The Little Things

So at this very moment Jonathan and I are hanging out at home, waiting for Mommy to come home from a business trip. She left Thursday so for nearly three whole days, it's been our boy and me, and while as always we miss her terribly, this particular trip has been just a tad easier for Jonathan, and as a result, me. Last time, he acted out a bit by refusing to put his jacket on and having an absolutely terrible drop-off at school the one day I drove him there (Jen almost always takes him). And night time was horrendous, and I remember him sleeping naked the first night, refusing to put a pull-up or any pajamas on.

But this time, everything went much better. Of course, the day Jen left on her trip, it was snowing badly here, and I was worried about her flying, but it turned out to be on time and without a hitch. So I felt good about that, and then turned my attention to getting our son to bed. This time it was not a problem as I followed the same routine Mommy does. He fell asleep like an angel this time.

The next morning, I followed the directions to a tee for getting him ready for school. I had instructions on a dialogue and everything, something Jen does with him every morning on the way ("there is the park, who plays in the park?" "Kids play in the park"). No, seriously. I did this, reading from a notebook, while driving on slippery, freshly snow covered roads. We got to school and this time there were no issues whatsoever--no issues with the parking spot, with the drop-off in general, or me leaving. Whew.

Last night we watched Handy Manny before bed as we usually do, and once again bedtime went great--no fuss, and once we got through the standard routine that includes him getting naked and me dressing him in his pajamas again, he fell asleep shortly after that. Whew, again.

This morning, I wrote on his dry erase calendar--something Jen only does with him during the week. I wrote "Trader Joes, Grocery Store, Pepper, and Mommy"....meaning, we would run errands, come home and see Pepper, and then wait for Mommy to arrive home. And guess what? He was an angel. I kept saying, "What is next?" and he would tell me, and then we got home and had some lunch. I thought about running more errands or doing something else with him, but it's always risky when he's already off routine with Mom not being home. So we just hung out this afternoon, and watched Elmo and Caillou holiday movies. And Jonathan could not have been happier, coming up to me multiple times and just hugging me and smiling. That made me realize that sometimes it really is the little things that make kids like Jonathan happy, and that makes me happy too.

Of course, we'll be happiest when Mom gets home, in just a few more hours!