MORNING
5:37 am and Mason is crying. What? He ALWAYS wakes at 7:15 and I DON'T do well with diversions. Besides, doesn't he know it's Monday? Let's start this week off right, buddy. He goes in and out of sleeping & crying until 7:00 and then I have Sean bring him to me in bed before he hops in the shower. We watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while I repeat "no, no, we don't jump on the bed", and "yes, we can listen and dance to music while the TV is on". Peaceful morning. Sean is out of the shower and ready to take Mason and Hazel on their morning walk so I can shower and get things moving for the day. I pause to see how the Mickey episode ends instead of switching to the news, what is wrong with me? I throw a load of laundry in and take a quick shower and before I know it they are back from their walk - I'm of course not ready. I'm getting dressed and Mason points to my biggest regret in life, my "butt"erfly tattoo and asks "Da?". "Well Mason, that's a butterfly, also known as Mommy's mistake". Moving on. I scramble some eggs for Mason and pour some cereal for Sean and I while keeping an eye on the red hair zooming all around the house. "Mason, want to come eat breakfast?". Oh yeah, I'm not supposed to ask him questions, I'm supposed to tell him what's next. Try again. "Mason, it's time for breakfast! (said with a smile) You have some yummy blueberries, raspberries and eggs!". Still takes 10 minutes to get him to the table. Deep breath. We're finally all sitting and eating. Kerri Walsh is on the Today Show announcing her pregnancy. I force a smile while shedding a tear inside. I'm happy for her, but if I hear of another spring baby, when our baby was due, I may burst. Sean finishes getting ready for work while I clean the kitchen and yell at Hazel for licking Mason's highchair when my back is turned. Then I hear Mason scream "dog! no!". Great, I've taught my son to yell at the dog. I lean down and apologize to Hazel and tell Mason she's a sweet girl and we love her. Mason is not in the mood for his daily pack 'n play music/toy time, but I have to finish getting things ready for our day so I put him in. He cries for one minute then happily plays while I rush around. Of course he doesn't want to get out when it's time to go, so he hits me. Off to time out we go. A minute and a half later I'm in his room and ask him to tell me he's sorry. He hits me again. Time out again. Where is my sweet boy? I have tears stinging in my eyes and am thinking that all our efforts to raise a good boy are going down the drain. I realize now that I'm being dramatic, but at the time that's all I could think. We struggle through a dirty diaper change, get him dressed and brush his hair. Finally, we're heading out the door. "Treat!", says Mason. Ah yes, he always remembers to give Hazel a treat before we leave. We march to the back of the house, grab a treat, slowly give it to Hazel and then we head to the car. It's 9:11 and we're out of the house.
MID-MORNING
I circle the parking lot of the Y looking for a place to park, finally grabbing one at the back of the lot (I realize I'm there to work out and shouldn't be complaining about a long walk to get in). I sign in for one of the last spots in the Glide 'N Sculpt class (of course all that's left is near the front - embarrassing), and get my hand stamped to prove I've actually claimed a spot. Mason has charmed all the people behind the desk so he gets stamped too. Thankfully he loves childcare at the Y and I get to enjoy a good work-out with some of my friends who were also lucky enough to get spots. Amanda, Caroline, Carrie and I have decided in advance that we're going to head to the Arboretum after class with our kiddos. After the morning Mason and I had, I said I was going to back out so Mason could have some down-time, but then reconsidered after thinking about how much fun we'd both have. Class ends, I pick up Mason and rush home to fix him a picnic lunch before driving off to the Arboretum. We arrive at 11:15ish and all goes well here. He eats a good lunch, plays hard with his friends, sits in the pumpkins, and pets animals in the petting zoo. Around 12:45 I realize it's getting dangerously close to his 1:30 nap time so we say our quick good-byes and speed out of there.
