Weekend Away

It is time for our weekly update of the blog, but this week I have no photos to post.

Okay, for the 2 people still reading after that opening . . . .

Nicholas spent the weekend with his Grandma Kathleen and Uncle Andrew while Joe and I went to D.C. for our first weekend away since Nicholas was born. We have each individually been away from him for longer periods, but we had never left him with someone else overnight before.

But from all accounts things went well, he was at least mostly well behaved, and they had a good time. Nicholas definitely became more attached to my mom. When he couldn't find her after we got there, he went to where the baby gate often is, stopped, and reached out his arms yelling "Mama!" loudly and plaintively. (I am "Ommy" and Grandma is "Mama" in Nicholas-ese. It is taking some getting used to for me.) And they came up with some new activities that Nicholas was annoyed Joe and I didn't know the rules to. (Apparently when he pulls on my mom's animal quilt I am supposed to lay it on the ground for him to walk on and point to animals. Who knew? He was indignant when I spread it out on the couch for him to look at, and pulled it to the ground with a glare.)

Anyway, Joe and I had a good weekend as well. We definitely missed Nicholas and were excited to get back to him, but it was also refreshing to have some time to ourselves. No parenting, no work, no responsibilities.

I will admit that there were times earlier in Nicholas' life when I desperately wanted to run away, when I craved a trip without him, but this weekend wasn't like that. I was actually sad to not have the weekend with Nicholas. I had a wonderful time and I think we really needed the time away, but I didn't feel like I was running. I attribute this shift in my feelings to daycare. Nicholas has now been in daycare fulltime for almost 2 months and for the past month he has been there close to 50 hours a week. And so rather than feeling trapped and isolated like I sometimes did when at home with a completely dependent and mute baby, I treasure the couple hours a day and weekends with my fun, helpful, interactive little boy. But between taking care of him, working most nights until half an hour before bed, and commuting 10-12 hours a week, I was worn out.

Hopefully the weather next weekend permits fun activities. Because I am now refreshed and looking forward to the Nicholas time in a week.

On a completely unrelated note, Nicholas is apparently still terrified of bubblebath. We decided to try again since it had been a few months and he loves bubbles. Apparently he only loves bubbles in small quantities and not in his bath. He shrieked and refused to get in and ran out of the bathroom. I'm baffled.