Folks, today wasn't stellar. Grayson's last bunch of nights have been rough, yo, and I felt that exhaustion catch up with me in my mood today. It was just a low day and I just wasn't feelin' it. But, the good things that came out of today are:
1. Going for a walk with Jenn. The warm sun, the fresh air, and the perspective and ear of a fellow mom (whose wee babe is eight days younger than my Grayson) who understands my mom-stress was a blessing in my day for sure.
2. Carter went to the babysitter's today. I always feel guilty for taking him to the sitter's. It feels like I'm shuffling him off. But, he has so much fun there that when I go to pick him up at the end of the day, he doesn't want to come home and has a total meltdown about it. I can play with him all day long, but playing with me isn't the same as playing with kids (our sitter has all boys!) his own age.
I am reminded of this reality all the time when we go to the playground. We live down the street from two elementary schools that are across the street from one another and when we walk to the park, he always announces which one of the two has "people" and determines that is the one to go to. Then he proceeds to join right in with whatever game the group of kids there are playing. Sometimes babysitters take their kids there and you'd think he came to the park with them, not me. Sometimes, after school lets out, the bigger kids play on the play structures for a bit, and he runs around with them, screaming and laughing when they do. My heart hurts a little when he does this because a lot of the time, they seem a little annoyed that this three-year old who "doesn't know how" to play is following them around yelling. Usually, there are one or two kids who think he's pretty great and include him, though, and - like I said - this acts as a very in-my-face reminder that it's important and healthy for him to go to the babysitter's and socialize with people who aren't also telling him, "One minute, Carter, I just have to get the laundry/feed the baby/make your lunch" etc.
That was a long digression, so let's come back to the start. When I dropped Carter off at Judy's - the sitter :) - he was immediately greeted at the door with rounds of "Carter!!" "Carter is here!" from the boys. He lights up. This makes me smile. They went downstairs to play and I took Grayson up to visit with Judy for a bit. When I was getting ready to leave, I went downstairs to say goodbye to Carter/see if he would rather come home. When he saw me he said, "What doing, Mom?" I told him that I was just packing up baby to leave for home and did he want to come with me. "No, Mom. Carter stay. Bye, Mom." When Jeff picked him up at the end of the day, he said that he could already hear Carter yelling "no" as he walked up the driveway. The only way he could convince Carter to come home peacefully was to promise a bike ride in the bike trailer as soon as they got home.
I am so happy that he's happy there. I love that he gets along so well with the other boys and has fun with them and, though I don't like that he cries when we leave, it tells me what a great place he is in when he's there. He's my little social butterfly, that boy.
3. Again about Carter - this kid loves his veggies and how fortunate are we that this is a reality?! He eats them raw, steamed, whatever. I'm talking broccoli, asparagus, carrots, cauliflower. Salad. Cherry tomatoes. Don't get me wrong - this kid knows what a chocolate bar is and understands where the cookie cupboard is, but at least he balances it out by eating spinach!
Grayson will be six months in a week less a day and he will be starting solids. Let's hope he's as crazy about veggies as his older brother ;-)
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