AFTERNOON
I make every attempt in the car on the way home from the Arboretum to keep Mason awake. Music, nursery rhymes, can you find a fire truck?, let's call Daddy, you name it. If he falls asleep for even a minute, he will consider that his nap and not go down at home. Well, what do you think happened? Despite my efforts, he fell asleep literally three minutes before we got home. I cautiously began to retrieve him from his carseat with the idea of carrying his sleeping body to his crib when bing!, his eyes opened and he started asking for Hazel. Oy Vey. I proceed with our naptime routine of changing into comfy clothes, reading books, and sining lullabies, all the while knowing he won't go back down (It should be noted that I placed him in his crib at exactly 1:30, but I hadn't factored in the early wake-up so everything was thrown off). I put him in his crib and even though I know he won't sleep, he's happy, so I go about my business. I rush to clean up around the house, take another quick shower (this time washing my hair) and put away three loads of laundry. He's lost his patience at this point and is crying for me. I still need time - I'm used to 2 1/2 hour naps. He woke up 1 1/2 hours early and took a nap that was 2 hours and 27 minutes shorter than usual. I have no idea what kind of creature he will turn into for the afternoon. I go in his room, hand him his favorite books and puzzles, and he entertains himself for another 15 minutes while I finish my chores.
MID-AFTERNOON
It's 3:00. My Dad's mom (my grandma and Mason's great-grandma), and my Uncle Philip (my dad's brother), are in town and staying at my parents house for the night. My goal is to leave our home around 3:30 and arrive to my parents around 4:00. I have no idea where the time goes sometimes, but we don't get out the door until 4:00, and we're headed in the same direction as rush hour traffic. After I pass the dry cleaners, I realize I'd promised Sean I'd pick his clothes up, so we make a U-turn and grab his dry cleaning. At this point I'm thinking Mason might take a cat nap in the car on the way and I might catch time for a short break. I even contemplated stopping at Sonic for a Cherry Limeade. Then my mom texted me and said she hoped I didn't hit traffic. Mother knows best - I skipped Sonic and just hit the road. Not only did Mason not fall asleep, but the second we hit the surprisingly traffic-free highway, he threw the book he was reading out of his carseat and started crying for it. Not much I can do at this point other than turn the music up. He eventually calmed down and we had 10 minutes of much needed peace. I know my boy well, and when he's around a room of people that love him, he puts on a show. He was sweet and wonderful at my parents house, and I was able to enjoy a beer while he played with Grandma and Uncle Philip.
EVENING
Due to Mason's lack of sleep, I debated joining my parents, Grandma and Uncle Philip for a dinner out - I didn't want to ruin a good time for anyone. But we don't get to see them much and couldn't say no. Plus, we were headed to a patio at a Mexican food restaurant - I'll say yes to that any day of the week. There was a Yankee Pot Roast cooking in the crock pot at home, so Sean was set for dinner. Earlier in the day at the Arboretum Mason had covered the bottom of his shoes in poo from the petting zoo so I left them in the garage. Well wouldn't you know I forgot to bring shoes entirely when we left the house in the afternoon. Thankfully we were seated in the back corner of the patio and my hillbilly son wasn't a disturbance. Mason was a shockingly great dinner guest and we were able to carry on adult conversations in between our sessions of doting on him. I was really proud of the way he acted after the tiring day he had. After about an hour he was ready to get out of his highchair, so my little shoeless baby made circles around the table getting love from every stop. It's 7:00, Mason's bedtime, and past time to head home. I call Sean on the way and he's home, ready to give Mason his bath. Boy was I thankful for that - I was exhausted and not sure I could've taken that on. Baby boy was beyond tired on the way home and only seemed to be happy if Katy Perry was on the radio. Sean took over the second I walked in the door. My last view of my little cherub was him playing at his work bench in nothing but a diaper and a polo while Sean filled the bath. Mason really pulled through today and once again I'm going to bed loving him even more now than I did in the morning. I had some emails to send off for the early childhood PTA group I'm involved in, packed Mason's bag for school tomorrow, and tended to a glass of wine after Mason was asleep. I sat with Sean while he enjoyed his dinner and we're watching MNF now. Whew, this was a long, but memorable day.
Mason is typically on a very successful schedule that I plan to blog about soon. We usually run a well-oiled household around here and I want to document those days as well. But days like today deserve their own post. At the end of all the craziness I still have my sweet, solid family snoozing under the same roof and I am very thankful for all I have. I feel very lucky and take time out of every day to count my blessings.
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| My Pumpkin |
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| Petting Zoo. Instead of saying the animal names, he makes their noises. It's so cute. |
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| From L to R: Uncle Philip, Mason, BeBe, Grandma, Papa |
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