I was invited to visit a friend’s new home with a
bunch of other friends for a relaxing weekend. The plan was to have a cook-out
(which ended up me being the only one who cooked—but I didn’t mind at all),
lunch their new place have drinks afterwards and just enjoy the rest of the
afternoon with good company and food and drinks. And as a parent/ mother for
that matter, I feel guilty of leaving my son at home on a Saturday since he has
been home alone with his nanny the entire weekend. And so decided to bring him
along.
I had everything planned out: He’ll eat an early
lunch just before we leave; then we will drop by the grocery to buy the
ingredients for my “fish & chips” (a special request from my friend MG );
then go to their place. I’ll have lunch with my friends while he busied himself
with the stuff I brought to keep him occupied -- bundle of bond papers,
pencils, crayons, and his iPod touch. After lunch I’ll put him to sleep for his
regular and scheduled afternoon nap (which usually takes 2-3 hours when he is
at home); then I’ll spend this 2-3 null hours with a relaxing drinks and
conversation with friends and cook the fish & chips and by the time he
wakes up.. I am already finishing up with my ME-Time…
But I should have known better not to schedule anything
in between arrival and departure whenever you are with a 4 year old. Because
99% of the time, it doesn’t happened. Everything has to go with the flow.
I was stressed the whole time making sure that he
does not damage anything (MG’s place is a very nice with a modern minimalist
and expensive interiors) especially those that hubby and I will not be able to
replace (paintings included!) He was everywhere and doing everything… he did
enjoy the minimal but expensive furniture and fixtures… pulling the blinds up
and down, hammering the plastic Easter eggs on the customized (and expensive)
center table, jumping up and down on the sofa, and pushing the stroller of Mia
(another friend brought along her 6th month old daughter) around the
house, opening and closing the sliding door of the bar room… I think I have
mentioned the words NO; NOT THAT; PLEASE; STOP IT a million times. And the saddest
part is that he didn’t sleep at all. He was like an energizer bunny.
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my energetic son who brings chaos to my world but
i LOVE him to the bones no matter what. |
Seemed like an angel came to my rescue when
hubby called that their sports fest is over and that he can go to MG’s place
earlier but has to drop by a vulcanizing shop to get his tire fixed. Oh I was
relieved a hundred folds knowing that I can rely on someone whenever I’m at my
boiling point. But I just have to wait a little bit longer. When hubby arrived that’s the only time I was able
to relax a bit but not totally.. I still have my 60% attention to my boy wonder
and only 40% on the conversations being throw out around the bar room.
Glad I was able to escape all the chaos and had
reason to leave the room and entrust my son to hubby when it was time to cook.
I was finally relaxed and in my element. Not to mention the energy I had
cooking in a cool and amazing kitchen. The batter was in a better consistency
than the first time I tried it but still needs to be improved because it does
not coat the dory perfectly. But I am
happy that everybody liked it.
The stress came back as easily as it arrived
because after cooking and when I went back to the bar room… I am in mommy mode
again (switches automatically even if you don’t want to) and the NO; NOT THAT;
PLEASE; STOP IT is again being repeated. And it signaled us that its time to go
when AJ did his tantrums (laying on the floor and crying and kicking anyone in
his way.. I was even slapped in the face—which felt like it left a mark)… After
reaching the car, in less than 15 minutes, he was asleep and looked like the
most behaved kid in the world, in my world of chaos.
But at the end of the day,
I still hugged and kissed him as we lay hand in hand and closed our eyes to see
it through another day.
xoxo.
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| My family with our gracious hostess |
