It’s another day.
Another day of waking up at 1:45am to the cries of “Mommy! Mommy!”
Another day of waking up again at 5:15am to the cries of “Mommy come here!”
Another day of aches and pains in my shoulders and lower back because I slept on the extra bed in Jack’s room after the 5:15 wake-up call.
After the reliving the same morning I had yesterday I hoped to get out into the sunshine and live it up with Jack. My plans were big. We would pack a great lunch and snacks and head out to the park where we would be explorers and climb the big rock. I would cheer Jack on as he went down the big swirly slide and I would push him so high on the swings that the tips of his toes would hit the tree branches. Yes, today would be great. A good old-fashioned New York City day.
This is what really happened.
After the real wake-up at 7:00am Jack insisted that he stay in his crib. Yes, I know. He’s 2 1/2 and still in his crib, but what can I say? He likes it in there. It’s like his own personal cave with his twenty-five stuffed animals and ten books and thirty blankets. I know that most kids at this point have climbed out of their cribs, but it hasn’t even occured to Jack to do this. He once put his leg up over the side, looked down at the floor and re-thought that idea. He is also sleeping the in the death crib. You know, the one that was recalled last year because the drop-side front could trap a child and kill them. Yep. That’s right. We have Jack in the death crib. Well, the drop side of these death cribs are taller than today’s sleigh cribs so it’s harder for kids to climb out. Anyway, since he’s still in his crib he is at least not getting up and leaving his room at 1:45 in the morning to come and be awake in our room. I’m still not sure if this is better or equal to the hell I am putting my back through by often going into and then sleeping in his room at all hours of the night.
All right back to the story. So, he won’t let me take him out of his crib, but he starts throwing a fit if I try to leave the room and I know right then and there what kind of day this will be. After twenty minutes I manage to talk him out of his crib with bribes of breakfast on the couch and Curious George. But noooooo. Jack has other plans. He wants to lay in my bed and watch some TV and no, he is not hungry. I gave in pretty quickly. I was exhausted after all and I thought that maybe I could grab a little more sleep in the comfort of my own bed. Yeah right. That didn’t happen. Instead I spent an hour keeping Jack from kicking our poor geriatric cat, Jabba, and from kicking me in the face. I know what you must be thinking. Why didn’t I just get up? Good question. I don’t know. I was so tired and my back hurt and I just wanted five more minutes. That’s all. Five lousy minutes. I didn’t get them.
At about 9:00am we emerged from the bedroom. I couldn’t take another second without coffee and Jack’s diaper was beginning to leak so we were forced out really. I made the strongest cup of double espesso on the planet and gave Jack his breakfast and went back to planning our fabulous day outside. The snacks were made. The shovels and other toys were packed. The camera battery was charged. I was showered. Thank God! I was ready. Jack was not.
He pronounced to me that he would not be going outside. He would be staying inside he told me. He also told me that I should go out without him, which actually sounded pretty good. My toes are screaming for a pedicure and some time alone would be nice. But no! I couldn’t do such a thing. So, what did I do? I tried everything I could to talk him into going outside. I talked about the giant bubbles we would blow and the long worms we would find in the dirt. I told him how he could be the swing champ and the king of the playground. No dice. The kid wasn’t budging. I even tried picking him up and forcing him outside. This only made him cry and then I wanted to cry. So, I put him down and we went into the living room and we sat on the couch together. I gave him a hug and asked him what he wanted to do. Do you know what he said? Read. That’s what he said. He wanted to read books. My heart melted and I picked him up and kissed him ten times. My guy. My reader. A little piece of me did get in there somehow. I was so proud and so weepy at the same time.
So, how did we spend this gorgeous New York day?? Inside. That’s right. Inside. We read books. We played with puppets. We blew bubbles. We built towers and knocked them down. We watched some TV. Jack took a nap. I read a book. We ate lunch. We ate pudding. (My poor thighs.) We hugged. We laughed. We had so much fun.
We didn’t take advantage of a beautiful day, but we took advantage of each being able to be with each other and play and have a great time. And I am so glad that we did. I just love my guy.
MomsenseNYC 