Yesterday, Gabe and I had one of the best days we've ever had together. It was a day that made me love being a mom and had me thinking I'm doing an OK job. We didn't go anywhere, we didn't do anything particularly special, the whole day just went 'well.'
Gabe woke up happy at a reasonable time, had a good breakfast, and enjoyed a bath. We played under the covers as I made the bed. We put his stuffed animals to 'nigh-nigh' complete with covers and pillows, lights off, and aquariums on. I put away laundry, and we cleaned up his toys. We shoveled and played in the snow. We had a usual lunch with a small dance party in our chairs. We headed up to a nap, where he slept 2 1/2 hours and I got to catch up on email. He woke up happy and had a snack. I talked briefly to a friend and got dinner ready.
Sounds simple and even kind of boring, right? But things just flowed effortlessly. He played independently at times while I did chores and then we reconvened for fun time. There was very little whining, crying, begging, no tantrums and no time outs. But there were lots of laughs, hugs, kisses, funny faces and voices, shapes and letters quizzes, and chatting. See, for a lot of us in mom-land, particularly stay-at-home mom-land, an easy ordinary day is an accomplishment. I knew it was happening right from the beginning and I cherished every moment.
The really good news is that I even 'sorta' know why it happened. I had a lovely weekend with my Seoul Sisters. We gabbed all night, like 3am all night, we laughed, we complained, we consulted, we gossiped, we teased, and just enjoyed each other's company. I felt refreshed when I came home and I missed and appreciated my little guy so much more. And he missed me. When you spend 99.9% of your time with someone, you need a break. The weekend helped me be more patient with Gabe today and let me take a deep breath and breathe in all the good I have in my life.
