I'm Going Insane

[DISCLAIMER: The following is less than a rant. It may well be a simple whine. You don't have to read it.]

I love my daughters. And in recent months, my relationship with them has improved remarkably, especially the 5-year-old. They both spend more and more time down here with me, and even wants to sleep down at my place (at least the big one does; the toddler pretty much sleeps wherever she is when she finally runs out of steam). This is all wonderful.

Except that it's driving me crazy.

See, for the past week, various events have conspired to cause Mommy to stay out late, usually working, or shopping for some necessary item, or a social commitment. As the Best Ex-Wife Ever, she always checks with me to see if it's okay, and I've said yes. After all, things are going so well with the girls, why not? They want to sleep here anyway. But the result is, I've had them pretty near 24/7 for almost a week. On the rare occasions when I could leave them with Mom for a few hours, I haven't; last night's Star Wars party is an example.

They've been pretty much my only real-world social contact. I'm starting to mentally devolve. It's like I've been bitten by a radioactive toddler and gained its powers of mental focus, and that is NOT GOOD! I've started letting clutter gather, I've stopped my final edits of my manuscript (and thus I've stopped posting updates on my writing site). I find myself wanting to screech and throw legos across the room whenever one of them grabs something from me.

And now tomorrow, a two-and-a-half-hour subway trip each way to their doctor for routine visits, with a side-trip to their dentists' to pick up copes of their records. In sub-zero weather.

Thank God It Will Be Friday.