Having a baby at the end of a calendar year means I go into my maternity leave with no vacation. That’s because our new vacation calendar starts January 1. While it sounds amazing to take vacation the week before a new baby arrives, it just wasn’t practical. Not practical in the sense of never actually knowing when said baby will arrive. Even with a scheduled c-section, no one can really be sure when that baby will make his debut. If he’s anything like his brother, it’ll be on his terms. So, I’ve been using up my vacation in November and the beginning of December. Giving myself short work weeks so I can both get things finished at work and at home. I’ve also been enjoying the extra time with Maximus. Although, Mondays have proven to be very emotional for the toddler, we’ve both enjoyed the extra long weekends that a free Friday provides.
This Friday started out with no plans and went well until mid-morning when Maximus decided he wanted to see Papa. He wanted to see him or go to his house, either would be fine. Except Papa and everyone else we knew were working. Try explaining that to a two-year old. I finally stopped trying to distract and plopped down on the couch and watched him whine. In a last ditch effort, I sent my dad a text. “Maximus is throwing himself on the floor. He wants to go to Papa’s house or at least see him.” Twenty minutes later {and some distracting plus more whining}, I got a text back. “Be there after work.” The next time Maximus whined about seeing Papa, I told him he’d come over after work. It was the best I could do, even though it was six hours away. During lunch, my dad sent me a text of him at work. Maximus kept asking to see Papa at work. The best I could do was send him one back of a crying toddler because he didn’t want to take a picture, just wanted to look at Papa’s picture.
I am so thankful that a quick text message can change the course of a day. Whether it’s Maximus wanting to see them or them wanting to see him, everyone feels much better after a couple of hours of fun. When the end of the night came, Papa told Maximus to come over on Sunday and help him work. I forget how much he’s grown up in the past few months. On Sunday morning, I told him that I needed to get dressed and that he needed a sweat shirt, hat, and his shoes before we could go to Papa’s house. The next thing I knew, he’d gotten a hoodie out of his closet and was standing in front of me trying to put it on. We got him dressed and he went and got his water bottle and blankets so he could take a nap at Papa’s house. We faced a little whining when we started to leave him at their house. We were all surprised to see him start to get upset. It was then that I realized that since we hadn’t gone inside the house, he thought we were taking him home. Off he went into the house with Papa and Grandma, quickly waving and telling us bye-bye. He enjoyed a full day at Papa’s house and even took a 3-hour nap on the living room floor. {Up until now, they’ve watched him at our house so he could nap and sleep in his own bed.}
It was nice to have toddler-free hours to spend as much time as we wanted strolling the aisles at the local hardware store. We came up with our Christmas lists and finished up the Christmas decorations. The only thing holding us back was literally my back. My physical “condition” dictated how quickly we moved, not a toddler. It was basically bliss and we topped it off by going to a movie! I feel less guilty knowing that Maximus went over to my parent’s house and they didn’t lose a day. While he was there all day long, it worked out for everyone. But, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell mention that he had a meltdown when we left that night. All day wasn’t long enough. And he doesn’t forget either. He whined and stomped his feet Monday night because he wanted to go to Papa’s house.
I love that our families are close by and can be a consistent part of Maximus’ life. While he talks about Papa a lot, he loves everyone else just as much. He squeals with delight with everyone he sees and gets mad when people leave. It’s such a blessing to know that he has so many people who love and adore him. Little brother will soon learn that as well. I just hope Maximus is ok sharing his favorite people with his little brother! I do have comfort knowing that if he’s not adjusting well with sharing mommy and daddy, I can easily call up a grandparent to help him feel as loved as he does now.
Reading a book in my old rocking chair at Papa’s house.
Love the rocking chair! My dad has one that Avery is almost big enough to use.
It’s one of those extra special moments where he looks like a big kid using something that I grew up using.