I read an article at Wired.com recently about how multitasking muddles the brain (full article). Studies have shown that people who frequently multitask do poorer on test that require their full attention. Well, I’m starting to feel the affects of the parental multitasking cloud that I’ve been walking in for the past 7 weeks. Everywhere I go, I feel like I’m showing up half-dressed and late.

Even at home, I find myself walking urgently up to my computer, pausing while I try to remember what I needed to do so urgently, then remembering that I was really walking over to get my shoes because I need to go outside and turn the sprinkler on, but I remembered I wanted to look for sound protection ear muffs for Edie, which I had already decided I would look for after I started the sprinkler, but I then forgot that I had decided to do sprinkler then internet, which is why I’m standing in front of the computer.

It’s like I have about a 10 second window on either side of :now: that my brain can take in and process. Anything further away than that takes extreme concentration. Tonight when we were getting ready for bed, I changed Edie’s diaper and put her in bed with Ashley to nurse. Then I turned around and saw the container we keep our baby wipes in and thought “Oh, no! I forgot to use a wipe!” Which, of course, wasn’t true. It had just been more than 10 seconds since I had changed Edie’s diaper, so I had forgotten.