Eyes Wide Shut
Pre-parenting, there was activity I routinely took advantage of any time I could; I have very faint (it’s been years) and found memories of it, I believe it’s called “sleeping in.” I remember the pleasures of staying in bed and nodding off, for sometimes hours at a time if I wanted. These days the concept of sleeping in is few and far between and has a very different meaning than it once did.
Our regular schedule includes everyone getting up, ready and out the door by 8:30 to get to school and work on time. When our weekend rolls around at the end of the week, I remind Azul at bed time, “We don’t have anywhere to go in the morning, no school or work tomorrow, so feel free to sleep in.” He always says, “Okay.” Just as convincing as could be, but I know exactly what will happen in the morning, my new “sleeping in.”
When I say my new sleeping in, I mean, I am awoken by a tap on my forehead, when it is still fairly dark, by a tiny five year-old pointer finger and a wide awake set of eyes looking right at me and a nose almost touching mine. “How did you sleep?” is the first question Azul asks, before saying, “It’s time to cuddle.” And then he jumps in bed with me. I always lift up the blankets, scoot over, and make room. I love when he cuddles with me, having those little arms clumsily wrapped around my head is heaven, which last about twenty seconds if I’m lucky.
Now, from the time he asked his initial question of how I slept, he has not stopped talking, and I know I have no one to blame for his chattiness but me, but come on, it’s still dark! The conversations range from, how to build a waterfall in Minecraft, to something one of his friends said at Pre-school the day before, it’s a free for all and anything can be the topic of conversation at this hour.
Within a few minutes he remembers there are blankets to dive under! He suddenly becomes a mole desperately digging to escape a predator at all costs. Blankets are now being pulled and pushed — I usually have either a knee or elbow pushed up against my full bladder, and my little rodent narrowly escapes by reaching the empty space on the other side of me. With my eyes closed I am saying, “Ouch. That hurts. Be careful. You’re on top of me.” Sigh! But, my eyes are closed which means I am “sleeping in.”
Oh, don’t get me started on the shrieking cat in the background!
Now That’s Sick!
It happens to all of us and now was my turn, I picked up a bug and I am SICK. Not sure if I got it from the gym, lots of people and lots of germs, or at the kid’s birthday party we went to this weekend, lots of kids and lots of germs, none the less I am down. The moment I started to feel that soreness in my throat I was ready to be proactive, with excessive amounts of Vitamin C, spraying Zicam in my mouth, and rest. My family left for the day so I could sleep. Whew! I needed that.
I’m not sure if my low immune system is affecting my emotions, but Azul has said some of the sweetest things to me in my weakened state. He kisses my hand, because he doesn’t want to get too close to me, and every time he does, he asks, “How are you feeling?” and then runs away as fast as he can. Awww…
At one point, he said, “Mommy, if cold wipes out hot, I know what you need!” And he returned to my makeshift wellness center (okay, it’s just my bedroom) with the largest frozen block ice we have (you know, the blue plastic blocks that fit in between your cans to keep them cold in your cooler). Well, now it’s mine, to use for my fever. Thanks! That was some good thinking.
I did venture out to the couch for a few hours. I was just tired of laying in my fever-drenched bed, and Azul told me, “I wish you weren’t sick,” in the sweetest, most empathetic voice you could ever hear. Followed by, “I’m bored and have no one to play with!” Oh, he is so worried about me.
The next morning on his way out to school, he woke me up and again expressed his concern: “Mommy, when you feel better, get up and eat something.” My blurry-eyed reply, “Okay, thank you, my sweet love.” I rolled over in bed. That was sweet, these are the moments that make parenting worthwhile. Now, where is the NyQuil.
Another day of rest for the weary, and that evening when Azul got home, he ran in and asked me, “Are you feeling gooder?” I responded, “Yes, I am feeling better, thanks for asking.” Then he said, “I’m glad you’re feeling gooder.” Yeah it’s worth it!
Buzz Kill
“I’ve decided — I’m going to start drinking when I’m nine!” was the proclamation made by Azul this week, while we were buying beer at Costco. My response, after I let what I had just heard sink in, was, “You what?” I know, profound. But, for the moment, if you can look beyond the fact that he is five and the legal drinking age is twenty-one, his statement did prove some maturity, not hanging out at a bar maturity, but some.
First, “I’ve decided” — that alone means he put some thought into it and didn’t just make some haphazard decision or give in to a whim or peer pressure. For a five year-old, it takes a lot to consider a situation or action and then actually come to a conclusion.
Second, “I’m going to start drinking,” shows he was aware of his surroundings, the beer aisle in Costco, and appropriately brought up a topic related to the moment. Also, I have never been shy of admitting my vices and I am legally old enough to have a drink, so drinking is not a taboo topic in our household. Oh, and by the way, I am a Homebrewer, which means I make my own beer, and Azul has assisted in the brewing process and even made his own root beer. He is not naive about the subject.
Last, “when I’m nine” obviously means that it is something that will happen in the future and not any time soon. And every parent knows how slow time passes for children. If a day in kid thought is like a year, then to be nine has to seem like an eternity away. Actually, if a day equals one year, then in four years, he would be 1,460 years-old give or take a few.
Well, after he repeated his statement, I said, “Thank you for putting some thought into it, but we’ll talk about it when you’re older.” And I directly headed to the liquor aisle. I needed a drink!
Carmelina Hart 