After four weeks apart, T flew home this weekend and we got to feel like a normal, or as close to normal as we've ever been, family for two days! It was marvelously, gloriously euphoric and now I'm going through withdrawals again. Kind of unfortunate considering I'd just gotten to the point that I thought, "Actually, I can handle this. It's a little tough, but we're hacking it well."Sigh.
Over the weekend, the little man absolutely couldn't soak in enough Daddy-time. He was overjoyed to be with his idol. I realized how different it is when T is here verses when he's gone and starting compiling a mental list. It looked like this:
- The house is messier. I'm not sure if it's because I'm more likely to be playing or relaxing than picking up, or if it's because T is like a mild Tasmanian devil, but I couldn't stay on top of it.
- The leftovers were eaten. Finally. I always thought I liked leftovers until he who usually consumes the leftovers left and now they sit in the fridge for....ev......er.
- E seemed much happier and the mild diarrhea he's had since T left finally ceased. Is he a Bean or what?
- I realized how much E needs both me and T. Further details provided below.
Sunday, T broke out the playdoh for E, and I went downstairs to load some pictures on the computer. When I came back up I noticed all the playdoh was out on the table and E was really having a ball. E exclaimed, "Mama, I made a pizza!" When I looked down I saw him creating this beauty:
Amazingly creative! He pointed out the "pizza", "sauce", and "cheese" and I marveled at the fun he was having. When I break out the playdoh with E I let him pick three colors at a time. I started doing this when he was little so I could make sure not to much went in his mouth, and I could limit the mess. I never thought to let E have free reign with all the playdoh. I simply didn't. And look at what he was able to do!
"Cooking" the pizzaThe boys were in E's room playing with the door shut and I heard T say, "The tiger is flying over....." while making sound effects and E squeeled and said, "You're funny, Daddy." You want to know what I say when we play with safari toys? Usually something informative and dull like, "I'm a tiger. I prowl in the jungle looking for prey. Rrrroar!!" My tigers don't fly. I never even thought of making my tiger fly, unless he were to be in a cage in a cargo airplane.
In summary, I'm boring. Yikes! I kept thinking about how lucky E is that he has both T and me. If he had only me, he'd be anal and process minded. If he had only T, he'd be crazy and, most likely, messy. With both of us, hopefully he'll fall somewhere in the middle as a normal, functionally human. All in all, it made me reflect on the complimentary differences a father and mother bring to a child and just how much I love and need T.
