Mendolonium

Before I became a parent I expected that I would love my children. That expectation has certainly been met. I did, however, wonder if I would like them.

Today began with a bad omen. I walked in the kitchen this morning to find our kitchen sink and counter overrun with ants. They were attacking potatoes that I had harvested yesterday, washed, and then laid out on a dishtowel to dry overnight. Having just woken up Thomas, of course, wanted to play and began whining when I started to wage war on the ants. I knew that our morning would likely go downhill if I continued on this path so I did something very out of character. I walked away from the problem (not before spraying the entire west side of my kitchen down with non-toxic orange oil to kill the ants). We then went off together to build giraffes and dinosaurs out of Legos. I didn’t take long before I was hungry and I couldn’t face being making breakfast in the kitchen with tiny ant bodies plastered about the tile like some kind of macabre art project. I decided to get us out of the house until Thomas’ naptime when I could deal with the ants in peace.

I showered and off we went. When I was on maternity leave we used to take a long (3 – 5 mile) walk nearly every day. We haven’t done nearly as much extended walking the past few months due to the heat and Thomas’ impatience with the stroller at times. I so loved those long walks and so today I set out to take an old-fashioned stroll. We went to the post office to mail a package and pick up stamps. Thomas smiled at the postman and thoroughly enjoyed using a stamp as a sticker. We then walked off to get smoothies. Thomas narrated happily (“Ice. Strawberries! Orange juice!!!) as the perky Jamba Juice employee put together our smoothies. Thomas then requested bagels and we walked off to get a half dozen. I decided to try my luck at eating lunch out with Thomas and ordered a sandwich as well. We had the most pleasant lunch. He could not have been happier, sitting outside at a wrought iron table, watching the pigeons and a dog, munching on half a bagel. Thomas waved and smiled to every passerby. It was once of the nicest, easiest meals out I have ever had with him. Finally we walked to a children’s store where Thomas played with toys (I wish we had the space and money for a full play kitchen – he loved the play oven and pretended to bake bread) and then picked out two new floor puzzles. After being out for over two hours I wondered how the long ride home would go, but after a five minute warning that it was time to leave, Thomas literally climbed into his stroller and off we went. He snacked and chatted happily all the way home. When we arrived home we found 4 ripe raspberries to pick which delighted Thomas to no end. Naptime was fast approaching and lately putting Thomas down has been an hour – hour and a half process. I needn’t have worried today. After putting together a new puzzle, Thomas got up, asked to nurse, nursed for 20 minutes, and fell asleep.

There wasn’t anything especially remarkable about our morning except that it was perfect – everything seemed so easy and I realized as I was nursing him to sleep how much I really like the person that Thomas has become.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Thomas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.