This past week my husband took my 21-month old son to see his parents in Connecticut. He wanted to get away for a few days and since my son still flies for free, I told him to take the baby along. He did this with our daughter when she was younger too. When he did this with our daughter, I was pregnant with our son and had a fantastic mommy staycation. I binge watched TV, I ate a ton of chicken wings and I slept A LOT. I should have been packing for our move, but I was first trimester pregnant so, I didn’t do as much as I should have. This time around was different because I was left with our four and a half year old daughter.
When we were talking about the possibility of him taking this trip I said that I was excited to have some alone time with her. She has been desperately missing the days of just Mommy, Daddy and Zoe. She has also been missing the days of Mommy’s undivided attention. She does love her brother so much, but I was a stay-at-home mom with her so it was just she and I against the world most of the time. Best girls. She was my best little buddy. Then her brother came along and everything changed for all of us. She is still our sweet girl but we also have a little man who has stolen our hearts and has no concept of danger. He needs a lot of attention because he will definitely try to cause us a trip to the ER if left to his own devices. Because of the addition of her little brother, combined with the terrible threes and sometimes fours, it has been a rough couple of years for us. We still have fun, however, we butt heads far more often than we used to. All of that to say, we really needed some one on one time.
As soon as we dropped my husband and son off at the airport, we headed to an impromptu Mommy-Daughter dinner date. We had an awesome time at Noodles and Co. which we don’t get to go to very often. She ate her food with no fighting or whining (MIRACLE!). Since we happened to be next door to Target, under girl code, we had to stop in and do a little shopping. We picked out some things that we needed and had a nice time shopping. Usually she and her brother are fighting in the cart and I am wondering why I had kids because Target used to be such a quiet and beautiful place. We checked out and headed for home. It was such a fun little date night that we were able to have.
A couple of days later, the polar vortex hit the Midwest and school was cancelled. This was amazing. We had the best day. We didn’t have to set alarms so she climbed into bed with me when she woke up and we watched the news. We made chocolate chip muffins. She painted hers and my nails. I am usually not one to let her paint nails, but because her brother wasn’t around to interfere, we could have this sweet time together. We ate dinner in the living room (a treat), watched a movie and headed to bed. Our lazy day was complete and beautiful.
My husband and son are now back from their trip. We are so glad to have our family complete again. Did the one-on-one time solve the fact that she and I butt heads or that she doesn’t feel like she gets enough attention all of the time? No. However, for a few days, it was just us girls again and it was so sweet to reconnect and channel all of my energy into one kid. I know that I will have a special and unique bond with each of my children. This week reminded me of my special bond with my best girl.
