It’s a mom’s life, take 2

In what surely must be my proudest moment of environmental awareness, I realized that I’ve now boiled the same kettle of water four times.

First time, it was before supper, when I had a hankering for a cup of hot chocolate.  And then I thought, well, I’ll be eating with Jade, and we’re already having mashed potatoes and corn, which she can’t have, and corn is a former favourite of hers.  So I’ll forego the hot chocolate for now.  (She didn’t care a whit about the corn, by the way.  She was having carrots and she pointed at our corn and said, “Carrots!”  Strange.  But better than a tantrum.)

The second time was after Jade was in bed and I thought I’d go ahead and have a hot drink.  But then Halia decided she’d have enough of the swing.  So I nursed her for a bit and then realized it was getting late enough to get her ready for bed.  So I did.

About forty minutes later, I came back upstairs and settled down to read the latest posts in my feed reader.  The water went on again.  And then I heard a wail that meant Halia wasn’t asleep, as I’d though.

Another forty minutes, some of which was spent sitting on my bed contemplating my knee as I waited to see if the grunting and snuffling baby next door would fall asleep, and I’m back upstairs.  I boiled that darned water for the fourth time and I finally got to have my cup of hot chocolate.  As a consolation, I even stole some of Jade’s whipping cream and whipped it up for myself as a topping.  Yum!

At least it was only about a cup of water, not the full two litres the kettle holds.  That’s gotta count for something, right?

Tags: kids, parenting