What a Day

Yesterday started out like any normal day, hanging around, taking care of the animals, cleaning a little. Then it was time to get ready to go to Hannaford. The moms group had a little tour arranged there for the kids. It was pretty cool. I didn't like the parts where they went in the back and saw that hanging slabs of meat so I hung back and waited for that part to be over. Then they got to see the FORK LIFT in the stock room and the man actually did FORK LIFT things with it. Later Zach asked Jacob about the tour and all he bothered to explain about was the fork lift. Zach asked if there was anything else and Jacob said, "Um...that's all I can remember."





Of course we headed right over to the park to enjoy the cupcakes they gave us so the mere fact that we were at a park for the first time in five or six months was enough to erase all of the Hannaford trip from memory. It was 60+ yesterday and everyone was overdressed because we've not been having weather like this. In fact just a couple weeks ago we were still getting snow. But the kids had a blast and so did the moms. We were all having such a great time that we were completely unaware of the time. We ended up staying at the park for three and a half hours! Jacob and I didn't get home until after four. I had tons of unpacking to do and animal care so I put a video on for him and don't you know he fell asleep sitting up before the end of the video.


I tried to wake him an hour later and I got punched in the face (accidentally) . Another hour later and he was finally ready to get up but it was tough going for a while. The transition out of sleep and back into the waking world was not an easy one. Jacob decided he wanted a quesadilla (someone help me on the spelling here) for dinner, for which I use tortilla wraps to make. They've become a staple in this house in the last couple years so the fact that we didn't have any tortilla wraps did not make Jacob happy.

For the next 17 minutes he carried on about it. I lasted for 10 minutes just sitting on the couch next to him reading my book while he cried, screamed and chanted over and over "I want a quesadilla!" After 10 minutes I told him I couldn't listen to it anymore, I was going upstairs to read, please come get me when you're ready to make another choice. I only lasted seven minutes up there because then Jacob's tantrum turned into hyperventilation and I realized even though he was still at it with his little mantra, it had probably slipped into crazed mode where he was no longer aware of the words coming out of his mouth. I picked him up and snuggled with him on the couch until he calmed down and politely asked for a grilled cheese, which was the original alternative I'd offered him. Not really a meal of substance but he had milk with it and watermelon to 'hold him over' as he's been saying.

As soon as he got that first bite of watermelon into him he turned back into my sweet boy. The rest of the night was all love and pleasantries. We read five books then went upstairs to fold laundry, which Jacob had been impatiently awaiting since the beginning of book number 1. Do you know any other four years old who love to fold laundry that much? Jacob and I plowed through three baskets of it, all the while he was going on about "Daddy is going to be so proud of me that I folded all his clothes!" We chatted a bit and I told Jacob how glad I am that he's my little boy and how much I love him. He replied that he's so glad that Zach and I are his parents and he loves us more than this (arms stretched toward the sky). He's really glad he has us as parents because if he didn't the aplice (police) would come take him away. Well, yes, in a way I guess.

Then it happened. Jacob asked if he could stay over at my mom's for the night. He'd actually asked the night before but I knew they were out so I suggested the following night instead. And he remembered. I dialed her number and he got on the phone. He made small talk when she answered and then, "MamMa, I was thinking of staying at your house tonight?" When I got on the phone my mom was practically squealing with delight. What was I going to say? I told her that if he was to stay there were conditions. First I laid out the circumstances of the day - that he'd just had a two hour nap, that I was too tired to drive him up there - she agreed to come get him. Then I told her that she'd have to sleep with him (that was a given) and that she'd have to be open to the possibility of me calling at 3am and/or just showing up in their house at 3am. All of that was fine.

Jacob pranced about packing a bag with all the necessities and then Zach finally came home at 9:30. He and Jacob sat and had some quality time together while they waited for my mom. We heard her pull into the driveway and I said "I'll go unlock the door." But I was too late, Jacob was already in mid air, taking a flying leap off the couch and Zach's lap, onto the floor, two giant steps over to his bag by the door, picking it up and hauling it over his shoulder, shoving Pilchard under his arm and pushing past me to get out the door.

Uh...

Zach and I just stood there with our mouths agape. Then we said our goodbyes and Zach carried him out to the car because Jacob already had his slippers on. And that was it.

We didn't know what to do with ourselves the rest of the night. 10 minutes after Jacob left I was the kitchen making dinner for Zach and he was milling around in the fridge. He'd previously seemed nonplussed by Jacob's willingness to leave us, but all of a sudden he turned around and said "How the fuck am I going to sleep?!" And there it was. He's just as much of a sissy as me when it comes to sleeping alone. We really like our kid, and we really like sleeping with him at night. And Jacob wouldn't have it any other way either. We really didn't know what to do. Eventually we had to stop putting it off and go up there to the empty bed. And we got through it. But if there's a lesson to be learned in here, maybe it's that it really is true what they say about attachment parented kids, that they do inevitably come to a healthy sort of independence and that we never pushed it or forced Jacob to do things he wasn't ready for, so that when he is ready he can be secure in the knowledge that we're here when he's ready to come back home.

And so that's why you're getting an overly detailed post about what is probably a really boring day to any outsider. It's because I'm alone in my house in the early morning and have nothing better to do.