So, thanks to Election Day (which can barely be counted, considering many of the candidates in Colonie are running un-opposed) and Vetrans' Day, my kids have a really short week. They are home on Tuesday and Friday. Which happen to be my two days off. Which means childcare will not be an issue. But which mean I get no time to do my mommy things, like grocery shopping and cleaning. Also, my husband is in California, so it's all me. Ok, it's all me with some help from my parents. But I have 12 days of being on duty, 24/7.
So, today was day off #1. I blissfully turned the alarm off last night. Silly me. I was awakened suddenly to Jake's face about 3 cm from mine at 6:00 am. After my heart started beating again, I tried to get him to go back to bed. Instead, he laid down with me. I don't know if he fell back asleep, because I certainly did. Until 6:20 am when Sophia came noisily bounding in. That was it for Jake sleeping. By 6:35, they were sitting on top of me playing rocks, paper scissors. I cursed daylight savings for ending and not telling my kids. I cursed my husband in California for getting to sleep uninterrupted. I cursed my kids for not being old enough to make me a cup of coffee.
We met a friend for bowling and lunch. The kids played well together. Until the world's slowest service at Friendly's. It's kind of no wonder the chain is going bankrupt. I mean, 2 adults, 4 kids, and it still took an hour and a half for lunch. When we go out just adults, we're hard pressed to sit at the table that long!
Back to home, snuggling with Sophia, and then I put her in for a nap. Jake asked to watch some TV in my room while I waste time on the computer. After seeing all the choices, he picked Little Bear. He used to love the show when he was a toddler/preschooler. It was the first time we got to see his sense of humor as he would sit and laugh and laugh. He just got it. When Jake was 3 or 4, and his Asperger's was very apparent, he had difficulty with free play. His play was usually scripted from a TV show. He could repeat the show, verbatim, and would intentionally change parts to fit his situation. He spent endless hours acting out scenes from Little Bear. Today's show was one of his favorites.
Jake is almost eight. He's not that much shorter than I am (ok, not saying much). Pretty soon, he's gonna be too cool to hang out with me. He's gonna be too busy to sit back and enjoy a quiet afternoon together. Although I can't imagine it, I know there will be a day when he doesn't want to snuggle, or hold my hand. But for this 30 minutes, I'm gonna just soak in the fact that he still "gets" Little Bear. And that he will always be by Little Boy.