Missing.

So here's the thing.  You're with me all the time.  We commute together to and fro work/daycare 5 days a week.  It's you and me on the weekends, running errands, arranging play dates, etc especially when Daddy is working.  So yeah, we spend a lot of time together.  And sometimes I lament how I never have any time to myself.  Except maybe the occasional solo trip to Target or the grocery store.  

But this weekend offered that and more.  A whole weekend away from you because you spent it with Grammie and Grampie.  They came to your tumbling class and took you home from there. Daddy had to work so I had the entire Saturday to myself.  I took a little me-time to go to my favorite Portland indulgence, Soak, have lunch with a friend, and finally watch the end to the Twilight saga on Netflix.

Then it was 7pm.  Grammie had been emailing me all day with updates on how you were but worried that if I called to say goodnight, you'd want to leave.  So I didn't.  Instead, I wandered around the house, took the dog out, rearranged this, straightened out that.  But there it was.  Me missing you.  Feeling lonely.  Missing getting you ready for bed, reading a story, tucking you in.  It was too quiet in the house.  Nope, this wasn't the first time you've been away from us, but for some reason I really missed you. Really.  

It was the weekend to 'spring' forward, losing a precious hour of sleep.  So I did the only thing I could when feeling like I was.  I went to bed ridiculously early, but justified it with the knowledge that it was actually an hour later than what my clock currently read. 

Today, Sunday, came.  We slept in.  That was nice.  Gabby let out a bark in the early morning hours and I shushed her quickly afraid she'd wake you.  Then I remembered you weren't in your room.  Grammie sent more updates with how well you slept, the fantastic breakfast you ate, and everything you were doing.  Clearly, you were not missing us.  

So Daddy and I made our way to Portland for brunch, enjoyed a gorgeous day walking around the city we don't spend much time in anymore, and then finally decided it was time to make our way south to G and G's house.  When we got there, you were zonked out in Grampie's favorite chair.  (You refuse to take normal naps there, but somehow fall asleep in his chair.)  

While you were sleeping, G&G regaled us with your funny antics from the past day and a half.  You clearly love going there and they LOVE having you.  Grammie cooked a fantastic early St. Patrick's dinner, and you even tried and liked the cornbeef.  

Eventually, we made our way home, back to the familiar routine, and now you're snuggled in your nest, with Monday morning closing in.  

There will be many more sleepovers at their house, and eventually with friends, and then someday you'll get on a bus and won't be commuting with me anymore.  Then you'll be staying out late, and if you're anything like me, you'll be sometimes moody. Maybe you won't want to willingly come up to me, arms outstretched and say "Hug!" like you do now, and you'll roll your eyes when I squeeze you and tell you how you'll always be my baby and how much I love you. 

For now, though, I'll relish in having you with me on our daily jaunts.  I'll see through the erratic tantrum and just enjoy the time we have.  You're only this age once. And I'll always be missing you.  

Favorite Things: Part 3

How can it be that the last 'favorite things' was almost a year ago, when you were speeding along towards 2? Now you're racing to catch 3, and we can hardly believe it. While so much of you remains the same, you continue to flourish in your growth and your learning, allowing us to see glimpses of the little boy you're becoming.  

These past three days, you've not been feeling well (definitely NOT one of my favorite things) and so we have spent much time together, cuddling, snuggling, and just loving.  There's nothing I love more than to hear you say "I want my mama..."  as if by some wisp of magic, I can make all your discomfort disappear. I wish! But it did make me realize that you at this stage is so different from even just a year ago, and though you are a robust, very independent ("no, my turn, my turn! I do it!") little character, you're still just that--little.  Now it's not just about the funny things you do, but also what you say.  Or how you say them.  And so, the latest Garrett-isms. 

56. The way your face lights up when you taste something really good and you proclaim "mmmmm tastes GOOD!" Like our first Shamrock Shake of the season.  

57. The way you ask a question, and when I give the answer, you repeat it and say "Oh, right!" as if you knew all along and just needed the reminder.

58. When I drop you off to 'school', and ask if you're going to have a good day, you say "I promise."

59. The fact that, when in the tub, you look down and say, "Hey! That's my peanut."  

60.  The fact that you start almost all your sentences with "Hey!" 

61.  The fact that next to Daddy,  Grampie is your very best friend.

62. The way you lovingly bring Gabby her toys ("here you go, Gabby!") and say goodnight and goodbye to her everyday.  And that you call a stuffy that looks like Gabby "Gabby puppy".

