Tuesday, August 28, 2007

My Son is My Hero

Oliver has his "My Dad is My Hero" t-shirt. I should have a "My Son is my Hero" t-shirt. The little man has been so good about Lucy's arrival, an exemplary big brother. But despite his brave face, the change has taken its toll on him and it is starting to show a little.

Last week I found he could become panicy when he thought I was leaving him anywhere, even places where he would normally not have batted an eyelid at me leaving. Today Hayley spent the whole day with Oliver and Lucy, but spent part of it at the house of a fellow child-minder (Debbie) who Oliver knows well and whose house he loves to go to. Despite this, he frequently got a bit upset when Mummy was out of site and on other occasions throughout the day grabbed her hand to make sure she wasn't going to leave him.

It's hard to strike a balance between, on one hand, getting Hayley a bit of a break to recover from all the nights of broken sleep and on the other hand not undoing all the good work she has put in to make Oliver the confident little chap he has been up to now. Hopefully we can minimise the disruption for a while. Next month he will be starting at a nursery for two mornings a week, provided we are happy that he is ready and settles in OK.

Today was my first back at work. He was fine when I left this morning. In the afternoon he told Hayley "Daddy work. Earn pennies."
"Yes, Daddy's at work, but he'll be home soon."
"I ready for Daddy out now."
Bless him! So Hayley promptly called me at work for the little man to say Hello.

Hayley has coped well today. She was very chipper when I got home. She fed Lucy while Oliver rode to Somerfield with me on his Giraffe, which was quite a feat as it has no footrests and he was in charge of the steering! When we got back Lucy was fed. And by the time I had bathed Oliver she had virtually made dinner. What a woman!

I spent a happy few minutes this evening with Lucy lying on my chest, awake and content. I also did the same thing with her a few nights ago. It was the first time she had been settled with me for any length of time. Although she's definitely still a Mummy's girl, I do feel more of a bond developing with her as she lets me in, bit by bit. But I've got to be honest, it's got some way to go before it comes close to my bond with Oliver. My son. My hero.