Purim Hangover

Given all that has happened over the past month and the reminders that I feel every morning, the joy of Purim was a welcomed respite from the daily worries and work. Having taken the holiday off, I was able to finally take some time away from the office without anything that needed to be done during the day. While we have plans for future years marking the celebration of the day with our son and the community this year there were no such plans made. Right now, sometimes the greatest joy can be found in not having to do something or be somewhere.

However, we were able to take advantage of the day as my wife was also off from work and, for the first time in too long, we had a quite lunch. Just the two of us as we brought our son to the daycare that morning. Thankfully, the new sushi place that we had found was actually pretty good and we were able to relax for the afternoon just spending an uneventful meal together. We made sure to take separate cars to the restaurant so that I could run some errands (rarely do I have time to do these during the week) and my wife could pick up our son on time. Nice to have a few things done early so we aren’t running around throughout the weekend.

When I returned home our son eagerly scurried across the floor not expecting to see me for another few hours. That smile and that laugh still get to me. After washing up and holding our son for a few moments and giving him plenty of hugs, it was time to simply get on the floor and spend some time as a family. This is the pure joy that this day has brought to us. Obviously not in the usual way but it is the joy of family and the unconditional love for a child, an open willingness to give or give up anything for them, that drives the meaning of this day home.

Since then there has been a bit of a Purim hangover. While neither of us had to return to work the following day and our son was home with us, there is something different about the extra bonus time that we have together. Maybe it is because of the simple fact that I was personally reflecting on the holiday during the waking hours but it was a different day. This Purim, the freedom and joy of this day, is something that we can build upon and truly make the meaning and joy of this holiday a part of our son’s life and faith. Hopefully without the hangover.

TMI Tuesday: More Presents!

Over the last couple of weeks my wife and I have been picking up supplies, coordinating food, and ordering a special cake (the product from the local Walmart was surprisingly good). It was all for a very special day and a memory that we wanted our son to carry with him in these early recollections of life. So, with the Mickey decorations strewn about the kitchen and lining the driveway, this past weekend we had a very small gathering at our home to celebrate our son’s birthday (even though we think the calendar is lying to us). It was a great, low key, get together which actually required less preparation and clean up than my wife and I were expecting.

While he is now playing shy around most people now, it was great seeing him play and watching his face light up when a present piqued his interest. After lunch and presents it was time for cake and while most kids would love to smash the heck out of the confection and get icing on their face, our son wanted nothing to do with this and was displeased when the blue icing founds its way to his face (with a little assistance… and no it wasn’t me). After that it was just about time to pass out for the afternoon and to recover from the mid-day activities.

In the few days since this gathering we did our best to continue making this a special time for our son. In addition to the plethora of presents that were brought or sent to the house, we have continued to celebrate his birth and giving him a little more leeway regarding play and television time… Mickey is just as entertaining the second, third, and forth times on the loop. However, with so much activity and simulation (plus some intense teething), his schedule is a little off and, when playing, he sometimes has trouble deciding what new toy to play with. While we originally put his other toys away before the party as a means of keeping things clean, it has actually served us well as there is now a whole new host of toys at his disposal.  

It has been a great couple of days celebrating our son’s birthday and I am glad that we spread the distraction over the entire weekend. Even though there have been moments of readjustment after so many days following an alternate routine, it has been well worth the effort and few hiccups along the way. I guess you could mark this down as another first experience of parenthood… the birthday party hangover.

TMI Tuesday: Holiday Hangover

Having spent the last week and a half at home with my wife, it was quite the change yesterday when we put our son in the car and had him spend the day at daycare. While he has been getting up at the same time regardless of the plans for that particular day, the morning routine was a little more hectic than it had been the previous week which didn’t really phase our son as he continued to take his time savoring every breakfast Cheerio. By the time we got his coat on, he knew that we were going back to our usual routine and he actually seemed to be okay with the switch.

Heading out in the morning wasn’t that much of a change as we try to get him out of the house regularly. However, when he is home all day, he works at a much more leisurely pace when it comes to eating. He tends to pick for at least 30 minutes rather than simply shoving food into his mouth as fast as he can (the only exception to this would be his Gerber tropical fruit melts). While we did head out the door a little later than we wanted (I know, what a shock) we were at least able to speed him up a little bit and I guess you could say meet in the middle.

We are very lucky in that our son enjoys being at daycare and enjoys being social in general. Of course, he also likes being with mommy and daddy so by the end of the day we had to make sure to give him a little more attention than usual so that he could get his fix before bed. This can sometimes be an issue if he either goes to bed early or his daddy has to be out late but I am usually there to play with him and hold him a little bit before he begins his evening procedures.

There was a bit of a hiccup yesterday with his sleep (or lack thereof to be more accurate) but that will return to normal over time. So we are back to our normal schedule and thankfully it was a pretty smooth transition that first day. Hopefully things continue and he sleeps a little better during day two. Sometimes, transitions just take time and we have to be a little more patient until we can shake the holiday hangover and get used to the old daily routine.