63.  The way your inquisitive mind is starting to wonder about things.  Like, when brushing your teeth, and watching the water circling down the drain, you ask "Where does the water go?"  Inevitably, my answer is followed by 'why?'.

64. The way you answer every affirmative with "Sure!" instead of just a plain old yes.  Bonus: the WAY you say sure...it's like "shoe-were". My fave.

65. How Daddy has taught you the word 'Boondoggle!' and you yell it at the top of your lungs.

66. Your crazy sense of smell.  Like the day I had toast with peanut butter for breakfast, and then I went up to get you ready for your day, and immediately you sniffed the air and said "That MY peanut butter?"  

67. The way you thank me almost nightly for dinner, and even better, when you say "Mmmm, this dinner GOOD, mama!" In general, you are so good about thanking...I hope you always will be.  It will get you far in life.

68.  When I tuck you in at night, and you insist "wrap me up, mama!" meaning, tuck me in!

69.  When I ask you what you did at school today, you say in a sing-song voice "I play outSIDE, I play with TOY, I COLOR, I play with PEOPLE..."

70.  How you always want to call Grampie on the phone.

71. How you observe and vocalize things we see on our commute to and fro every day. "That man is at the mailbox!"  or "That truck is humungous! " (Thank you, Sesame Street, for teaching the word humungous!) "That car getting money at the bank!"

72. The way you always remember and randomly interject things about your friends, even if you haven't seen them in awhile. 

73. If I'm doing something you don't like, you get the furrowed brow and say "no no no."

74.  Your love of books and how you sometimes "read" to me in the car on our commutes.

75. The funny way you say words that end in 'x', using a 'ck' sound. Like six is sick, box is bock, fox is...well, we're working on it. 

76.  Every morning, as I'm backing out of the driveway to head on our way, I say "Ready, Boo-Boo?" and you say "Ready, Mama!".  We sound just like Santa and Rudolph.

77. The way you hold conversations with your stuffies when you're just waking up, and I hear you say things like "Right, Pooh? RIGHT?" (Poor Pooh.)

78. The way we sing songs at dinnertime, listening to "Toddler Tunes" on Pandora.  Particularly, when you finish the end words to "You are my sunshine..."

79.  Your memory.  Back in July, we were stopped at a stop sign coming home from work.  A man across the way was on a tractor mowing his lawn.  He was then referred to as "Man on Tractor."  We saw him just that one time, but every single night since, if we've gone by that house on the way home, without fail, you ask "Where did Man on Tractor go?"  Now we make up stories as to what he's doing; sleeping, eating dinner, watching Sesame Street...

80. The way you call for us when you're ready to wake up "Come back, Mama, come back!"

81. How you love to be outside.  And watching you forge your way to new adventures.

82. The different voices you use when playing with toys.

83.  Your burgeoning creativity. 

84. The way you find ways to show me what you mean when I admittedly don't always understand what you're trying to say.  Like yesterday...before we went to the store, you kept saying a word that I couldn't figure out.  When we got to the car, you said "Open the trunk!" And there it was.  Your stroller.  You wanted to make sure I was bringing your stroller.  

85. When you randomly and totally unprompted tell me that you love me.

86.  That, at almost 3, you STILL eat your vegetables and sometimes even ask for more! Keep it up!

87. When you hear Daddy come home from work, you stop what you're doing and yell "Daddy, daddy, daddy!" and then launch yourself at him.  The relationship you have with Daddy is different then yours and mine, and the two of you have your own special little world.  I get it.

88. The way you kiss your loveys goodbye in the car when I drop you off every day.

89. When you're excited and want to show us something, you take us by the hand and say "Come on, Mama and Daddy, I show you, come on!"

90.  The fact that you don't see your cousins all that often, but when you do, it's as if you've all been together forever.  It's so sweet to watch you three.

91.  Your loving self.  You love to give hugs.  To us, to your friends, to the snowman you just built. You're just so loving.  Don't ever stop being that way!  

92.  (I may come to dread this...)...but the way you ask 'Why?' to everything...and that you somehow get that after the fifth or sixth time, it's become a joke.  You are such a little trickster.

I'm sure there are more.  Conversations happen all the time in random places that I tell myself I need to remember because it's so priceless! It's hard. Hard to remember all the snippets of hilarity that ensue and the utterly sweet things that happen.  The favorite things of now are different then they were a year ago...and a year from now, who knows.

For now, these are my favorite things.