth day of not drinking tea.
I didn't set out to abstain from it, or anything. No grand "I'm going to break the tea habit" resolutions didst cross my mind. I didn't join any kind of twelve-step program. Hello, my name is Talena, and I've gone fourteen days without a drink...
It was kind of a side effect, a "perk", if you will, of being sick.
Because when I'm sick, I don't want caffeine.
Usually this only lasts for a couple of days, and then I'm right back where I started--sleep-deprived, and using tea to help me limp through my day, or simply as a comfort ritual, or even as a snack replacement. (I have been trying to think about it more consciously to see if what I really want is tea, or maybe I would do better with an apple or something.)
However, this time, I was laid out with that cold for a week. By the time the end of the week rolled around, I had started substituting the "comfort" part of the habit, the all-I-really-want-is-something-warm-to-drink part, with a steaming mug of lemon oil and honey in hot water. This began with the need to soothe my throat, but I kinda like it.
When I came to the realization that I had gone for seven days without a drop of caffeine of any sort, I was hesitant to break that streak for no particular reason other than old habits, so I thought I would see how far I could go. In the back of my mind was my father's voice (and some remembered impressions of words on the page of some book) saying "It takes twenty-one days to make a habit..."
In the last week, I have had three mugs of hot chocolate, more as dessert than anything. I am hesitant to have tea, in case I remember how much I really like it and all my will-power crumbles before the twenty-one day new non-tea-drinking habit is formed.
Will I have tea again sometime? Definitely. I just want to get past the mindless slavishness of tea-drinking that I had fallen into. When I drink tea, I want it to be because it's a bit of a treat, or perhaps a special occasion (a social drinker!), not because Well! I'm finished breakfast! Must be time for some tea! or I'm finished lunch! Must be time for some tea! or whatever the excuse du jour is.
That milestone, however, is minor compared to the next one.
Milestone Two:
Noah turned four today.
In my middle-of-the-week rush, focusing on what needs to be done, I actually kinda forgot about it until lunch time. The poor kid caught my cold, so he has been a little under the weather for the last week, as well. He was sitting at the lunch table in his lion costume (a permanent accessory these days) and it hit me: Today is Noah's birthday! As soon as I told him, he said, "Birthday cake?" hopefully. I chuckled and told him that we would have that on Friday, when we are having his actual party. But to mark the occasion, we went out and got Tim Horton's muffins for everyone--not quite cake, since Noah's isn't the only sniffly nose we were feeding. But a little more special than just having yogurt or something. (Or nothing at all!)
I was listening to Noah say the blessing the other day, and it struck me really how much clearer he is speaking. Yay! All the time with his aide is paying off! His speech is generally easier to understand.
Since getting the Wii, most of his comments have revolved around it, unfortunately. He's my little man that could easily fall into a T.V. addiction, and I can see that coming out with the new game system, too. I'm hoping the novelty will wear off soon, and he will start remembering that he has fun doing other things. (Perhaps getting distracted by a bunch of new toys this Friday may help?)
Noah has also really sprouted over the last few months. He is still a couple of inches shorter than Jude, but only because his brother has been growing equally fast. I'm still pushing Jude up a size in clothes usually because Noah needs them, not because he has actually outgrown anything. In fact, their T-shirts tend to be kind of interchangeable when I am folding and sorting laundry.
One of the coolest developmental milestones that Noah has hit is that he is only days away from being Pull-Up free at night! He has had five out of the last six nights dry--when our kids go for seven nights in a row dry, they get to stop wearing a Pull-Up. Like all of his other milestones, this isn't something that he has striven for, it has just kind of "happened". Noah isn't a striver. He just gets to things in his own time, when he is good and ready.
Well, after a very productive night last night, and a throat that is threatening to become inflamed again after the lateness of said night, I have decided to take the rest of tonight off and go to bed early. So this is it, folks. Chat with ya' more when I'm good and ready!
