Day and Night

Mornings with Eddie are quite hectic. We get up every morning around 6:00 a.m. he watches Sesame Street while I take a shower. While waiting he drinks his beverage of the day, a cold cup of milk. Once I am dressed for work, I announce “Eddie it’s time to get ready for school.” remembering not to call it daycare because saying school makes him feel like a big boy. It’s almost like I said ready set go instead of lets get dressed because Eddie runs in the other direction and begins weaving around me so that I have to grab him before slipping through my fingers. Finally after about three misses I scoop him up. He says laughing, “You got me, and you got me.” I wrestle him down and put his pants on, while playing this game of catch me it you can, I can get the shirt over his head but he makes a mad dash to hop on his bike and ride around the house. There have been many times when I wasn’t quite as fast putting on his pants and Eddie has rode the bike a’ demi nu (half naked). I feel like I’m watching the Olympics as he moves from one sport to another.

Eddie is a daredevil. He is focused on his toys and getting dressed comes secondary to everything right now. I finally scoop him up again and manage to put his shirt on his head, but I don’t get a chance to pull it down so now he is stumbling around saying “ I can’t see, I can’t see” I pull the shirt down over his head and see that beautiful face with a big grin on it. “You got me.”

Finally he is off to school; I give a kiss and tell him to have a great day. Before I know it, the sun begins to fade and the clock strikes 5:00 p.m. and it is time to pick up Eddie. As soon as he gets in the car I ask him, how was his day. “Good” he responds and then begins to tell me things he did in school today, he sang songs, and played with the kids. Oh and don’t believe the hype about Mommies being the only ones who know what their kids are saying, because we don’t. There are many times when I find myself telling Eddie “oh that is nice.” And don’t have a clue what he just said. My conversations with Eddie are delightful, his stories are priceless and I love listening.

During the day he is a tyrant, but now as we enter the house he is tired and hungry. Eddie is a picky eater so I tell him that he has to eat all his food in order to get big and strong. He accepts that and eats some of his potatoes and then bends his arm to make a muscle for me. He plays with his trucks before lying down with me on the sofa to watch Wheel of Fortune. Just as I’m about to figure out the puzzle my concentration is broken, when I hear “I want some milk”. I go get his milk because I know it helps him go to sleep.

By the time I get back Vanna is turning over letters for a new puzzle. I lay back down, Eddie is happy now he has his milk. When he is finished he is ready to snuggle. I tickle him and we play, he goes to brush his teeth and we play some more before he falls asleep. I carry him off to his bed and lay him down. And it is then and only then that I see a silhouette of a pair of wings. There he is my angel, I missed him all day, but he always shows up at night, and once again it all makes sense to me.