Week of Money: Where it’s back to work again

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snorting and sneezing. I whisper: If you are awake, let’s get up then. There is no point in pretending to sleep! I go over to him and he looks up, beams and says: MOMMY!!!!, reaching out his arms. We snuggle for a little bit in the bed.

6:23 a.m. — I log in to start blogging.

8:12 a.m. — Doing his pages, he takes a break and makes a little yellow paper ring. Then he turns to me and thoughtfully asks: Mommy, what does “Arts and Crafts” fall under in my Workbook sheet. I side eye him and tell him it is considered recess or a break activity, and he still has to do all of his pages even though he made a very cute paper ring.

9:33 a.m. — Markets are open – I log in and use up the cash balance sitting in my accounts and transfer $6000 of investments to my TFSA to max them out for the year. I don’t get any RRSP room as I don’t have a T4, so this is my only investment shelter.

10:15 a.m. — I finally take a break and got into the bedroom to read.

10:24 a.m. — Little Bun bursts into the bedroom where I am reading and announces: I declare myself.. a WUM WUM! … I burst into a fit of giggles. I ask him what a Wum Wum is. He tells me it’s just a new title he gave himself for being extra cute. I snuggle him and say: Awww.. Little Wums! He smiles happily.

12:20 p.m. — Lunch, it’s pizza. Little Bun harvests basil on his own.

1:05 p.m. — Down for his nap, I am lying down, relaxing, reading my book.

2:55 p.m. — Up from his nap, I grab him and we go into the closet to continue sorting out the bead box mess. He is very excited for this and tells me: This is just like Find the match! BUT IN REAL LIFE!

5:08 p.m. — Dinner time, and I am almost cross-eyed.. then I do dishes, cutlery, laundry, and after it’s all dry, Little Bun grabs the towels from the dryer, folds them and puts them away nicely.

7:25 p.m. — I lie back down to read my book and he comes in to read magazines beside me.

9:12 p.m. — He stops, runs off and starts brushing his teeth and flossing on his own. I get up and do the same.

9:45 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me.

6:23 a.m. — I log in and start blog work. I am typing out everything I remember from the day, from notes, and I also do some banking.

7:59 a.m. — Logging into my work laptop now. I have status calls that moved up to 8:15 a.m. from 9 a.m., so this is definitely not something I can miss.

8:49 a.m. — I take a break for a tea. I completely forgot about having one.

8:58 a.m. — Working on his pages, when he reads “How could they get these resources”? He wrote that bananas grew on trees, and if there was no land, there would be no trees. No trees = No bananas.

AND HE ISN’T WRONG! I think the question wasn’t clear enough / not really suited for kids working on their own without an adult to explain that the questions go together. If they are asking about a lack of resources, the next question relates to that as a follow-up.

Immediately he looks at me and says: Well trading of course! They need to trade. If they have bananas, they can trade it for fish. I advance it a bit farther and tell him it is also specifically called bartering, when you trade goods for goods, like 5 bananas for 1 fish.

I decide to talk to him tomorrow about how this bartering system is what created different money systems with shells, beads and so on, and how that turned into money as we know it today.

12:08 p.m. — Lunch. I am on my headset while eating (on mute of course).

1:05 p.m. — Down for his nap. I finally get a break and go through my emails.

2:55 p.m. — Up from his nap, I am on another call. This project is endless with its calls.

5:04 p.m. — I log off for the day.

5:25 p.m. — Dinner, then dishes, then laundry, then Little Bun Time. We decide to play Stuffie Adventures, and they run around and just find candy treasure, eat it all and cause trouble. Only Teddy seems to have any sense to set it aside rather than eat it the minute he finds it.

6:55 p.m. — Little Bun is watching a new series called Kid Detectives on YouTube and insists that we do an experiment with paprika. I draw a picture, he erases an empty part of the picture, and paprika will stick to that erased part to reveal what had disappeared even though it looks like nothing is there!

I guess it worked. I put paprika all over the top of the ice cream cone, and it only stuck to the erased part.

