A Vacation from the Routine

Daniel returned home today after two days at his grandparents' house. We took Daniel over to Mimi and Pops' house on Sunday night. When it was time to leave, we showered him with kisses and "I love you's". He began to suspect that something was going on, so Uncle David and Aunt Chandra distracted him while Peter and I crept out the door. Apparently, he never noticed we were gone. For the next day and a half, we were childless. Monday was filled with doctors appointments and bed rest, so we hardly had time to miss Daniel. It didn't really strike me that he wasn't here until this morning, when my normal routine was thrown for a loop.

First of all, I slept until 7:30. That's my version of sleeping in! Instead of rushing to eat breakfast before Daniel awoke, I took my time. I was able to linger over a magazine as I ate my cereal, not needing to strain my ears to hear the tiniest peep from Daniel's room. I could make as much noise as I wanted to. Not like I was throwing dishes around, but I definitely didn't have to tiptoe. The rest of my morning was wide open. I found myself accomplishing tasks that normally get tossed to the side when Daniel is the focus of my day: I emptied the dishwasher, made the bed, organized part of Daniel's closet, and even hung a picture that had been lying on my dining room table for months. Who's worried about a little hammering when there's no 2-year-old around?

Despite all these "tasks" that I found myself doing, I realized just how limitless my free time actually was. I thought to myself, "How in the world did I fill my days before becoming a Mommy?" Full-time job aside, I'm sure I had loads of free time on my hands. And I'm sure I wasted much of it. When you first become a parent, you mourn the loss of this free time. But as you settle into parenthood and all of its ups and downs, you realize that your definition of free time changes radically. Today, as I paced around my house with nothing but free time, I ached for my little boy and longed to hear his infectious laugh. I couldn't wait to fill the rest of my day with being a Mommy. And once Daniel was home, playing with his trains and chasing Ollie around the kitchen, it was like he had never left. I felt much more at ease.