Yesterday was one of those tough parenting days. Mondays are always hard for me to begin with, but yesterday was particularly so. I was up to my eyeballs in deadlines (many of which I missed from last week) and Harlan woke up not feeling well. I was late getting Avery to school and of course as soon as we get there Macks decides to have a diaper explosion that managed to get over every single piece of clothing he had on.
After dropping Avery off at school, I always come home to put Macks down for his morning nap. It’s one of the only times during the day that the house is completely silent and I can have some uninterupted time to myself. But yesterday morning he decided to fall asleep in the car on the way home. Normally, I’d just quietly take the car seat out of the car and bring it in for him to sleep in, but as soon as I opened the door his eyes popped open. I tried to quietly get him out and bring him to his room to go back to sleep. Surprisingly that didn’t happen.
This rough start only set the mood for the rest of the day. Macks was so cranky (probably from lack of sleep and teething) and did not want to be put down at all. I tried to get all of his toys out to play with him on the floor, but he just wasn’t having it. So I spent my morning walking around the house trying to keep him entertained and not fussing.
Harlan’s cough only got worse and unfortunately there wasn’t much I could do but give her lots of love (and tell her to stay away from Macks and A.)
Of course as soon as we get in the car to go pick up Avery from school Macks falls asleep, which means that his afternoon nap at home was no longer happening.
We spent the afternoon much like the morning. While Harlan and Avery napped, I tried to entertain Macks in every way I knew possible. All of my old tricks weren’t working and he’d fight me every time I’d try something new. By 3:00, I was ready to throw in the towel. It was then that I heard tiny little footsteps coming from upstairs. Our little A had woken up from her nap and was rushing downstairs like she does every afternoon.
As soon as Avery came down the stairs, Macks’ face lit up. He squirmed out of my hands begging to get on the floor so that he could be with her. She sat on the floor with him and he crawled over to her laughing and playing. All was right in his world again.
When Macks started crawling it was as if the doors to a new world opened for him. He saw his sisters in a new light. While he loved the attention that they gave him nearly all the time, it was very much one-sided. But now he can give them that love in return.
Macks and Avery sat on the floor giggling for over an hour. Avery spoke to him in her “itty bitty baby voice” like she always does and Macks proceeded to treat her like a jungle gym and crawl all over her.
I was able to knock a couple of things off of my to-do list as my heart filled with love watching those two play together. That’s when it hit me – sometimes, no matter how hard we try, all they really need is one another.
And suddenly, all was right in my world again.
