Equal Opportunity?

I'm a 'different but equal' kinda person when it comes to the debate of feminism and all that. Basically, I strongly believe in equal rights and opportunities, but I also believe men and women to be very different creatures. I wouldn't expect us to act or react the same way in a number of situations.

I have an awesome husband, who on top of working all day, being helpful around the house, an amazing cook and an incredibly hands on father (who changes almost all the diapers when he's home), is always supportive of me in whatever I want to do. Sure, he goes to work and I stay home with the kids, but with him cooking a lot of our dinners and giving the kids baths, and me supplementing our income with my freelance graphic design, it's not one hundred percent the picture of 1950's gender roles/stereotypes of yesteryear either. Greg and I contribute equally to run our home, in some similar and in some very different ways. But even in the things we share, like taking care of the kids, I'm often struck by how 'different' we handle things. (Like, I react as if every nerve has been put on high alert when the baby starts to scream at a slightly different pitch than normal, diving across the room to correct whatever the problem is, and Greg can be holding said child and not even notice she has gotten her wedged painfully between two parts of a toy. I react immediately and precisely to all things with our kids. (Uptight? Yeah, probably. It's a little too 'Kate Gosselin' for my tastes at times, I just can't help it.) He's much more chill, and handles things completely differently than I do . . . which, although at times for me is frustrating, it isn't in any way the 'wrong' way to handle things.)

But you know when I feel the most 'different'? It's when I'm sick. I currently feel like crap. My throat hurts, my body aches, I'm tired and winded (my asthma kicks in when I have a bug). To top it off, my girls are running around with runny noses and cranky attitudes. What does this mean in my life? Well, if I'm lucky, I can talk Annie into staying in bed with me and watch an episode or two of "Imagination Movers", while bribing Ellie with Cheerios to stay mellow for awhile. But for me there'll be no naps, no real rest, and someone still has to make us all breakfast and lunch and should probably get the dishwasher unloaded before our kitchen is completely taken over by dirty dishes. Laundry needs to get changed, or the batch in the washer is gonna start to smell. And after breakfast, the kitchen and front room floors need to be thoroughly vacuumed before Ellie finds and eats any breakfast strays that found their way to the floor. When Greg is sick, he can reasonably expect about 20 hours of sleep in a given day, even with the kids running around. Even if I'm equally sick (or worse off) at the same time. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Greg seems to get over a bug within a day, at the most two, whereas my illnesses are more likely to linger for the better half of a week before I feel fully human again.

Ah, what I wouldn't give to just nap tomorrow. For hours. That's the kinda equal opportunity I'm talkin' about.


Unrelated, but Ellie took four steps today! My little girl is amazing!
And, Annie wore panties all day today without an accident . . . she got up this morning, went in and changed into panties this morning by herself, and just decided it was a 'non-diaper' kinda day and went with it . . . we'll see what she decides tomorrow. Heaven knows I can't show any kind of opinion on the topic though, or she'll pee in retaliation, probably on bedding of some kind.