8:59 p.m. — We start getting ready for bed. We spend time reading a book and then turn off the lights and talk about our day in the dark, also talking about issues or things we have questions about.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I get up from Little Bun snuggling me after he made little kitten-like noises as he was waking up. He walks around in the living room like a stompy zombie and I ask him – What’s wrong??… I give him a huge hug. He tells me it is because just after he wakes up, he doesn’t want to move his limbs, so that is why he doesn’t feel energetic. I tell him to go lie down then.

??:?? — His milk is too warm. I put it back in the fridge, and then hand it back to him.

6:40 a.m. — I log in to blog before work.

7:59 a.m. — I am done blogging and logged into work for status calls.

9:25 a.m. — I head out for my appointment for my eyes. There has been something going wrong in the past two weeks and I need a checkup. I suspect it is just stress and fatigue, but better safe than sorry.

12:05 p.m. — Back in time for lunch!

1:02 p.m. — Little Bun down for his nap.

3:05 p.m. — After his nap, we do dishes laundry, and he spends time with his father researching geography and learning about parts of the world.

5:45 p.m. — Dinner time break.

7:56 p.m. — Little Bun creates a Stuffie Fish, upon Babiest Stuffie’s request, and it turned out quite well. He even drew the algae seaweed cave the Stuffie Fish lives in, and what the Stuffie Fish likes to eat (cookies, apparently).

8:01 p.m. — Little Bun sits down for schooling with his father. The activities they do outside of this schooling bit, are just for fun, not considered ‘school’, which maybe is why he is so curious about everything because we consider knowledge to be fun, not work.

8:40 p.m. — He runs off and brushes his teeth on his own, very carefully flossing and brushing. I am getting a tingle of pride of how independent he is, and learning that he can in fact, brush his own teeth without his father around. I go and brush mine as well.

9:03 p.m. — We talk about questions found in his magazines that ask things like: ” I wish I were able to ______”, and you fill in the blanks. Or asks: “What kind of art do you wish you could learn?”. They’re very good, open-ended, interesting questions.

9:55 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up a little groggy.

7:06 a.m. — I go and log in to start blogging so I get work done.

7:59 a.m. — I log off just before my status call at 8 and dial in for work.

8:25 a.m. — Constant calls until lunch time. Little Bun is beside me working on his pages.

9:51 a.m. — He makes a mistake rounding hundreds, and thinks that 0 is the ‘nearest hundred’. I show him on a number line, and visually, he gets it immediately. 100 —— 125 —————– 200. To show that 125 is actually closer to 100, and you don’t minus the 100 to get to the 0 as the answer. When this happens, it is good, as he makes mistakes and doesn’t forget them.

11:48 A.m. — Lunch. An early one this time.

12:30 p.m. — On another call. Hmm. Turns out my colleagues caught COVID but can’t get a test to confirm, but they sound like they are having the worst cold of their life. Coughing, sneezing, sniffling, there is no way it is NOT Covid.

1:25 p.m. — Call finished, my afternoon is free to work on things.

3:05 p.m. — Little Bun up from his nap, he settles in for an exploration session of the world with his father.

5:07 p.m. — He finally finishes his workbook pages on Egypt.

6:25 p.m. — Dinner, then dishes and laundry.

7:48 p.m. — I finish making some jewellery for a friend as a surprise. They’re pretty cute and will go with the other gift I gave her, as they are related.

9:47 p.m. — Time for bed after he runs off and brushes his teeth on his own.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun sniffling hard. I whisper for him to blow his nose into a handkerchief, and he does so, then goes to the bathroom and runs back and jumps on me.

??:?? — “I AM BLEEDING”, he tells me, walking out of the bedroom with his head tilted back.

6:50 a.m. — I help him stop his nose bleed.

7:04 a.m. — I log in and start blogging.

7:25 a.m. — I log off the blog and start working, I have a lot of stuff to get done today.

7:51 a.m. — Little Bun works beside me and then says thoughtfully: Mommy, I think the holiday break really messed up my Workbook flow. Now I am not interested in doing Workbook any more and it took me so long to finish yesterday.

I tell him everyone is like this – you take a break, and coming back to school or work is really difficult for the first little while. I also make a mental note to not give him “time off” in long stretches of time. A few days here and there okay, but I am seeing he prefers a flow / rhythm to the day.

8:45 a.m. — I finally make myself a cup of tea.

12:08 p.m. — Calls. And lunch.

