Yesterday, I got to spend the entire day with Lee. His 18-month checkup was scheduled for 10:30 am, so I took the whole day off.

Here is how we spent it:

5:30 AM – D is shaking me awake.

“Are you not letting me sleep in on my day off?” I remember saying.

I heard a muffled “Oh, shit” and then felt a kiss on my forehead followed by the sound of the front door closing and the dead bolt clicking back.

6:30 AM – I hear a sweet voice saying, “Momma..momma..” – – Lee was awake! I kicked my legs over the side of the bed, went and snatched Lee out of his bed, and brought him into bed with me. I thought, just maybe if I lay with my eyes squeezed closed, he would go back to sleep. Negative. He did lay down beside me, but he was giggling and pinching me.

7:00 AM – After a very intense tickle fight (he won), we get out of bed for good. With Lee on my hip, I warm up a sippy cup full of milk and get a K cup going. (Normally D makes a pot of coffee in the morning, but I apparently spooked him this morning and threw off his entire routine.)

7:05 AM – We are both on the couch with our morning beverages of choice taking in a few episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. After a while, I go and grab a brown sugar cinnamon poptart for him to enjoy. And man, does he ever.

8:30 AM – I grab Lee off the couch, a handful of his books and toys, and set him up on the bathroom floor. I hop in the shower while he reads to me. After a few minutes, he threw a few of his toys into the shower with me and started playing peek-a-boo using the shower curtain.

Which is clear.

IT’S A TRANSPARENT SHOWER CURTAIN.

But he’s cute and I kind of like him, so I acted like I couldn’t see him when he pulled it in front of his face.

9:30 AM – Lee and I are both dressed and ready to embark on our grand adventure. Because Lee was born in a neighboring town (where my lady doctor practices) we also use a pediatrician in this town. We keep meaning to switch him over to someone in our town, but we really like his doctor so we just haven’t yet.

10:10 AM – We arrive to the doctor’s office with time to spare! We get checked in and then head into the waiting room. Lee has never met a stranger. He waves and says hello to everyone currently seated in the room, even walking over to an older gentleman and making sure he sees him waving.

As I’m claiming a seat for myself, a nurse pops her head through the door and calls someone else’s name. Lee runs over to her and waves to her, telling her hello as well. Tickled, I walk over, grab one of his hands, and bring him to the toys.

HE LOVES WAITING ROOM TOYS.

Have you seen those wooden box tables that have the squiggly multi-colored tracks all over with beads on them that you can move around? Those are his favorite. He goes right over and makes himself at home.

A few minutes in, a younger girl, maybe 1 year old, comes in with her mom. She cautiously walks over and stands beside Lee.

“See,” he says to her as he moves the beads on the track. She giggles and continues to watch him.

He goes over to a child-sized chair beside the table and pulls it over to her. She looks up at him curiously. “Sit,” he says to her. She continues to stare at him. He huffed, backed his cute little booty up to the chair, and sat down. Then, he pointed at his lap and said, “sit”.

Oh Lord, I thought, he is trying to get her to sit in his lap. I looked eyes with the girl’s mom and smiled. We chuckled for a second (if she wasn’t bothered, I wasn’t going to say anything to him).

Well then he does it again. The girl continues to stare at him, confused.

And then he absolutely amazed me.

Ya’ll. He stood up, turned, and pushed the chair to where it was positioned right behind her booty.

“Sit,” he said again. AND SHE DID!!!

“Oh wow,” her mom says from a few chairs over. This whole time, I was thinking that my boy was trying to get her to sit in his lap. But no, he was trying to teach her how to sit in the chair. I couldn’t believe it. I was shook (as the children say).

10:35 AM – The nurse calls Lee’s name. He waves good-bye to his new friend and takes off running (full speed, mind you) towards the back of the office. His nurse weighs him (he’s 30 pounds), measures him (he’s 32.5 inches tall), and puts the fingertip heart rate monitor on him. This child leans over her lap, resting his hand on her knee and places his other hand on her arm.

You would have thought he had known her his whole life. While he loves men and doing masculine things, this kid is all about women. He is absolutely mesmerized by new women/girls.

10:40 – 11:00 AM – We get back to Lee’s room, see his doctor, get a Hepatitis shot, and we are back out the front door.

11:45 AM – We arrive back in town and pick some food up from McAlister’s. Club wrap for me, mac & cheese for Lee.

12:30 PM – FINALLY back home!! We lay out a blanket in the yard and have ourselves a nice little picnic. Lee ate all of his mac and half of my wrap and then lays his head down in my lap. Nap time!

1:00 – 3:00 PM – While Lee naps, I do a little laundry and watch Netflix. He was so exhausted by all of the excitement that he slept for a little over two hours!

3:15 PM – When Lee finally wakes up, I’m so excited! I missed him so much! He really wanted to go for a four wheeler ride, so we did that and then we came back home, popped a bag of popcorn, and settled in to watch Mr. Bean.

He is obsessed with Mr. Bean. Like, it’s ridiculous.

4:45 PM – After 3 episodes of Mr. Bean, I switched it over to Seinfeld. “Bean,” he said. “No baby, we’re gonna watch something else for a while,” I responded. AND THEN HE ATTACKED ME. He started tickling my belly and my arms all the while yelling, “Bean, bean, bean…”

I tackled him (gently) to the floor and we wrestled until D walked in and looked at us like we were crazy. We pulled him down to the floor and that is where we stayed until our tummies reminded us it was dinnertime.

Children are amazing gifts. And I really am just positively obsessed with mine. Don’t ever forget that your babies need you just as much as you need them. Take the time to be there for them and with them. Be present always, they need you just as much as you need them.

xxx A