A Beautiful Day With My Toddler
As a working mom in a two-parent household, having a whole day with my toddler alone is extremely rare. My partner and I both work typical office jobs, so we go home around the same time and there are usually four eyes and hands to take care of Bebe. On one hand, I’m extremely blessed to have my partner and our reliable village to help me raise Bebe but on the other hand, I feel so blessed whenever I get to have alone time with her. This past Wednesday, I had an opportunity to miss work and I wanted to make the most of the day with my little one. I had a few chores I wanted to get done too, but I kept that to a minimum.
On a typical Wednesday, my partner drops off Bebe in the morning at my sister’s house. After work, I go to pick her up. But today, Bebe and I were able to sleep in until 8:30 a.m. which felt great for me (I’m usually up by 6:00 a.m. on work days). Once we were up, I changed Bebe’s diaper and gave her milkie in bed, while watching Ms. Rachel. After she was done, we migrated to the dining room and I got her strapped into her highchair to get prepared to make breakfast. For Bebe, it was strawberries ‘n cream oatmeal. For me, eggs, sausage, and iced coffee. Getting to take our time, enjoying her smiles and giggles, and not having to rush anything felt exhilarating.
Once breakfast was over, I turned on Ms. Rachel in the background and started the laundry. Bebe followed me around as I did this and even helped me push the hamper toward the laundry room. She’s the best little helper when she wants to be. After laundry was started, it was playtime. Playtime is my favorite thing to do with my toddler and I never feel I have enough time to do it. We both climbed into her “clubhouse” (a huge playpen) and she “fed” me her wooden fruits and vegetables. She had recently received a play picnic basket for her birthday, so we had a pretend picnic in her clubhouse. Her clubhouse is always a little too crowded with toys so as we were playing, I was pondering which toys I could re-locate to her bedroom or donate (cleaning and organizing is ever-present in my mind).
After a while, I decided to call my mom to see if she would want to come with us to the park later that day and she said yes. My mom had watched Bebe many times, including some overnights, but had never come to the park with us before then. After we spoke over the phone, I got Bebe ready for the outdoors - her cozy red Jordan zip-up onesie with a hoodie and Jordan sneakers. I am actually not interested in clothing brands very much but my partner had gotten her this outfit for Christmas and it looked so cute on her. As I was getting her ready, I could already hear my mom telling me that Bebe was too cold and didn’t have enough layers on. As with any grandma, she thinks Bebe is always too cold, and probably thinks I should bundle her up even in the middle of summer.
I met up with my mom in the parking lot of the park and we both held Bebe’s hands as we walked toward the playground. One of the first things my mom said was, “Don’t you think she needs a sweater?”
First up was the swings. Watching Bebe smile and laugh in the swing is such a treat. She has such a sweet and infectious laugh that fills my heart to the brim. As my mom was pushing her in the swing, I glanced at the bigger kids. Pretty soon, Bebe would be their size and would be running around without any assistance or interference from me. This tugged on my heartstrings a little bit.
Then, we took a little break and sat on a park bench so that I could feed Bebe some chicken nuggets that I had brought with me for her. This time, my mom took action herself and put her own sweater on Bebe. I didn’t fight it. Bebe ate maybe 2 of the nuggets and we moved on to the slide. I held her at the top and my mom caught her at the bottom. Bebe loved it so much and fussed a bit when we were finished with the slide.
As we were wrapping up and about to leave, two little girls approached us (about 8-9 years maybe) and told us how cute and pretty Bebe is. They complimented her blue eyes and said she looked like an angel. That touched my heart and I thanked them. The kids of this generation are so much kinder and sweeter than older generations, in my opinion. When I was their age, I wanted nothing to do with any kids younger than me.
Once we left the park, Bebe and I headed to Target. I had noticed that of the millions of toys she has, she still didn’t have a ball and that she absolutely must have one. I bought her a soft, toddler-sized ball with a bumble bee on it. I also bought more milk for her - we are always running out of milk.
For the rest of the day, she ate dinner and we waited for Papa to come home. That is my favorite time of day - when all of us get home at the end of the day and finally get to have family time. Bebe gets so excited to see her Papa when he gets home - she smiles big, screams, and demands to be held and hugged and kissed. Bebe is so affectionate right now, and I hope that never changes (although it almost certainly will, when she gets older). Little moments like this with my family make me feel like the richest person alive.
Eventually, the day concluded and Bebe was bathed, given her bedtime milkie, and then rocked to sleep. The perfect ending to a peaceful day. To some (or perhaps many), a day like Wednesday might seem mundane, uneventful, perhaps a bit boring. To me, it was such a perfect little break from our extremely busy everyday lives. Some people enjoy a fast-paced life but I crave slow, predictable, and safe days now that I have my baby.
If you’re still reading this, accept it as a sign to take time off of work and be super unproductive with your family. You will never regret doing it.