Mornings with Jack

After Natalie and Carter get on the bus and Jeff heads to work, it's just Jack and me. The time I get with just him is special. We read stories, color, pretend to make alphabet soup with letter blocks. We both treasure this time. Sometimes (like this morning) I felt like I had a bunch of stuff to get done before the other kids started getting home from school. I had laundry that I was falling behind on, the floors desperately needed to be mopped, and I needed to unload the dishwasher so I could reload the sinkful that were sitting on my counters. My little Jack did not like that he got pushed to the bottom of the list. He started to throw fits as I was rinsing dishes. He threw socks and sweatshirts everywhere as I was trying to gather them for the washer. He ended up sitting on the floor of the kitchen with his legs and arms crossed, brows furrowed with a super sour face. So I stopped. I realized that he just needs me. He needs my time and my attention and he needs it now. I sat down right in front of him, criss-cross-applesauce and looked him in the eyes with my arms open. He ran into them and sort of started to cry. I gently rubbed his back and whispered, "Alright. Mommy's done for now, what do you want?" Fully expecting him to just nuzzle me back and love on me, I was really surprised when he sat up realizing that I'd just asked him what he wanted in a voice that sounded promising. He looked right at me, smiled and confidently (with just a hint of attitude) answered, "I want Daddy!" Figures.