1:15 p.m. — Down for his nap late, our lunch ran late.

3:15 p.m. — Little Bun up from his nap.

4:54 p.m. — I log off for the day, and I am watching “And Just Like That“, the first few episodes especially trying to explain away Samantha’s absence (Kim Cattrall refused to come back), it was kind of awkward but it is doing pretty well now. Style is on point, and I really love Lisa Todd Wexley, referred to as an acronym as LTW….? Anyway.

5:28 p.m. — Dinner, then dishes and laundry.

6:53 p.m. — We hang out in the bedroom in the closet together.

9:37 p.m. — Time for bed after he runs off and brushes his teeth on his own.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — I wake up and Little Bun runs over to snuggle me.

6:25 a.m. — I log in to blog.

7:59 a.m. — Log off for work – these status calls!

8:25 a.m. — Turns out a colleague of mine is hacking up a lung and sounds awful. Can’t get a test, so they can’t say that they have Covid but it is clear. Nose stuffed, coughing like crazy… there is NO WAY this is not Covid. We were collaborating on a document but I tell them to rest – I’ll do all the work.

12:08 p.m. — Time for lunch.

1:15 p.m. — Down for his nap.

2:15 p.m. — I am eying these beautiful book clutches by Olympia Le-Tan. They are crazy expensive but stunning:

3:00 p.m. — Little Bun up from his nap.

5:12 p.m. — I log off work. I talk to my partner, who just recently started reading Maria Montessori’s approach to teaching children, and we talk about different ways children learn – aural, visual, kinetic, etc (which I already knew from all the parenting books I read in the past). Then at some point, it turned to Little Bun, and I said – there will come a time where it is beyond my ability to teach him properly. Right now at the younger grades it is okay, but around Grade 4-5, I feel like I will start to hit a wall and I will not be able to teach him any further.

He tells me – And he cannot stay at home with us all the time, homeschooled. He needs the interactions, other children, adults…

I am happy to hear this because I can last for another 2-3 more years to homeschool him if need be, but I am really starting to get tired. This is such an unusual time to be living. It really feels like it teeters on the edge of despair sometimes.

5:10 p.m. — Dinner, then dishes and laundry.

9:37 p.m. — Time for bed after he runs off and brushes his teeth on his own.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me. THE BEST WAY to wake up.

6:50 a.m. — I log in to start blogging.

7:59 a.m. — Now work.

8:08 a.m. — Calls, but not that many thank goodness. People are still on holiday. I review documents.

12:00 p.m. — Lunch. Little Bun chats away like a little squirrel about Kid Detectives and asks me if I knew all of these [ insert random facts ].

1:12 p.m. — Down for his nap.

1:30 p.m. — I spend time ordering all the things my mother wants – finding the best deals, etc. $467.98

2:40 p.m. — I am trying to get through all my emails and my To Do list.

2:57 p.m. — Little Bun up from his nap.

4:00 p.m. — I log off work. I had a few calls and loose ends done, then I am off.

6:12 p.m. — Dinner, then dishes and laundry. I actually am a bit irritated before eating, as Little Bun kept talking to me while he was wiping cutlery and I was preparing my meal, because I got hangry. (Hungry + Angry), so all I wanted to do was eat, not listen or talk to anyone.

9:39 p.m. — Time for bed after he runs off and brushes his teeth on his own.

9:55 p.m. — Lying in bed, during our “Great Thing, Not So Great Things that Happened Today”, I mention that my Not So Great Thing was being snappy at him at dinner, so I apologize to Little Bun, and explain that though it isn’t a reason, I got hangry. I also tell him that it was all my fault because I should have eaten earlier. I explain that I did not eat earlier because I was too engrossed in my work (beading), and I just wanted to finish it, so I kept putting off my stomach until it was too late and my mood changed.

Little Bun is very sympathetic and said – I knew you were a bit angry and I didn’t want to make you angrier, I understand. Sometimes I want to do things like finish my Stuffie + The Cookies story I was reading to the Stuffies tonight but I can’t because it is bedtime already.

This child. <3 He is so incredibly sweet. Plus I hope I am modelling to him that even adults make mistakes and are not infallible, plus we have to learn to do better.

Spent: $467.98

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Want more? Read all of my previous Week of Money Diaries.