Tuesday, March 02, 2010

That Kind of Day

I haven't showered. My hair needs to be dyed; my roots are out of control and revealing my age. I did some of the things on my to do list, but not all of them. The majority are left undone and may never get done. I've eaten too much, as usual, because I felt all day as though I hadn't had time to eat.

There are toys everywhere.

My bedtime is creeping later and later, but wake-up time this morning was exactly the same as usual. I'm so tired.

He cried every time I had to put him in his crib while I peed. He's still wearing his pajamas from this morning. He banged his face on the coffee table because crawling isn't safer than walking.

I found ants on his high chair. And the carpet. And on him.

But that's not the kind of day it was.

This evening, after I'd surrendered the remainder of my to-do list and my shower, he sat on my lap, buzzing his lips like an engine because he was holding one of his trucks. In a flash, I realized how precious that moment was. I tucked my face into his cheek and closed my eyes and tried to memorize his weight, his warmth, his constant expenditure of energy, his smell-- that unbathed baby smell. That's what kind of day it was: one that had a perfect moment. And then he leaned his head back far enough to look me in the eye, grabbed the too-short hair on the back of my head, patted my shoulder with his other fat little hand and gave me a wet baby kiss.

I guess he wanted to remember it forever, too.

3 comments:

Sarah Craig said...

That is, quite possibly, the sweetest thing I've ever read. So many moms forget to enjoy those moments! Take it from a Nana - the to-do list will always be there, it won't kill him to wear his jammies all day, and if it's not ants, it will be something else. But he's only little once - and you are the center of his world. Enjoy him!!

Free Range Chick said...

I think that is the cutest story that I have ever read on your blog. What a little angel to give you that memory.

Shannon said...

Thank you so much Natalie. I have been getting so bogged down in the details lately, and I have moved from the "I can't wait to hear what she has to say!" stage to the "I wish she'd stop saying no and mine so much!" phase. Thanks for helping me remember what's important in this whole motherhood business!