I wake up in the morning in a huge king sized bed, Elijah is having his sleepy-eyed long morning nurse. Dan is already up, working, making coffee, getting ready for school (or if it is a day off, falling back asleep on the couch after letting the cat out). Elijah's stares at me, the first words out of his mouth "books, book, books", proceeded by "Dadda home?" Yes dadda is still at home.
After a bit of snuggling and making sure we do not rush the wake up, we go to the bathroom, "Pee Pee, Poo, Potty, Book, book". We read many-a book- while Elijah proudly goes on the little potty. My favourite is the animal book when he says "cheetAH", or when he lets out his best dragon roar. After I dump it into the big potty, he flushes it and holds it down way to long and it always makes the toilet run. Then I always have to stick my hand in the back and fix it.
Simple 'mom' moments during the day that can make you feel so happy, proud, tired or fed up- depending on the day.
Getting breakfast ready- Elijah, is pushing a book at your legs. "Porridge, Pain, Pain". Saying Bread in French? Where did he get that from? He goes to the sliding glass door windows and takes a seat to look at some more books, harass the cat, or empty a box of Que Tips that I am certain I put away.
Breakfast is quite and he devours his fruit, toast, cereal or porridge. It is nearing an end when he looks at you out of the corner of his eye as he holds a hand full of food off the tray, with that look- I know you probably not going to like this but I am going to drop this on the floor.
We get in the bath, Elijah lifts his toes "hot, hot"-yes mommy does like a hot bath-but then we can play longer. Buckets dumped, soap is lathered "poop, poop" that is Eli's way of saying soap.We need to change that. Play, play, nurse, splash, splash.
"Pink Towel, Pink Towel", he loves the pink towel. But when I ask him what color it is he replies "blwue". Time to get out..."BrrrBRRRRR", possibly the cutest thing he says. Perhaps he will wrinkle up his little nose and show his teeth, I always notice the chipped one and somehow feel bad. His curls leave a small wet mark on the bed as we do diaper and teeth brushing.
These are small moments I want to remember.
Lunch has been a high volume eating meal and ends abruptly when he asks for "water" drinks a bit, drops some food in it, dumps it on his tray and sloshes it around splashing the floor. "All done". This is followed by a nap in bed, or in the stroller if we are out and about. In between all of this- the day unfolds in a variety of ways- playgym, long walks, Granville Island, festivals, park, pool, library, rainy inside talk to my sister days, painting, books, playing.
"Oh me, Oh me, Oh my" Elijah tries his best at his first song. I melt.
His little voice that has emerged, letting you know that he listens to everything you say, every book you read and every song you sing.
Dinner rolls around quickly "Mamma noooodle, Mamma peas, Mamma mee mall" (meat ball), his new favourite that Gramma "Lowree" introduced him to.
Dadda does bed time, nail clipping, teeth brushing and they read until he falls asleep. But first I always hear the biggest belly giggle and wonder how Dan makes him laugh so hard.
He always wakes up a few more times for milk, before we join him.
Each night he looks bigger, his tight pyjamas covered in pink stars, blue stripes, snowflakes or space ships. I pull him close and we snuggle all night.
To start it all over again.
