Zatera Ul

At my desk pouring all of my energy into work, mostly. We’re doing a major portion of a six-month-long project’s work in two weeks. I’m very much looking forward to 4 pm on Monday, which is the deadline for everything. Then I can get back to my third-trimester nesting and introspection.

Last night the plastic hose fitting on one of the garden hoses that feed the washer (Yooper plumbing, eh?) cracked and sprayed water around the basement. I was washing dishes upstairs, heard the water, and at first thought it was MFH drawing a bath or something. A few minutes later, I went and looked, and managed to turn the water off (luckily it was the cold water line, not the hot). Then I went upstairs to ask MFH to come down, because there was an “issue”. Most of the water went down the utility sinks and floor drain on its own. We mopped up the rest; nothing really got soaked except the carpet scraps on the floor.

More Ezzo Week from TulipGirl here and here. I looked up Gary Ezzo’s On Becoming Babywise on Amazon; the reviews are very polarized, generally either one star or five stars. Interesting how many people who loved the book admitted to not following it exactly, while still giving it all the credit for how well their kids were doing. Also how they generally blamed failures of the Ezzo method on the parents, for not following the book exactly, or for lack of common sense.

A Gracious Home has the Blogs of Beauty winners. Another thing from there, built on by Mommy Life, is a discussion of personality types and motherhood, based on this article in Parenting magazine. Well, I am an ISTJ, which is:

The super-responsible mother (ISTJ)

Whether she’s overseeing daily baths or, years later, insisting on a 10 p.m. curfew, the ISTJ mom’s efforts are largely focused on offering her kids order and routine. She wants them to be able to count on her and the structure she provides. She is organized and detail-oriented, and gives her children practical guidance on being productive, responsible individuals. Still, with all her seriousness, she may delight the family with her quick wit and observations on the details of life.

Stay-sane tip: The best gift an ISTJ mom can give herself is uninterrupted quiet time each day. Find someone who can take the baby to the park for an hour or two while you turn off the phone and savor the stillness.

Sounds like an ideal Ezzo/Babywise customer–bah! (Or maybe Babywise appeals more to people who have trouble creating structure on their own; I don’t know.) I’m hoping to put more F and P and even E into mothering than the above description would suggest.