My newest grandson, Mr. L, is 2 months old. Selma was scheduled to return to work this coming Monday and arrangements had been made for daycare and although she was not looking forward to it, plans had been put into place for it to happen. Then her employer called and told her she needed to be at work on Friday (yesterday) instead of starting on Monday. This was not only disappointing to Selma but the day care wanted an entire week of payment for the one day. What? Made no sense but that was their conditions. Sonny couldn't do it since he didn't have any vacation time he could use now so everyone turned to the one person that has a storage shed full of vacation days. Me. It sort of threw me for a moment when Sonny first asked but yes, of course, I can take Friday off and watch him.
I got an early morning text from Selma telling me she was missing him already. I'm not sure if she knew he hadn't arrived yet (Sonny was running late) but I told her he would be right here when she was done with work. Sonny arrived with him a little later and went on to work. I had diapers and formula and wet wipes and a note with how much, how often, how long things could possibly happen. It was helpful. It wasn't like I didn't have all the confidence that I could handle the day but it's been a long time since I've been in charge of an infant.
Mr. L started our day off together by having a massive hic-cup attack. He didn't seem all that concerned about it but it seemed to go on for a long time. If it's me I get totally frustrated with hic-cups so I thought he was being rather calm about the ordeal. It was me that was getting frustrated and I wasn't the one with them. I finally gave him a shot of plain water and (blow me away) it stopped. The morning was just fun since he was awake and looking around and when I turned on the food network he seemed especially interested in the program about the cake and frosting that came on. I'll take that as a good sign. Sonny and Selma actually came over to the house at lunch. That first day of separation can be tough. I get that. It's perfectly understandable but after lunch they went on back to work.
The note said he would sleep most of the afternoon. I was totally playing this by ear and going by his cues. What else could I do? I thought if he napped I would do a few other things. I could bring the laptop down and write. I could get myself organized, I could plan a few things. He never napped. All afternoon. Maybe I was hovering too close? Maybe he wasn't used to the surroundings? Maybe there were too many distractions for him to settle down? He stayed up and I stayed with him. Poor guy. I knew by mid-afternoon he was getting cranky. It was time for another feeding and that helped but sleep seemed to be something he was fighting. I thought I was going to mess up his entire schedule! What would happen that night if he didn't get this normal rest during the day? He was getting bags under his eyes!
Finally, just 10 minutes before Selma arrived to pick him up after work he fell asleep. Oops! Was that supposed to happen? She didn't think that was a problem at all. She shrugged and said, "sometimes he does that." Oh. It's been too long. I had forgotten they do that sometimes. She also thought it would give her a short break since she was just getting off work. Oh. I felt better about that. Maybe it worked out for the best after all.
When Jay got home later that evening the first thing he said to me was, "Boy, you look tired." I hadn't realized a vacation day could do that.
TT
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