Sunshine Outside Makes Everything Better

Wednesday night was one of Those Nights. The Bubs kept waking up, calling for "Daddeeeeeeee!" nearly every hour. By midnight, he had woken up four times, and finally, I just grabbed my pillow and we snuggled together on the couch for the night.

He woke up around 5:30 yesterday, hovering over me, patting my face saying, "Mommeeeee!" excitedly. I love his enthusiasm, but at Dark O'Clock, it was a little hard to meet his energy level. I managed to convince him to lie next to me quietly, staring up at the skylight. We I must have both dozed off again, because the next thing I remember is B scrambling over me off the couch and running into the kitchen, yelling, "Daddeeee!"

With this very early start to the day following a not-so-restful night's sleep, I wasn't sure how he would handle the playdate we had scheduled with our neighbors down the street. But he talked about it all morning as we ate breakfast, brushed our teeth, got dressed:

"EJ's house? EJ's house?"

It ended up being a good time, and we even had lunch with them before returning home for naptime.

Oh, boy.

I know that this is fairly common, but lately, B has been missing his daddy A LOT during the day. It started right after N returned to work after taking a week off for Christmas. B got used to having Daddy around all the time, and it's especially rough after he wakes up from his nap. Forty minutes into his nap yesterday, he woke up crying for Daddy. I rocked him until he agreed to go back in his crib (because he was yawning through his crying). He fell asleep again (so grateful for that mercy), but when he woke up an hour and a half later, he was inconsolable.

He cried so hard, he made himself gag.

There's nothing more heartbreaking to a mama than her child crying and feeling like you can't do anything to make it better. I rocked him, sang all his favorite songs, got him one of his favorite treats, stacked his stacking cups for him ... he would calm down and then start all over again.

Finally, I asked if he wanted to talk to Daddy on the phone, and he nodded with shuddering sighs. As soon as he heard N's voice though, he wailed, "Daddy ho-o-o-ome!"

(True confession: N and I both had to restrain our laughter at the drama of this reaction.)

After N explained to B that he missed him very much and would be home at dinner time, he suggested we go outside. Now, why hadn't I thought of that?!

I asked B if he wanted to walk to the playground, and he brightened up.

"Stroller?!" he requested. 

We got all our things together (he wanted to wear "Daddy's hat"), went to the playground where he ran around, climbed like a champ, went down the big slide all by himself multiple times, hugged a little girl (who promptly latched on to him and followed him around the rest of the time she was there, much to the amusement of her mother and grandma), and ate all his "wishies" (goldfish crackers).

I decided it would be best to keep him outside until N got home, so we walked to the nearest grocery store to pick up a roasted chicken for dinner. I got B a strawberry milk box for the walk home, which he proclaimed "Yummy milk."

He also got a cookie from the lady at the store bakery and stickers from the cashier, both of whom told him he was so handsome. They were rewarded by his cheesy "Aw, shucks" smile, which he has learned triggers some pretty great reactions from women. 

What could have been a pretty rough day ended up being a pretty good day overall.