Milestone One:
Today marks my fourteenth day of not drinking tea.
I didn't set out to abstain from it, or anything. No grand "I'm going to break the tea habit" resolutions didst cross my mind. I didn't join any kind of twelve-step program. Hello, my name is Talena, and I've gone fourteen days without a drink...
It was kind of a side effect, a "perk", if you will, of being sick.
Because when I'm sick, I don't want caffeine.
Usually this only lasts for a couple of days, and then I'm right back where I started--sleep-deprived, and using tea to help me limp through my day, or simply as a comfort ritual, or even as a snack replacement. (I have been trying to think about it more consciously to see if what I really want is tea, or maybe I would do better with an apple or something.)
However, this time, I was laid out with that cold for a week. By the time the end of the week rolled around, I had started substituting the "comfort" part of the habit, the all-I-really-want-is-something-warm-to-drink part, with a steaming mug of lemon oil and honey in hot water. This began with the need to soothe my throat, but I kinda like it.
When I came to the realization that I had gone for seven days without a drop of caffeine of any sort, I was hesitant to break that streak for no particular reason other than old habits, so I thought I would see how far I could go. In the back of my mind was my father's voice (and some remembered impressions of words on the page of some book) saying "It takes twenty-one days to make a habit..."
In the last week, I have had three mugs of hot chocolate, more as dessert than anything. I am hesitant to have tea, in case I remember how much I really like it and all my will-power crumbles before the twenty-one day new non-tea-drinking habit is formed.
Will I have tea again sometime? Definitely. I just want to get past the mindless slavishness of tea-drinking that I had fallen into. When I drink tea, I want it to be because it's a bit of a treat, or perhaps a special occasion (a social drinker!), not because Well! I'm finished breakfast! Must be time for some tea! or I'm finished lunch! Must be time for some tea! or whatever the excuse du jour is.
That milestone, however, is minor compared to the next one.
Milestone Two:
Noah turned four today.
In my middle-of-the-week rush, focusing on what needs to be done, I actually kinda forgot about it until lunch time. The poor kid caught my cold, so he has been a little under the weather for the last week, as well. He was sitting at the lunch table in his lion costume (a permanent accessory these days) and it hit me: Today is Noah's birthday! As soon as I told him, he said, "Birthday cake?" hopefully. I chuckled and told him that we would have that on Friday, when we are having his actual party. But to mark the occasion, we went out and got Tim Horton's muffins for everyone--not quite cake, since Noah's isn't the only sniffly nose we were feeding. But a little more special than just having yogurt or something. (Or nothing at all!)
I was listening to Noah say the blessing the other day, and it struck me really how much clearer he is speaking. Yay! All the time with his aide is paying off! His speech is generally easier to understand.
Since getting the Wii, most of his comments have revolved around it, unfortunately. He's my little man that could easily fall into a T.V. addiction, and I can see that coming out with the new game system, too. I'm hoping the novelty will wear off soon, and he will start remembering that he has fun doing other things. (Perhaps getting distracted by a bunch of new toys this Friday may help?)
Noah has also really sprouted over the last few months. He is still a couple of inches shorter than Jude, but only because his brother has been growing equally fast. I'm still pushing Jude up a size in clothes usually because Noah needs them, not because he has actually outgrown anything. In fact, their T-shirts tend to be kind of interchangeable when I am folding and sorting laundry.
One of the coolest developmental milestones that Noah has hit is that he is only days away from being Pull-Up free at night! He has had five out of the last six nights dry--when our kids go for seven nights in a row dry, they get to stop wearing a Pull-Up. Like all of his other milestones, this isn't something that he has striven for, it has just kind of "happened". Noah isn't a striver. He just gets to things in his own time, when he is good and ready.
Well, after a very productive night last night, and a throat that is threatening to become inflamed again after the lateness of said night, I have decided to take the rest of tonight off and go to bed early. So this is it, folks. Chat with ya' more when I'm good and ready!
