a mom's morning

At around 5:30 this morning, I heard the Good Man get up to settle LittleR Dude back to sleep. Ahhh. Thank you, I thought. I had already been up an hour earlier. I closed my eyes again only to be startled by shrieks of protest and the sound of soothers (his most precious possessions) being thrown out of the crib, hitting the wall and hardwood floor, the moment the Good Man walked in his room. Hmmm ... LittleR Dude is still not himself. I fumbled for my eyeglasses and pulled myself out of bed.

LittleR Dude and I spent the next couple of hours in the guest bedroom. I laid down with him in my arms hoping that he would grace me with another hour of sleep before fully waking up.

I dozed in and out of slumber. I don't sleep well with a child next to me. I was always afraid of crushing both my boys when they were infants. And the sputtering, squeaking and other baby noises they made kept me awake and annoyed. Now, it's the snoring and little elbows in the face that drive me crazy. And I'm still scared to death of crushing them.

Later, I was awakened by a semi-hard object hitting my head. LittleR Dude was handing me the remote. We don't have cable in the guest room. I hit "play" hoping that the train video was in the all-in-one tv/vcr so I didn't have to get up. It was. I hoped for a few more minutes of sleep. But by this time LittleR Dude was making running commentaries of what he was seeing on the video.

"Train, mommy, train. Choo, choo. Red train. Red train. Light, mommy, light"

[Sigh]

From outside the room, I heard the plodding of little feet. The door burst open. Little Dude climbed up on the bed beside me.

"Happy Mother's Day," the Good Man grinned.

Little Dude also wished me, "Happy Mother's Day!" Then he handed me his blue car, smiled and repeated, "Happy Mother's Day, mommy."

I accepted his gift, thanked and kissed him. Life is sweet.

Seconds later, the blue car was back in Little Dude's hands. It was a temporary gift. The Good Man and I smiled at each other and we all piled out of the room.

And that was the beginning and end of Mother's Day for me this year. Not Hallmark material but sweet, nonetheless.