Big and Strong, Pt. 1

My husband has been out of town on business since Monday and won't be home until late tomorrow afternoon. This has been the longest I've gone without seeing him since we got married and the longest I've had to take care of two kids (largely) on my own.

Last night was bath night, and I decided that I could do it on my own; Mom, Dad, and Christine have been helping out a lot, and I want to keep from exhausting them too much. So, the kids and I headed home after a lovely afternoon and evening with my family to get a bath and get to bed.

I had hoped Mollie would stay asleep in her car seat, but she was stirring here and there and I didn't want her to end up alone on the first floor in a seat she hates crying her little eyes out. So, I scooped her up, grabbed everything I thought I'd need that I could carry, and scooted Little B upstairs for a bath. Once upstairs, I got the bouncy seat out of the master bathroom, fastened her in it wide awake, and started up the bath time routine. It was only later, about halfway through Baylor's bath, that I realized I had neglected an important detail: Miss Mollie was hungry and I hadn't procured her binky from her room to soothe her in the meantime.

Ugh.

With my little man sopping wet, enjoying his bath to the extreme, I decided that the only way I could make both kids as happy/content as possible was to let Mollie suck on one of my fingers and continue to bathe Baylor. So that's what I did. The minute he got out of the bath, though, I ran with him to her room, got the binky, and popped it into her little mouth. Then we continued with the routine, getting him dried and his ears cleaned out, eventually progressing to his bedroom to get a diaper on that little tush.

Once he was all lotioned and pajama'ed, we went back to the bathroom to see how Mollie was faring. Since she seemed content to just sit and suck on her binky, I decided to try to put Little B to bed right then. I probably would have been able to get through the rest of the routine (milk, teeth brushing, story, snuggles) without her crying had I not accidentally slammed his shades down, scaring her in the next room causing her binky to fly out of her mouth. A few minutes later she started to fuss, and a few minutes after that she was full-on wailing.

Great. What to do? What to do?

Well, I decided to just continue on with the little man as best I could; I knew he would be out of sorts if I skipped anything or rushed through things, so I gave him as much of my attention and love as I could. It was tough hearing Amalia so upset in the next room, but I would rather have only one child upset and I knew she was okay, just hungry.

As we sat there talking, I had to keep reminding Baylor to drink his milk amidst all the story-telling; we had seen and done a lot that day that apparently needed to be worked-through. Finally, after minutes of sipping here and there, I told him that he'd have to drink more of his milk if he wanted to grow up big and strong. At this, he turned and smiled at me. He repeated what I said, "Big and strong" and smiled even wider. Then he took his little arms up to the side and showed me a muscle man pose! I didn't think he remembered me showing that to him weeks ago, but apparently he did. We giggled a little, and he said it again with the motion. Then he pointed to me, asking if I'd show off my muscles, so I did, repeating, "Big and strong!"

He drank some more of his milk, this time in bigger gulps, and then smiled and showed me his muscles again. I then asked him if he wanted to feel Mommy's muscles. He smiled, so I flexed my left arm and guided his little hand to my bicep with my right hand. As he squeezed my arm, he grinned from ear to ear, then he put his arms up so I could feel his little muscles! I squeezed his bicep area and acted astonished at his muscles, then he drank some more milk and smiled.

And my heart was full.