This morning, thanks to the persistent time change confusion, we were up rather early with the boys. While Bennett went back to sleep, Alex would have nothing of it. Instead of letting him cry it out a while to see if there was even a chance of him getting a morning snooze (once he’s up, he likes to stay up), I decided not to fight him and have a nice quiet time with my big boy all to myself. We watched some quiet baby shows cuddled up on the couch, both dozing a little I’m sure. It was so nice to lie there with him without the obligation of changing someone else’s diaper, or filling an empty bottle, or stopping a fight, or preventing a disaster. It was just him and me, and nothing else to worry about. After a while I turned off the TV, hoping maybe he’d stay cuddled with me and we could get a little more sleep, but he just wiggled his way to the floor and proceeded to play as cheerfully as can be. I stayed sprawled on the couch, watching him through half-closed eyes. I just enjoyed observing my sweet boy as he looked through books, and talked to himself. He’d crawl around the room, looking at books and playing with toys, occasionally stumbling upon his bottle he’d dropped earlier to take a few sips before dropping it again to play with something more interesting. He looked like he was having such a great time with everything all to himself. That doesn’t happen very often around here. I was able to watch him and play with him uninterrupted, and it really made me realize what I miss when I am looking in three different directions. Babies are just fascinating.
And even though I am sure he loved not having anything stolen from him, and having the undivided attention of his mom, he started to look kinda lonely playing by himself. I was also lonely for my sweet babies sleeping away in the other room. There is definitely an empty feeling when one or two of them aren’t around. They can all be incredibly cute and entertaining on their own, but they do love each other, as anyone can tell, and have a unique bond. As silly as it is to ever wake a baby from a great night’s sleep, I was tempted to get my sweeties up to play with us. Not only because it’s always best when they’re on the same schedule, and we were going on an hour and a half past when Alex woke up, but also because I missed them, and it seemed like Alex did too. I have all this anxiety about eventually putting them in separate rooms, but I know they will have to split up at some point in the years to come. (The party during nap times sounds more fun every day. It’s frightening to think what will be going on in there when they aren’t in cribs anymore.) I just love to hear them laugh at each other, and enjoy each other’s company. It’s weird to think that first children usually don’t have this companionship.
As much as I loved getting a little heavenly glimpse of what it would be like with one baby to snuggle, I was so excited when I heard the little voices coming from the nursery telling me they were awake and ready to join the fun. I guess you could say that this morning, I had the best of both worlds.
6 comments:
One kid would be way too easy for you.
What a nice little change of pace, but I would miss the other poopsies after a little while too. Imagine if you only had one, you wouldn't even know what you were missing! RAB FTW!
I love watching Millie play by herself, but I often feel that she's just a little lonely too.
Very cute. It's true, though, that sometimes it's just easier with 2 (or 3). When Jeffy is gone, Ethan is ALWAYS sad and lonely--even if they don't always play "together" and so is Jane. Kids needs kids, I tell you! Not so easy to have them altogether as INFANTS, you know, but still.
This is a sweet post. I treasure the times I have Gabey alone, which are very few now that Julia doesn't nap. Sometimes it seems unfair that Gabe doesn't get the nearly undivided attention Julia received, but he has the bonus of having a big sister to play with. So it all evens out, I guess. It's gotta be tough with three babies. But what lucky babies they are to have such great playmates!
Emily, I love your writing. I felt like I was there.
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