We ease into our day. We enjoy our coffee and we take our time at meals. We don’t rush. Why should we?
And then we had a child.
Matthew is becoming a high-energy baby in a low-energy household. Reactions are mixed: he likes it, we don’t. He used to sleep until 9:00 or 9:30 am; this morning I came into the kitchen at 6:45 am (don’t ask) and Matthew was vocalizing in his room. He can tell when someone is moving around and thus downstairs sounds are a cue for him to make noise in the hope of coming downstairs himself.
It’s not a popular move.
Yesterday I got my flu shot and today Curtis got his. I slept well but could easily have slept three more hours.
Today is a Lisa-the-Nanny day. My only job is to have that baby fed and clothed by the time she arrives so they can go to the park. So I made our breakfasts, his and Curtis’s and mine, and then took twelve whole minutes by myself to eat. By then the cacophony from upstairs was reaching a pitch, so I went up and we did the whole “Good morning, how did you sleep?” routine. (Which is completely charming because he laughs out loud and hugs me and I love this so much.) I changed him and dressed him and we came downstairs for the first bottle of milk and a nutritious tray of food.
He asked for the cheerios (I can interpret the grunt and the pointing) so I gave him about ten cheerios, telling him he could have more when more of his breakfast was eaten. I should point out that I was all smiles and happiness because despite the early hour, I know how to behave.
The tears and screaming were unsettling because he wanted more than ten cheerios. Anyone who has ever met me knows that if you try to nag me, I will do anything but what you want. And thus, we were at an impasse:
The tears come down in buckets and the wailing was enough to awaken the dead (or Curtis, which is often close to the same thing). We’ve been having more of these reactions. I’m confident we will get this under our belts by the time he’s two and then we won’t have any more emotional outbursts. He will be Spock and I will be Sarek. Curtis is T’Pring, but not TOS T’Pring—he’s SNW T’Pring, or perhaps he’s Stonn. I don’t know, we haven’t rehearsed this. Kroykah!
In conclusion, it is not all butterflies and unicorns at our house. Send good vibes for all of us. Some of us are learning.
That face - and that lower lip! 🤣😂