Ellie, the Mother
Today was Mother’s Day. It’s a day for sleeping in late, opening lovingly selected presents, and enjoying a fancy brunch-like meal outside the home.
The twins shot the whole “sleeping in” idea when they woke up at 7am. Ordinarily I’d be perturbed at the twins for waking up early after a long night of staying up too late watching TV (me, not them), eating a meal at 4am (them, not me), and various grunts and bodily function noises throughout the night loud enough to wake Ellie (them, and possibly me). Last night they slept all the way until 7am with nary a peep, so I didn’t mind rolling out of bed to tend to them at such an early hour. When I say, “tend to them,” I mean “sticking pacifiers in their mouths for a half-hour while I doze on the couch because there’s no way I’m getting up before 7:30.”
My plan worked as it let me rest for an extra few minutes, but the twins still made enough noise behind their pacifiers to rustle Ellie from bed. I think she was awake anyway. Ellie took Tory from the crib and spent the time playing with him while Ian fell back asleep. Tory was so happy to be out of the crib and away from that mattress hog Ian that he smiled and giggled for Ellie the whole time despite not being fed.
This was a rare chance for Ellie to bond with her son, especially one-on-one, on an extraordinarily lazy morning; I’m counting it as a present. It was one of the few presents she received on Mother’s Day. Don’t worry, she’s getting presents, mostly jewelry, but it must be specially made and not available to give on her special day. Abbie gave her a coloring, which at this age is a flower from a coloring book colored black and green crayon scribbles and maybe a few drool spots from when she chewed on the crayons. Otherwise her presents consisted of cards, three of them to be exact, one from me, one from Abbie, and one from the twins. This may sound like a lot, but nothing is too good for the mother of my children, especially when I know a place that sells greeting cards for $.49.
After a quiet morning playing with the children, we moved on to the Mother’s Day meal. Ellie selected a hip, local barbecue spot just down the road to eat. We were supposed to go last Friday, but I was too sick to enjoy such a meal, which means no one at our table would enjoy such a meal. Now we’re scheduled to go Wednesday. We could have gone to a nice restaurant today, but all the nice places are too crowded. So we ate at Quizno’s instead.
We visited the mall on our way. First Ellie returned some unneeded party supplies to a party supplies store, giving us a chance to gawk at everyone who neglected to buy a Mother’s Day gift before Mother’s Day when the only $.49 cards left either contain misspellings, or are addressed to people like “caregiver.” Then we wandered the mall, particularly the mall-based big box store, for some leisurely shopping, meaning I had Abbie with me most of the time.
At Quizno’s, I ordered for Ellie one of their special, “limited time” sandwiches that was one of the most expensive on the menu. It’s extravagant, but she’s worth it, especially when I have a completed frequent eater card that entitles us to one free sandwich. I ordered a kid’s meal for Abbie with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was amused to see them make those by opening single-serving containers of peanut butter and jelly and spreading them on bread. Considering that Abbie refuses to eat sandwiches and will only eat peanut butter and jelly if we scoop up the innards and offer them to her on a spoon, they might as well have given us the packets and saved the bread.
We returned home in time to set everyone down for their nap, mostly because the kids refused to fall asleep outside the house for some reason and stayed up way past their scheduled naptime. Ellie then enjoyed one of the best gifts young children can give to their mother: A long nap. That night, I gave Ellie one of the best gifts a husband can give to his wife: An extra trip to the mall; I forgot one of our bags of purchases at the big box store, and Ellie had to retrieve it before the employees returned everything to the shelves.
The twins shot the whole “sleeping in” idea when they woke up at 7am. Ordinarily I’d be perturbed at the twins for waking up early after a long night of staying up too late watching TV (me, not them), eating a meal at 4am (them, not me), and various grunts and bodily function noises throughout the night loud enough to wake Ellie (them, and possibly me). Last night they slept all the way until 7am with nary a peep, so I didn’t mind rolling out of bed to tend to them at such an early hour. When I say, “tend to them,” I mean “sticking pacifiers in their mouths for a half-hour while I doze on the couch because there’s no way I’m getting up before 7:30.”
My plan worked as it let me rest for an extra few minutes, but the twins still made enough noise behind their pacifiers to rustle Ellie from bed. I think she was awake anyway. Ellie took Tory from the crib and spent the time playing with him while Ian fell back asleep. Tory was so happy to be out of the crib and away from that mattress hog Ian that he smiled and giggled for Ellie the whole time despite not being fed.
This was a rare chance for Ellie to bond with her son, especially one-on-one, on an extraordinarily lazy morning; I’m counting it as a present. It was one of the few presents she received on Mother’s Day. Don’t worry, she’s getting presents, mostly jewelry, but it must be specially made and not available to give on her special day. Abbie gave her a coloring, which at this age is a flower from a coloring book colored black and green crayon scribbles and maybe a few drool spots from when she chewed on the crayons. Otherwise her presents consisted of cards, three of them to be exact, one from me, one from Abbie, and one from the twins. This may sound like a lot, but nothing is too good for the mother of my children, especially when I know a place that sells greeting cards for $.49.
After a quiet morning playing with the children, we moved on to the Mother’s Day meal. Ellie selected a hip, local barbecue spot just down the road to eat. We were supposed to go last Friday, but I was too sick to enjoy such a meal, which means no one at our table would enjoy such a meal. Now we’re scheduled to go Wednesday. We could have gone to a nice restaurant today, but all the nice places are too crowded. So we ate at Quizno’s instead.
We visited the mall on our way. First Ellie returned some unneeded party supplies to a party supplies store, giving us a chance to gawk at everyone who neglected to buy a Mother’s Day gift before Mother’s Day when the only $.49 cards left either contain misspellings, or are addressed to people like “caregiver.” Then we wandered the mall, particularly the mall-based big box store, for some leisurely shopping, meaning I had Abbie with me most of the time.
At Quizno’s, I ordered for Ellie one of their special, “limited time” sandwiches that was one of the most expensive on the menu. It’s extravagant, but she’s worth it, especially when I have a completed frequent eater card that entitles us to one free sandwich. I ordered a kid’s meal for Abbie with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was amused to see them make those by opening single-serving containers of peanut butter and jelly and spreading them on bread. Considering that Abbie refuses to eat sandwiches and will only eat peanut butter and jelly if we scoop up the innards and offer them to her on a spoon, they might as well have given us the packets and saved the bread.
We returned home in time to set everyone down for their nap, mostly because the kids refused to fall asleep outside the house for some reason and stayed up way past their scheduled naptime. Ellie then enjoyed one of the best gifts young children can give to their mother: A long nap. That night, I gave Ellie one of the best gifts a husband can give to his wife: An extra trip to the mall; I forgot one of our bags of purchases at the big box store, and Ellie had to retrieve it before the employees returned everything to the shelves.
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