We’ve been a bit off balance here, lately.
Not in a falling off the tightrope kind of way. More in a swaying back and forth, arms waving frantically, trying to stay above ground, and succeeding, but looking awfully funny while doing it kind of way.
It happens. In every family, it happens. Mommy’s around more so Mommy’s the go-to. It starts out innocently enough and, at first, has no great effect on the great order of things. But suddenly only Mommy can get the girl out of the car and only Mommy can kiss the skinned knee and only Mommy can achieve shoes-on-and-out-the-door in under 20 minutes.
And then, you know. You’re about to fall.
So this weekend was daddy-daughter weekend.
They snuck out while I slept for daddy-daughter morning coffee dates (read: I got to stay in bed until nearly 9am and have coffee and breakfast delivered to me by little hands for 2 days straight!).
They curled up on the couch, post-nap, settling into the afternoon together.
They giggled together in the backseat while I drove us on our various Sunday-morning errands.
They dashed outside for an hour of fun-summer play under the guise of lawn care.
I rested. And nested. And, yes, I spied. Watching from inside and snapping photos while they created the memories that they need.
And yes, then they actually did do some lawn care.
There were tantrums. Tears and frustrations. The typical bumps in the road that happen when you’re trying to regain your balance.
But by the end of the weekend? I overheard this while sitting quietly out-of-sight.
“Time to wash your hands.”
“Daddy? Can we wash our hands together?”
“Of course! I’ll wait for you.”
“OK!”
Today only Daddy could get her out of the car. At the store, she wanted Daddy to push her in the cart. Daddy to tuck her in for nap and Daddy to wake her up.
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.
Had this been our first time at this, we might worry that we went a bit too far and created the same, but opposite, problem. But we’ve been through this before. We know, now, that sometimes the pendulum has to swing to the opposite extreme before it can settle happily in the middle, and create that beautiful balance.
Happy Monday. Hope you had a balance-finding kind of weekend.
8 Comments
Leave a reply →