Is it that time already?

It's funny how quickly a new routine becomes the norm. I've been on my own without OH for 6 weeks now and to be honest, the time is now flying by. It doesn't seem like it's been a full week since I was so happy that we'd hit the magic halfway mark but it has and we're now into the last month of Part 1 training.

One of the things I was most worried about when I handed my notice in at work was that time would drag and every day at home would feel like a lifetime. The first couple of weeks did indeed seem like a year but the human brain is a marvellous thing and it seems that there is a secret Stay at Home Mum survival section which allows time to pass quickly. It must be linked to the bit of the brain that cancels out memories of pregnancy and labour.

If anything, my days are passing more quickly at the moment than they ever did at work. DS and I have settled into a pattern which suits us both although this will probably change during the 6 weeks holiday when DD is at home as well. It's not like I'm filling my days with toddler groups, coffee mornings or play dates either although at some point I suppose I will need to get round to 'socialising' DS. I hate that word though; he's a toddler, not a dog! 

I always wondered how DD never seems to know what she has done at school, as if I drop her off to stare at the wall for 6 hours but now I have some appreciation that 6 hours goes really fast and her brain is probably in a whirl when I pick her up. I have lost track of time and been shocked that it is already 3 o'clock and time to leave the house on a number of occasions recently.

At work, days seemed to drag, even when I was busy. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed my job - but the working week lasted forever. There were certain milestones within the week to get past and marking these became my way of counting down to the weekend.

Monday morning's first appointment was always a hurdle; mostly complicated and made worse by not really being awake. Getting through that was such a relief.

Tuesday was usually broken up nicely by Team Brief but that was not always a good thing! Team Brief Tuesday's had a habit of being quite draining. Once again however, getting through it meant I could tick off one more hurdle on my mental list.

Wednesday was the half-way point and usually marked by Coops or Fiona exclaiming that we had broken the back of the week when we made it to lunchtime unscathed. 

Thursday was made remarkable by the reappearance of Claire (my part-timer best friend) and the catching up on a couple of days of gossip, despite usually having spoken on the phone at least once a day that week so far. 

Friday was my favourite day. It would start with a text from or to Claire, asking "shall we do breakfast?" as if there was every any doubt in the matter. It got to be such a routine that Nosh didn't even need to ask our order. As well as being Breakfast Day, it was the only day of the week that both Claire and Laura (my other part-timer friend) were in the office and this made the day go much quicker. Before long it was the weekend but even this was tainted by the knowledge that Monday was not far off and the countdown would begin again.

I suppose it's possible that counting the days when at work actually made things worse. Perhaps the reason why time is moving more quickly now is that I no longer think in terms of specific hurdles to get over but concentrate on weeks to go instead. Children seem to have the right idea when they count 'sleeps' to an event they are looking forward to. My brain seems to have made the necessary adjustments to help me cope; as well as making time speed up, it has also added a mute button to the part of my head that used to be unable to ignore CBeebies. I think that helps.

28 sleeps.