A hint of understanding

This weekend it finally really clicked for all of us that Joe is leaving each week. I don't know why 3 weeks is the magic number, but it was.

Nicholas did fine the last two weeks about Joe not being here. After the first couple days he stopped saying he'd see Daddy when he got home and he seemed to be fine. But by partway through this weekend he was making it clear that he was worried that Joe was leaving again, confirming whether Joe would be there when he woke up, etc. And the past two days he has been asking a lot about whether Daddy would be at x place and 3 separate times today he asked if we could go pick Daddy up at the airport.

And it probably doesn't help him that there is no routine for when Joe is around. He'll see him all but 1 weekend a month, but sometimes here, sometimes in NY, sometimes at other destinations we'll mutually travel too. Most weekends we'll see him Friday evening, but sometimes it will be Thursday evening or Saturday morning. Sometimes we'll part on Sunday, sometimes on Monday morning. It just has to be really hard for Nicholas to make sense of. I've tried talking to him about it a little bit, but it is hard to explain it to someone who understands neither distances nor days of the week. For that matter, I can't keep track without a calendar.

On a completely unrelated note, Nicholas is sleeping with a pillow in his bed for the first time ever tonight. And he is so excited! He couldn't stop chattering about it as he was getting ready for bed. And then he pointed out the pillow in each of the stories we read before bed. "Elmo has a pillow in his bed. Like I have a pillow in my bed." And then in the next story, "Piggy has a pillow. Like Elmo does. And like I does." Okay, Nicholas, all done, time for bed. "With my pillow and my blanket in my bed!" He had some trouble figuring out a way to actually get comfortable on it, so we'll see what he thinks in the morning.