Just Nico and I

I have an only child this week. My oldest two are at camp. It is just Nico and I most of the day. Mark comes in at night and relieves me from my duties as playmate, entertainment director, activities coordinator, question answerer, conversation partner, reader, cook, snack provider and sole companion.

Actually, it has been a perfect week in many ways. In the mornings Nico has been going to Vacation Bible School in our parish. This has given me an uninterrupted couple of hours to dedicate to a marathon planning session for next year (material for another post).

Normally, when I am in one of those planning session, it is difficult for me to tear myself off what I am doing and pay attention to my surroundings. My mind seems to be on another galaxy where catalogs, websites, books, calendars are the inhabitants.

Knowing myself and my tendencies, I promised myself that I wasn't going to let the opportunity to spend some precious time with Nicolas go by. I don't know if I feel guilty because I don't have as much time to spend with him one on one as I had with the other two. Or maybe as the years pass me by, I realized that the moments spent with our children are just to precious to waste. Or maybe the irony of working hard in planning school for those children that I so love while at the same time yelling at them for needing my attention didn't escape me this time. Or maybe Nicolas is just lucky that his mom is a little wiser this time around.

I have been presently surprised. I have really enjoyed my little guy. I have enjoyed getting into his world. I have loved to share his passions. He is passionately, totally, madly, absolutely in love with baseball. You can see it in his eyes. I spent a good hour on the computer looking for baseball books on our library's website. His face was a poem when next day we went to pick up our stack. We spent a good hour and a half reading baseball books. It was great. After each story I felt my love for baseball, that was dormant, re-awaken. As we read about rules, about kids who love the game, about great ball players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, the struggles of Jackie Robinson, the courage of Pee Wee Russ, I felt my love for the game soar. There is nothing like rediscovering something afresh through the eyes of a child.

I have loved Nico's company, his incessant conversation, his thoughtful questions, the songs constantly on his lips. The week is not over and we have already gone to the movies, eaten ice cream, tried to weave, made peach preserves,eaten the warm preserves with crackers, listened to music, read some picture books (different from the baseball ones), gone dancing. We have some more plans: some crafts, blueberry picking, a barbecue... The best part, though, are the kisses and hugs with which I have been rewarded this week.