My Day Off From Being a Parent, Sort of...

Today has been my "day off" from being a parent. I dropped my 22-month old son, Donovan off at daycare around 9:45 am and will pick him up around 5:30. Having a day to myself is a wonderful treat, even though I harbor some guilt about leaving him in daycare when I don't even have to go to a job.

Adding to my guilt is that today, like last week, Donovan cried and cried when we arrived at the little daycare house on Girard Avenue and kept gesturing for me to pick him up and take him back outside. He doesn't speak many words yet, or in sentences, but I knew exactly what he wanted me to do. Again, I was completely torn: do I quickly walk out the door and trust that he will settle into the environment or give up and bring him back home?

Like last week I hugged and hugged him and finally walked out the door. I checked on him a half hour later by text, and the owner responded that he was fine, sitting in circle time. I guess I didn't do wrong by leaving, but then I don't think there is a "right" answer to this situation. I want this to work for Donovan and me. The free time and space is good for me and the socialization and expansion of his world is good for him.

It's just very hard to see him so distraught and to walk out the door. And at my worst moments the question, "Am I a selfish parent?" still nags at me.

So what did I do with 8 hours of me time?

• First I got a latte at the coffee shop next door to the daycare and sent Peter a text to tell him that Donovan cried again when I dropped him off at daycare.
• I walked home.
• I finished my latte while flipping through a couple catalogs. Then Jeannine, our tax preparer called and gave me a cautionary talk about our tenuous income-to-mortgage-ratio and the possibility that we may be overspending on our planned house renovation. The conversation moved into the topic of what ails Philly and the corrupt, rich thugs who keep the Delaware riverfront from evolving into a clean and public green space to be enjoyed by all. That topic gets me worked up and angry.
• When we hung up an hour later, I rushed off to Whole Foods to do the the grocery shopping. Not exactly my ideal day-off activity, but I was able to shop at my own pace with no pressure to hurry because somebody could act up in the cart seat at any moment. Unfortunately, I hit WF right at the busy lunch time -- dread -- but I refused to get worked up about the hunt for parking or the crowd of pushy, hungry, lunch customers. I even enjoyed a conversation with a Whole Foods employee about infused vinegars and making great salads.
• Back home, I unpacked groceries at a leisurely pace. I organized and swept the kitchen and did a partial fridge-cleaning.
• Chores out of the way, I ate a delicious mango. And an apple. And I planned dinner prep.
• Then I went upstairs to do some writing, after putting it off all day! But first, I browsed some garden websites looking for creepers, or ground covers, that would add some green patches to our evolving front yard garden.
• And finally, I wrote this blog post.

That was how I spent my precious time off. Now it's time to pick him up.

Composting: An Experiment

I started composting my kitchen scraps again. This time I'm determined to see my garbage become lovely, nutrient-rich compost soil. My previous composting effort that I attempted a few years ago resulted in a tub of stinking, anaerobic slime. I continually dumped kitchen waste into a large Rubbermaid tub, but rarely got around to rotating and aerating the compost. Plus I didn't balance the composition with enough leaves and carbon material. Even after many months, the foodstuff still hadn't broken down much at all! When we moved from apartment, my husband unobtrusively dispersed the failed compost in small amounts under the leaves along the backyard fence. Left to it's own devices in nature, the slime undoubtedly became nice compost.

This time I decided I needed an easy way to aerate the compost, so I spent $129 on a tumbler. I also bought a lovely white ceramic compost jar ($34) for our kitchen counter. These accessories are not necessary, as people have been composting since Neolithic times, but we live in the city and have a tiny backyard; it wouldn't be a good idea to start an open compost pile back there for a couple reasons. To further support my composting success (buy! buy! buy!) I also bought the book, "Let It Rot: The Gardener's Guide to Composting," by Stu Campbell.

My big question about composting in a container is this: how does the nice rich soil happen if you're regularly adding new kitchen scraps? The older material will be in various states of decomposition, so logically I must have to stop adding material at some point and let the whole batch decompose completely. Therefore, unless you have a second tumbler or container, you have to stop composting (and just throw out your kitchen scraps) until the first batch is done. Dilemma! According to Stu Campbell, this is true: it's best to add all your compost source materials at once and then, let it rot.

Hmm. Here's my plan: I've decided to add kitchen scraps to the tumbler, combined with leaves, and rotate it regularly until it's full. Then I'll keep tumbling it until the magic happens, whereupon one day I will open the tumbler to discover dark, sweet swelling, garden-ready soil. How long will this take? Well, I added my first batch of kitchen scraps and leaves on February 26, 2011 and the tumbler is not yet full, so we shall see..!

PS:
As for what to do with kitchen scraps while my batch of compost is transforming itself -- I haven't figured that part out. I'm not buying a second tumbler, but I may buy an inexpensive plastic tub and commit to aerating and balancing the composition until I can move it into the tumbler.