Last week was a long one. Taking all three of my children to Kindercare, if only for one week, was the real killer. It would be fine if I could have dropped them all off in one location, but since each had to go to his own separate room, it made getting out of there a bit tough. It got to the point that I had to get there 20 minutes earlier than usual from Tuesday through the end of the week. How is it possible that my children know the exact synergy necessary to create the perfect storm of guilt?
As I have written before, the toughest part was leaving Peter. I have gotten over it already, as any parent with common sense should. He cries in the morning when I leave. He also cries when I put him down on the floor to go get the laundry or when he wants more Cheerios. This is what babies do. And when they tell you that you can tell the difference between cries, they are not lying. From the pitch of Peter's cry, I can usually tell if it's poop, hunger, thirst or just plain old BS. And some of Peter's cries ranked pretty high on the ole BS-o-meter.
As Peter began his short stint at day care (from now until school is out for me), Owen ended his career there. We have different plans for child care next year, but Owen, for now, is happy for the temporary plans we have established. Starting next week, he will be spending his days with Grandma A. He even claims that he will be her helper. We'll see... But he is at the age now that he can understand and appreciate one-on-one time, so much so that about a month ago when he had a stomach virus and I told him we were staying home, he hugged me tight and said, "Just you and me, Mommy?" Give the kid an Oscar -- I think I still feel that knife going through my heart -- "O Owen, thou hast cleft my heart in twain!" I am certain that a dose of quality time with his grandparents will be just the right thing for him starting next week. This week, he is having some quality time with Jason, which will include a visit to me at my job. I refused to take any of my children to "Take Our Children to Work Day," partly on principle considering preschool tuition, partly out of the fear that one of my kids would hear several f-bombs dropped in the hallways during his visit, and , well, mostly because it's impossible to do my two full-time jobs at once. So my plan for tomorrow is to meet Owen and Jason at the start of my lunch period and for us to bring Owen in to see the "tots and teens" preschool class run through my high school. He can get a sense of where he will be going in the fall, and I feel very fortunate that it will be able to work out. Of course, I certainly don't plan on plowing right into the preschool classroom on my prep period, but there is something about knowing that he will be close by. Someone once said that to be a mother is to see your heart carried in another person's body, and I know that to be true.
Yesterday, we took all three boys to get their haircuts. It only took a little over an hour. Note to moms: If you have your child(ren) sit in your lap for a haircut, you might want to pack an extra top for yourself. Thanks to Nicholas and Peter, I spent the better part of the afternoon looking like a Furby. Of course, as soon as they get haircuts they look just that little bit older, and most especially with my youngest one, it makes me a little sad. The baby phase is quickly passing. Of course there are more obvious reminders of this. Like the fact that Peter likes to unplug the plastic baby proofing plugs and put them in his mouth -- gotta love teething. But still, I can't help still trying to bathe him in the kitchen sink, even if there's not much room left for water once I put him in there. By the way, that picture was taken pre-haircut. He now looks like he is ready for kindergarten. At his one year wellness visit, he was 25.5 pounds and 31.5 inches. I think it is hysterical that his "Baby's 1st Birthday" onesie came in 24 months size. And yes, this time I did remember to dress my child in the item I had purchased in advance. 2 points for Mommy.
He's not too big for the sink yet! You keep right on bathing him there! I'm with you on the haircut thing --it does make them look so much older. And wait 'till they start picking out their own clothes and begin developing a "look" of their own -- I can hardly take it some days. I feel nostalgic for those days when they wore matchy polo shirts and ridiculous hats and had nothing to say about it!
ReplyDelete