Let the memory tracking begin...

Being working parents can get interesting - most days feel like the same as the day before...we get up, shower, get ready, wake up Holden (who would sleep until 8:00 if we let him), get him dressed, feed him breakfast, and RUN out the door.  We work all day.  Then we pick him up from daycare, feed him dinner, make our dinner while he eats, he plays while we eat (and then of course wants what we have), we play a bit with Holden, maybe take a walk, give Holden a bath, give him a bottle (yes Mother, we still give him a bottle at 18 months), and then put him down to sleep for the night.  Phew.  At this point, we are usually so exhausted we sit like zombies staring at the television (I have a slight addiction to anything called CSI or NCIS) until we pull ourselves up to bed...just to start over the next day.  No wonder we aren't ready for another baby...how the heck do you do all that and still have energy when there is more than one??!! 

We get through this and still love our life by how much Holden makes us smile and laugh during all of those routines.  Truly.  That overused cliche about parenting being the most difficult yet most rewarding job is so very true.  (Thank god we're parenting together...how the heck do single parents do it?!?!)

 Two nights ago this proved to be so very true.  We worked all Tuesday to come home to a house stacked with suitcases & stuff everywhere after our annual Labor Day weekend away with Anthony's parents (more on that tomorrow), and needless to say, we were TIRED.  Four day weekends are great but there is always a sense of depression returning to the reality of work, cleaning, unpacking, laundry...you get the picture.  Anthony & I somehow both ended up with Holden in his room, where he just loves to play.  The fun started like this:

...Tickles...

...& more tickles...

"Trying" to get away, which is Holden's favorite game...he finds it hilarious when he can't go anywhere because you are holding him back...he'll come back for that trick again and again. 

Then Holden noticed his stereo.  It's always been in his room, but that night he decided that it needed to be messed with.  Holden hit pause:

I said to him, with my hands out, "Where did the music go".  Holden looked at me with utter amazement as though this was the most fun combination of words & gestures.  He immediately tried to copy me:

He tried to pretend to get busy with other things...

But kept coming back to the stereo...he'd hit pause and as though he had no idea what happened, would like at Anthony & I and say...with the big hand gesture..."where music gooooooo?" 

More pretending to be busy and play...a little downward dog practicing...

Just to do it all again..."where music gooooo?"...











The moral to this VERY LONG story is that after all the busy-ness of work and life, watching Holden learn something new and pretend over, and over and over and over, again made our night one of the most fun nights we could think of.  We laughed and laughed, and just hugged Holden thanking him for adding so much joy to our lives and making every single day more of a blessing than we could have ever realized. 

And then I had a very big glass of wine...and watched CSI.