Thula Baba

Wednesday always starts in a rush.

Husbands leaves for work. We say the goodbyes, he makes a real big deal of those and I pretend I'm irritated from being woken up. But secretly I love how he loves. It's no real secret because he knows my heart. Then I set a mental alarm clock of hope, hoping that I'd wake up in time to get ready for the mommy exercise group. Of course I over sleep and luckily my real life alarm clock (aka baby boy) wakes up just in time. After rolling over and checking my phone (sometimes husband texts or calls and often there's messages from my ma) I open the blinds and windows. Light is good. And we like lots of light and fresh air. That's one of the reasons why we decided on this place, it offers both joys, especially in the bedrooms. Then it's time to let baby boy out of his crib. I open his door real slowly and he shrieks with excitement. This is a daily occurrence. Then it's "morning mommy". I ask him how he slept as I open his blinds and the cabinet doors. He often thinks aloud but never gives a concrete answer and judging on how peaceful he looks when sleeping, I decide that his night was good. After a diaper change the little guy showers me with kisses and hugs. He then picks up his diaper and takes it outside to the trash (bin). We keep the bin on the balcony as I can't stand the idea of living with rubbish inside the house aaaand...we don't have the space. When he returns from the balcony I have him wash his hands before he gets distracted with toys. After washing hands it's breakfast time. Usually I prepare breakfast while he stands in the kitchen asking for "ce-re-al and MILK". Most days we have oatmeal but today there isn't time, so after a quick breakfast we get ready and gun our way to the bus stop. Before leaving the house baby boy kept on saying "mama catch a bus". And when the bus finally arrived, the doors opened and he ceremoniously greeted the driver with a "hello bus". A few weeks ago he made many people smile as he stood at the front of the bus and waved saying "hello bus" to a bus full of people. He followed that gesture by saying goodbye to each individual we passed when getting off. I can still hear his little "bye, bye-bye, bye". That boy knows how to pull heart strings. This morning he sits quietly in his seat, with my arm around his shoulder, eating a cracker and occasionally repeating the street name announcements.

The exercise group is fun as always. The best part is being able to workout without having kids around. The group was organised for research purposes based on a model that's used by a group of moms in Australia. The idea is that half of the mothers exercise while the other half watch the kids and then we swap. Today is the last day for the research project and from now on we're on our own. I love the idea and after modifying it with other mothers, we plan to include sporting activities based on the same model. Starting with volleyball on Friday. The exciting part is that both mother and child benefit as baby boy has fun playing with other kids, there's snack time and more play. And I have fun knowing that I'm keeping healthy.

After working out we head home for lunch, peanut butter and jam sandwiches shaped into mini dinosaurs. In this moment I decide that motherhood is fun and sometimes it's ok to live vicariously through your kid. We sit around the table, eating the mini dinosaurs and drinking milk. Baby boy wants more. I teach him to say please. And he sounds super cute. Once he says "all done mommy", he hands me his plate and it's time for a bit of play with toy trucks. He initiates play by handing me a toy saying "here you go mommy". And then he says "this way". I follow along, driving the trucks through the apartment. What makes me smile is the fact that he always keeps the same truck for himself. Even when there's a friend over, he'll give them the rotating truck and he'll keep his own. I wonder why he specifically likes the truck with the blue roof instead of the yellow one...I've asked, I can't yet decipher the answer. After more play, it's time for a nap. So we read some books and off to lalaland he goes. I get busy planning a coupon grocery trip for later this week and end up booking myself in a coupon class. It'll be taught by one of the ladies from TLC's Extreme Couponers. It's hard to contain my excitement:)

Baby boy wakes up and we go on a walk to run some errands. Then it's time to make dinner. Baby plays some more. I put the chicken in the oven and decided that the kitchen is a no go zone. He fights me on this. We power struggle for a bit and finally come to an understanding in the form of Super Why. A spelling cartoon which he loves. He watches and I finish cooking. I call husband and he let's me know that he's headed home. He brings with him a work colleague who also happens to be a friend. We eat together while his friend eats and does homework for school (he had a class later on this evening). Husband does the dishes. Once he is done we play hide and seek with baby boy. Well, more like hide as baby always wants to hide in the same place every time we play. He's also a terrible hide and seek partner as when the seeker calls his name he replies. He also has the loudest whispering voice ever. But he sure loves that game and it's hard to get him to move on to something else. That something else is bath time.

Dear husband handles bath time while I fold the laundry.

After bedtime reading we do our family prayer and then baby tells his daddy "night night". Once husband leaves the room, baby boy gets up, heads over to his red mat. Lifts his arms and says "thula baba" (hush baby). I pick him up, sing to him, rock him a bit, telling him how much we love him, how much Heavenly Father loves him. Then I ask him to rest and let him know that I'll see him in the morning. I place him in bed. And every night he refuses to lay down. I leave the room. Count two seconds, he cries. And sleeps seconds later.

And that was Wednesday with the sweetest baby I've ever known.