I was at a party last night and a friend who works part-time as a doctor, part-time at home with her two children under three (!) said she just can't get into the groove at home. By the time she's done diapering, it's time to start the nap. She just isn't home enough to know the rhythm and manage to get out of the house.

That's not my problem. I've got the rhythm down fine when we are in our normal pattern. I can get out of the house to jazzercise, the library, a play date with Asher, and of course, picking Rose up from school every day. It's vacation that trips me up. I don't know how this week at home snuck up on me. Rose was out of school all week, and David most of the week. I had maybe three things planned.

We did what I hate most: rattled around the house and bounced off the walls. I don't mind playing backgammon with Rose, doing puzzles with David, reading stories to Rose, reading stories to David. I mind nagging them to stop jumping from the coffee table to the couch and snuggling whomever got hurt this time. I mind the constant fighting over who gets which pen and whose turn it is for the pink plastic tube that whips around and hoots.

I mind the amorphous no end in sight no structure no process no product.

My best day involved jazzercise, a trip to the dump, a visit to the grandparents, and Rose off to dance class. I need both to get out of the house and the structure an outing gives my day.

I still have not set foot out of the house today, but it went much better. Our friends Deirdre and Maggie came over to do a pre-holiday craft project. It was a lot of work monitoring the scraps of crayon falling to the floor and the little hands inching toward the iron, but I never felt the time dragging. Then after lunch, David, Rose, and I dusted, swept, and mopped the downstairs. Again, lots of work but very much a process and a product. John took the kids off shopping. Then I'm going to take them to a different store. Then we are going dancing tonight.

To be fair, I've done a ton of exercise and dancing this week. It's just the days that have been shapeless. Part of the problem is Rose's inertia. Unlike me, she's perfectly content never leaving the house. . .as long as she gets lots of attention from me.

At the same party, the host said, "You just did childcare all night." I didn't even notice. It was perfectly pleasant having David sit in my lap and play with the balloon game while I discussed favorite books with A. Obviously, we need a lot of kid and grown up play dates for the holidays.