Friday, November 11, 2011

Mommy's "Sick" Day

Last weekend, I made a spur of the moment decision to take Will to the beach for the first time. It was probably 60 degrees out, so my husband, my mother, Will and I went to Green Key Beach in our clothes and sweatshirts, and let the sensory overload begin. We took a TON of pictures, and let Will go in the swings and sit in the sand. He touched it and was totally mesmerized by it :) I think that day made me realize that I missed those special moments.

Not that I can't have special moments with Will because I'm a working mother. But I really wanted to be able to spend quality time with him, like I did on the beach, with the wind blowing, him looking around and both of us experiencing something special.

Even though this week was a "four-day" week in honor of Veterans Day, I found myself weepy on Tuesday night and I made a decision: I'm staying home tomorrow. I miss my son.

I stayed up late, thinking about activities I could do with him on a day when it was JUST him and me. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, or like I felt those days I knew my parents were waking me up the next day to go to Disney. Although I was blessed to be home with Will 24/7 for the first four months of his life, he's six months old now, rolls around, sits on his own, stands, gets up on all fours, makes tons of cool noises, says "Mama," and a litany of other things he didn't do two months ago. I was very much looking forward to a day with him.

I put in for a substitute, didn't care that I didn't have copies made or that my classroom would be a shambles the next day. My day belonged to Will. Like it should.

When he woke up, we played with shape blocks. I separated them by color and let him roll around. He kept picking up the red triangles... I wonder if that will be his favorite color. I let him bang on pots and pans with a wooden spoon, which was funny because he kept just wanting to suck on the spoon.



Then we went shopping at Target. We picked out a book--one of my favorites: The Night Before Christmas. Inside the front cover was a dedication: "For Will, Christmas Boy." Couldn't have been more perfect.

While I was at Target, I picked up a package of 150 colored ball-pit balls. When we got home, after Will's first nap, he ate some apples. I let him hold the spoon and try to feed himself--pretty funny. Then I threw him AND all the colored balls into his playpen. Again, pretty funny! He enjoyed holding the balls and throwing them. After he was tired of the ball pit, I took his walker outside. He kicked his shoes off, so I ended up letting him run around in the driveway with no shoes on! I just can't believe how strong and independent he is at only six months old. When we came inside, I laid his pictures (tons and tons) out on the floor for him to look at while I put some in an album. I put him in his crib and poured all his clean, dry laundry on top of him. To end the day before Daddy came home, we walked (well, Will rode in the stroller) to the library down the street. He stood in the children's section, leaning on a bookcase and threw some of the books around.

Successes: I didn't turn on the television ONCE all day. I didn't touch the essays I know I needed to grade. I didn't surf the net. I devoted ALL my time to looking at my son, listening to him laugh, and playing with him while he learned. Even when he napped, I lie next to him on the bed or sat in the rocking chair waiting for him to wake up.

Failures: Sometimes when Will eats, he gets frustrated and so do I. He had a bit of a tummy ache and fussed with me when I tried to get him to eat. Not the worst failure I've ever had as a parent, but I definitely don't like when my impatience makes Will frustrated, too.

This day was all about my prince. And I realized, as I made plans for future days and weekends with him, that every day needs to be about him. It's going by too fast <3