I just spent the evening with one of my favorite guys, just the two of us.
D and I made steak fajitas for dinner and then traded our daytime clothes for pajamas, settled in on the couch, and watched the Foo Fighter’s documentary, “Back and Forth” (which I HIGHLY recommend, even if Dave Grohl and the guys aren’t your very favorite band as they are D’s). It was a lovely evening, punctuated by conversation only when we had something to share: there was no pressure to keep up the chatter because it was just fun to relax together.
Jim and J are gone, you see: they’re currently sailing on a small boat in the Florida Keys, on a Boy Scout snorkeling trip. They’re doing their own bonding, making memories that they’ll talk about for years, much like D and I did in 2007.
I love spending time alone with each of my boys, for many reasons. Often those reasons are entirely different, obviously because they are different people with their own unique personalities. D and I are alike in many ways (unfortunately for him, I think). We are both worry-warts. We are both pretty high strung. We both “Go big or go home”. We both like our respective routines. Of course, we have differences too, but it’s the commonalities that allow us to really enjoy the times we get to spend one on one.
I know I have written about it here several times, but I can’t stress enough to those of you who have multiple children how important it is to give your kids some undivided attention, whether it’s for an extended period of time or just while waiting for the doctor to enter the exam room. Kids remember this stuff. And so will you.
6 Comments
Lisa
So sweet, Melisa. I love that you’re so aware of how important that individual time is. My mom used to take me (and only me) on a shopping trip for one day, once a year. It meant the world to me, and NOT because of the new clothes. You’re a good mommy.
Since I only have one kid, I switch it up. I do some time alone with him, then some time alone with the TV. I think that’s really thoughtful of me.
Melisa
So Lisa, what does G do when you’re spending some time alone with the tv? *snort*
PJ Mullen
This was a big thing for us when our daughter was first born. We were afraid our son would get baby sister fatigue fast. So, I took him to his first ball game, mommy took him out to special lunches and when I can we go out running errands alone so my attention is solely on him. These little adventures are fun and more than a year later he still reminds me about the time we went to play on the merry go round at the baseball game. He got bored with the game very fast 🙂 I can’t wait to do little things like this with my daughter when she gets a little older.
Melisa
It’s the littlest things they remember, you know?
Patty
It also works in reverse.
In my family we always did stuff just the four of us. When I was older I wanted a Mom/Daughter day and a Father/Daughter day without my sister and without the other parent around. My parents thought it was the weirdest things. Why couldn’t we just go somewhere just the 4 of us. I was mildly amused by their confusion. They actually thought I had some “bad news” to tell them separately.
Ah…parents! LOL
Melisa
That’s hilarious. I probably would think the same thing though!