It’s Monday. Mondays are, in our life, the very worst day. Our weekends are so busy and crazy and fun that we don’t have time to think about the upcoming week at all. My baby and I have two whole days to fall in love with each other all over again. Two days of hugs and kisses and silly faces and no bottles and no breastpumps . But then we wake up, and somehow it’s Monday. The world’s still happening and we have to rejoin it.
And Mondays are so, so hard. There are so many Monday-specific tasks. Daycare needs clean clothes and bibs and sheets and blankies. Snacks and mealplans and reports of how we felt all weekend. Liquid gold needs to come from the house to the car to the office (people call breastmilk “Liquid Gold?” Oh. I meant Diet Coke.). And work is no calmer - extra-long meetings and plans for a busy, busy week.
Sometimes, life throws a wrench into an already difficult process. Sometimes, like Today. Today was Miss Aurora’s first day back from Maternity leave. And that means it was Aidan’s first day being dropped off with her. She called him “Ryan” when we arrived, and I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.
For starters, she’s a stranger. She reached for Aidan as she told me that she’s visited to play before, so everything would be fine. Aidan wasn’t buying it. No familiar face to giggle a “good morning” to. No comforting arms to offer a hug, no predictable hands to wipe away tears. And it isn’t that Miss Aurora isn’t wonderful. I’m sure she is! But a new face on a Monday is just too much for little llama. Llama llama misses mama!
I think the hardest part is that his teachers have their own lives on Saturdays and Sundays. Two entire days to forget all of the terrifying, important things that make Aidan’s day-to-day life happen. And when it’s someone new, the stress begins all over again.
What if they’ve forgotten how important it is to check him for fever. Do they remember that he needs Tylenol immediately if he’s feverish? Has someone told the new teachers that he needs to be watched during mealtimes? He sits so close to the other babies that he can easily grab their food – what if he grabs something he shouldn’t have? Will they remember to give him his Benadryl if he gets hives? Will they think to put his eczema cream on if he’s itchy?
Here’s to Tuesday. It’s always easier on Tuesday.
