If Adlai had the choice to go anywhere in the world and do anything he wanted he wouldn’t choose Disney World or the beach – he’d probably choose to go to Nanny and Grandpa’s house.
Last weekend, he chose just that. He’d been asking for ages to “sleep at Grandpa’s house,” so Faith and I decided that – if my parents were up for it – we were ready to let him go for a weekend. They were up for it. In fact, when I rang my mum to ask her about it, she tried to play it cool but I’m pretty sure she was dancing round her kitchen.
Adlai was just as excited. Nanny drove an hour to pick him up last Friday, and had planned to stay around and help Faith round the house all afternoon, but Adlai wasn’t having any of it. He begged her to take him “home” (i.e. her house – ouch, buddy) all day, until she finally gave in just after lunch. Grandpa was waiting, after all, and Adlai couldn’t handle the anticipation.
Faith and I thought we’d have a quiet weekend with only one child. And we did. We sat down during his nap time, and were able to watch grownup shows in the afternoons rather than Bubble Guppies and Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures. We also got to give a lot of attention to Koa. You forget what it felt like to only have one child. You watch their every move. It was nice.
But two days is a deceptively long time, and by the time Sunday afternoon rolled round, we were counting the minutes till Adlai’s return and ringing my mum obsessively, begging to be updated on their ETA. When they finally pulled up in front of our house, Faith, Koa and I ran to the car and waited outside Adlai’s door with goofy smiles on our faces. A tired boy finally emerged from the grey Polo, happy to see us but worn out by a trip to the model village and being introduced to several of my parents’ friends, not to mention 24/7 wrestling matches with Grandpa.
It has taken him a couple of days to recover from the excitement of it all, but he’s finally starting to look like himself again. And we’re happy to have him back. As much as I love to watch our FRIENDS dvds for hours, I much prefer my house with my oldest son in it.
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