Tuesdays are typically Shannon's days to take Adam to daycare (my "morning off" typically features me getting up early to go to work or sleeping in a little, uninterrupted. Before last year I never fully enjoyed the luxury of being able to take a shower without fearing that someone will be crying when I got out).
Anyway, as I was saying . . . Shannon and I had to switch days to take Adam to daycare because I was unfortunate enough to pick up strep throat somewhere. I fell into bed with a fever on Friday evening after seeing Bridesmaids with Robin, Lisa, and Sarah, and wasn't able to get out of bed comfortably until Monday afternoon. (Well, minus the trip to Primacare Sunday morning where I was diagnosed with strep throat and given a shot of antibiotics and a shot of steroids (Adam was right - those do hurt)). But magically, Monday night at about 8:30 pm, I felt better. I went from "I'll never survive this" to "not too bad" in about 5 seconds.
So this morning, the second that Shannon turned on the shower and stepped in, Adam started to whine. He has gotten in the habit of losing his pacifier overnight to the slats of his crib - to what I have begun to call the Pacifier Black Hole. (Every week or so I move the crib from the wall and pick up 4 of them to go into the sink to be washed.) And when he wakes up with no pacifier, he has a tough time snoozing because he's really, really working hard for those top teeth.
I got up and found him sitting in his crib, pouting because he could see his paci on the floor but couldn't reach it (I'm seriously shocked that he hasn't at least attempted to climb out of his crib yet). But when I walked in, he smiled. When I picked him up, he basically turned himself upside down (which means "Mom, I'll pick it up, but you bend down so I can get it.") He picks up his pacifier, puts it in his mouth and lays his head on my shoulder. I sat down in his rocking chair and rocked him awake.
This may sound strange to all of you who are used to the term "rocked to sleep" - however, Adam sleeps better when he's "dumped" in bed pretty much unceremoniously (well, he's read a book, gets a pacifier and then is tucked in with his blanket and kissed on the forehead). And the mornings are much happier when he's rocked awake. I don't mind. I need to be rocked awake myself.
Adam is rocked awake, and Shannon comes in to say good morning to him before he goes to work. I let Adam slide off my lap and immediately he begins to throw clean clothes from the laundry basket on the floor. I stand up and he lifts his arms up for me to carry him. (This is a newer behavior - when he's with Shannon, his attitude is like, "Look, Dad, I can climb this!" or "Look, Dad, I can fly over Caley!" or "See ya, Dad, I'm going to go pull everything out of the cabinets in the kitchen. Be back later." With me, his attitude is "PICK ME UP!" or "TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!")
I pick Adam up and we go get set up for breakfast. When he wakes up before I can shower, he gets his breakfast in his highchair while he watches his Your Baby Can Read video. (Any lectures about TV watching can be kept to yourselves, please. He watches the video maybe once a day and pretty much no other TV unless it's the occassional Little Einsteins episode). This morning he had a whole banana and a waffle and didn't touch his milk, which is typical. While he ate, I took a shower.
I came back and took him out of the chair and let him play while I gathered every last item for us to leave the house - and since today is Splash Day at daycare (every Tuesday and Thursday), I had more items to grab. I asked Adam to carry his swim diapers while I carried his towel to his back pack, and that was thrilling - he loves to help.
When we got to his bag, I asked him to put the diapers in, and he did it as gently as possible and with the biggest smile on his face. I said thank you, and good job, and zipped the bag. He looked around the room for more and found the spoon that goes with Potsy (the singing pot with veggies), picked it up and said, "Aye?" and pointed to the bag. I said sure, reopened the bag, and he tucked it inside with an even BIGGER smile on his face.
I started to compile the couple hundred bags that we need to leave the house each morning as Adam started to get a little rambunctious. He climbed onto the couch and promptly stood up. I don't know if he stands up because he just can't help himself, or because he prefers it that way, or even because he knows he's not supposed to, but I believe I spend more time each day telling him to sit down on the couch than I do preparing meals.
I asked him to sit down, and he squatted. I accepted it because at least he tried. He stood up again. I asked him to sit down and he didn't, so I walked over and made him sit down with the whole "we sit down on the couch." (The other phrase is "sit down or get down." But he doesn't quite get that one - it just makes him mad - especially at the end of the day when his tired little muscles burn and struggle to get on the couch, and when he finally gets up there, stands up, and turns to smile at me, I shake my head and put him on the floor again. His greatest fits are thrown in these moments).
Anyway, I turned my back and I heard him immediately shoot back up. I finished my task, and when I turned back around he was standing up as tall as he could, looking straight at me, and grinning ear-to-ear. I told him to sit down, and he grinned bigger.
I picked him up and took him to his crib for a timeout. I hate using his crib as a negative space but his defiance was so blatant that I had to do something. I sat him down in his crib and walked away. He cried. I came back after about a minute and a half and wiped away his tears, told him that he needs to listen to me when I tell him to sit on the couch (which, to him, probably sounded like wah wah wah wah wah sit wah wah wah couch). Then I kissed him on the cheek and we left for daycare.
He didn't struggle at all when I put him on his car seat, and smiled like usual when we got to school and I opened the door to release him. I picked up his bag, carried him in and got halfway to the room when I realized I had forgotten his swim trunks in the car. I took him back to the car with me. When we got there I let him stand between me and the open car door while I grabbed his swim trunks from the floorboard of the back seat.
When I picked the trunks up, they revealed one of his favorite sippy cups that had been hiding in my car for the last week or so. He spotted it and tried desperately to crawl into the car to get it while I was stuffing his trunks into his back pack. I stopped to giggle at him as he made it halfway up and kinda fell forward like a teter-totter, head falling forward into the floorboard and legs kicking in the air behind him in his desperate attempt to get to his favorite cup. I saved him from his struggles and picked him up, kissed him on the cheek, and took him inside to drop him off for the day.
Luckily he didn't cry when I dropped him off today. I could have played "Enjoy Adam" all day long but instead I made my way into work hoping the day would pass quickly. It didn't. The days pass too quickly when we are with him and way too slowly when we are not.
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