I awake to the sound of Isaac crying. Blearily I stumble out of bed and down the hallway. His face breaks into a grin as I look at him, the nightlight casting shadows over both of us. I pick him up and sit down on the couch to feed him. He arches his back and turns away, hunting for the light.
For him, it is morning.
I peer at my watch. The nightlight is not conducive to watch reading, surely it doesn’t say 5am? Unfortunately, it does.
I gather him up, still in his swaddle and take him back to my bed. He’ll play and I will pretend it is still night time.
We snuggle down, him, a cracker in hand and me, hiding in my pillow. He grabs a handful of my hair and munches contentedly. The pulling hurts, so I wiggle him further away and hand him the remote to chew on. Contented, he sighs.
Nathan opens one eye and looks at us, his peace disturbed. I counter by placing my cold feet on his legs to warm them. He mumbles, but doesn’t pull away.
Contentment never lasts longer than 20 minutes, so our time here is limited. Soon he will complain about his wet nappy and his belly that is grumbling for solids – my milk; not enough.
I sniff the top of his head and sigh. I’m so very tired, but this is nice
Later we will watch the sun rise, looking out the windows with him on my hip. Amy isn’t awake yet, this is our time. Him and me. Me and him.
Us.
***
Breakfast time.
Amy sits on the floor peeling grapes.
Why?
Huh?
Why are you peeling grapes?
Cos.
Oh. Okay.
It makes sense to her, I won’t argue.
I boil the kettle while Isaac grumbles on the floor. Not long woken up from a nap, I suspect he’s still tired. A mug, a teabag and some sugar. Add the water and walk away.
I find some peas in the freezer and pour boiling water over them. Not yet warm enough, they go on the stove to heat through. I add milk to my tea and stir. A big sip later, I’m happy. Why didn’t I do this 3 hours ago when I first woke up?
Oh. Right. I was pretending it was still night time.
Isaac grumbles louder, near to crying. I hand him a square of bread to gum while I prep the peas. He gurgles, putting his fist in his mouth, bread and all. I drain the peas and place them in a container.Two minutes later and breakfast is ready.
I sit Isaac in his bouncer with a tea towel as a bib. His eyes light up as the spoon moves towards his mouth. Happily he eats his peas, one mouthful at a time.
He lifts his foot and waggles it at me. Preoccupied with getting peas in his mouth and nowhere else, I ignore it. He waggles harder.
I look.
It’s a very nice foot Isaac.
He grins and kicks, happy that I noticed.
The last mouthful goes in his mouth, just as he sneezes.
Peas everywhere.
Isaac giggles.
Mornings can be everything.
Sorry you are getting snarky comments too. Possibly the same person, doing the rounds?
Will look up the IP addy for you.
i like my special time with Cai too
Issac has grown so much
I like the bit about pretending it is still night time…. yeah. Occasionally – very occasionally, I can pretend it, and it comes true for another hour or so. Everybody sleeps. Heaven.
Messy, inconvenient, but you wouldn’t miss it for the world.
I know the feeling…with one less child though! My mornings seem like that sometimes with Little One. Amazing how love for our babies can make even the most exhausting mornings all worthwhile 🙂
This post was so beautifully written, Veronica! You have a gift for writing! xoxo
beautiful… I was right there with you every step of the way, am even wiping smooshed pesas out of my hair now….
Mashed peas for breakfast? Wonderfully quick and easy. Laughed at Amy peeling grapes “just because”. I like the new look over here. I love that photo of the water drops on the grass.
LOL! You really are a good writer! Thanks for the descriptive sneeze – I can see peas all over! Haha! Entertaining mornings are on your agenda! 🙂
Crikey, he’s grown so fast!
LOL I remember the peas/carrots/pumpkin sneezes…!
Aww bless him! The food-sneezes are the pits, but so funny too! 🙂
It’s all special, even the early mornings. I bring Emily into the bed in the morning as well as Nathan has already left for work (He starts at 5am) I like the mummy and me time cause when Nathan gets home its daddy and me time.
Ew! Green sneeze! LOL
What on earth did Amy do with peeled grapes??
That was fabulous. Really well written.
Food sneezes – do they ever end? I fear not but at least I know I’m not going to get hit between the eyes with a projectile peanut!
I hate 5am starts. We still do them although less often than we used to. It feels like lunchtime by 11am and bedtime by 3pm when you start at 5. No fun.
Ahhhh, yes. Peas everywhere. I remember it well. And that orange colored stuff, whatever that was. #2 Son seemed to take special pleasure in spreading that stuff around. Gerber’s something-or-other. Squash? Maybe. It was a long time ago.
Lovely post, V. But a question … what does she do with the grapes after she peels them? I hope she eats them. I can’t tell you what my boys did with grapes, because if Amy found out … well, you don’t want to know, that’s all.
They are too precious! Aren’t you glad you have them to make your mornings so delightful??
Heh, that was a ‘strange’ post. It kind of feels like just on the ‘good side’ of things.
You know, in the way that you think things are starting to get better, just a little?
Peeled grapes have their advantages. Amy’s too young, but we used to peel them and use them in ‘haunted’ houses at Halloween as eyeballs. Cold spaghetti were brains. I happen to like the texture of peeled grapes in my mouth. They are slippery and somehow colder. It get’s rid of the bitter taste of the peel as well. Amy must have incredible fine motor skills. Peeling a grape is no easy thing.
You are a wonderful writer. I wonder if you’ve written about how you came to writing. Did you have great teachers? Was story telling a solid part of your upbringing?
Oh yes! US time. I’ve started taking breakfast bars to my bedroom so in the early morning hours before I feel like I should be up, I can give Mack a bit of something to nibble while I pretend we’re cuddling…but he’s really just waiting for me to GET UP already.
Yes! Please turn it into a post.
Why do they sneeze with a mouthful? My son did it almost every time. I miss those days.
Inevitably babies always poo when they have a fresh nappy or in the middle of a changing. Sorry about the messy green sneeze, not fun to clean up…ever.
Poorly positioned poos and airborne peas? Why, that’s what babies do best 😉
I had this vision of ballistic peas, flying in all directions, ricocheting off of everything. 😉
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