Laboring Moms

This Labor Day, the day before I start back to work again as a new mom, I'm honoring single parents. Having been on my own with Pablo for the past week I've gotten just a tiny taste of what it must be like to be a single mom, and wow am I impressed! I haven't even been working full-time and I had help a few hours a day from Esperanza, the woman we are hiring for childcare (fitting name, huh?), and still the week left me utterly exhausted. It seemed like I had to use every minute to its upmost, especially those precious minutes while Pablo was sleeping. Whereas I use to nap with him a lot, those hours now became the time for doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the front step, catching up on my email, putting in an hour of work on the report I'm writing, making a few calls about furniture for the house or dialing Verizon yet again to ask why our telephone and internet account seems to still be screwed up.

And as much as I've been treasuring these last days of total Pablo time, I know we were also getting bored with one another. He misses his dad and his friends in Mexico (Nita, where are you?!), and I could only think of so many things to do to keep him entertained in the house when the 90 degree, 100% humidity weather kept us indoors.
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Ok, 12 hours later I'm reminded how hard it is to finish anything, particularly anything you're trying to do for yourself, when you have a 6 month old! I started this blog entry this morning when Pablo was taking his early nap and I'm only finishing it now that he is down for the night (if sleeping for 3 hours before waking again can be considered down for the night).

Anyway, yes, single parents, you rule! I really can't imagine how you do it actually. Take my trip to the DMV last week for instance (I did promise I'd tell you about it). Since my DC driver's license was stolen like a year ago in Mexico City, I had to get a new one now that I'm back. So, we loaded up Pablo and walked the mile or so to the nearest service center when Alberto was still here. Only to find a huge line wrapping around the outside of the building. Fortunately, with a little baby strapped to me and 90 degree heat, they let me jump the line, although Alberto had to stay outside (something that never would have happened in Mexico - the U.S. really is not family friendly). I was all ready with my paperwork and new proof of residency to get a replacement license - no problem, right? Wrong. Apparently my license expired earlier this year - who knew since it'd been stolen a year before. And, because it had been expired over 90 days, the nice man behind the desk told me, I had to take the written driving exam again - now! Uh, now? Yep, just go in there to computer 5, it's all ready for you.

So, Pablo (still strapped to me in his big sling) and I waltzed in and promptly failed the written exam. (I mean really, who knows how many feet from the car in front of you you need to be if you're travelling 30 miles an hour?!) So what now? Come back tomorrow, you have to wait one day before taking the test again. You can study the guide online.

Well, of course we didn't make it back the next day, but the following week, after Alberto had whisked back to Mexico, Pablo and I made the trip again (on the bus this time). Only this time the nice man behind the desk was a not so nice woman who angrily asked me if I had someone to watch the baby and when I said no, informed me that there was no way I was going into the testing room "with that baby". But, ma'am, last time they sent me in with him. "There are rules here, lady, no babies in the testing room. What if he cries and disturbs other people taking the test?" But, just last week they sent me in with him, and he's not going to cry - look, he's happy as a camper. "No. Those are the rules. Next!"

Well, some tears and desperate pleas and a request to talk with the supervisor and one scene of a single mother losing it in the DMV later, a very nice woman who was there getting her license renewed offered to help watch Pablo while I took the test. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. Well, two and a half hours later and a lot of run around later (they even screwed up and tried to give me a learner's permit which I luckily realized just as I was almost out the door), I finally got my license and Pablo and I went back out into the heat to find the bus back home. He'd been a trooper through it all, but I had to nurse him to sleep in the middle of the waiting room for his afternoon nap, which was really less than restful given the circumstances. And I was cursing the DC DMV by the time I left, amazed at how I missed Mexican bureaucracy. At least in Mexico I would have been treated with extra kindness, not disdain, for having a baby with me.

...and now Pablo has awoken twice since I started trying to finish this entry...

Anyway, I really can't complain. My mom is here now and having grandma around has made a huge difference. My sister will come next week, then my dad and stepmother the following week. And Alberto will make a visit in there as well. So, I've got most of the month covered with support (thank you, family!). And then, thank goodness, papa returns in October and our family unit is back together again. But there are plenty of single moms and dads out there who don't have that kind of support, and a lot of them are worse off economically than us as well. I hope they are at least getting a break on Labor Day - they deserve it!