The nights are harder

March 16, 2009 by Barbara.

Reid and I took Ken to the airport at bedtime on Saturday night. She had cried a bit at supper when she thought of him leaving and then when Ken got out of the car, Reid cried quite a lot. Poor man. He doesn’t like to travel to begin with and then to have tears at departure. Well, it just isn’t fair! Reid kept up the tears and fussing after we left Ken standing at the curb. She kept saying that she wished that he didn’t have to go away. I told her that he wished that he could stay and that he’d be back as soon as he could be. Then, I said that he loved and missed her and that I loved you both and that we would all be happy when we were together, or something to that effect and Reid said, in a voice breaking on a sob, “But it’s really me!” I took that to mean that it was her that was suffering far more than him or I.

Sunday was busy as usual, with swimming and pottery. Reid was able to hold her front starfish float for 7 seconds and her back starfish float for 30 seconds. The teacher challenged her to try for a minute and Reid said that she thought that she could do both for that long. I think she thinks 1 minute is shorter than 60 seconds, since her grasp of numbers is stronger than her understanding of units of time. I pulled Reid in her red wagon to pottery through the park. The path was entirely snow-covered and I had to go over a snowbank to get onto the road but it was still better than driving such a short distance. Getting Reid in and out of her seatbelt, even now that she is in a booster seat is such a hassle - though, of course, we never skip it. B accompanied us on his bike to see where we were going. In class, Reid worked entirely independently to create a landscape of a campfire with a chair beside it. I’m not sure if she set out to make the campfire or just recognized it in the form that she built randomly. Next week we’ll miss class and then at the last class we glaze and then we’re done. The 8 weeks have passed quickly.

B caught us with on the way home from pottery and as soon as we got home, I got out Reid’s bike and helmet and they rode around the block with me trailing. I think she might have grown enough that she needs the bike seat raised. She pedaled a bit while standing and seemed to go faster that way. After the loop, we sat in the driveway and worked on our paper-making a bit. We decided that the tissue paper fibres needed longer to decompose, though, and put everything into a pitcher to sit a while longer. B mixed water and corn starch together (once I figured out that what he said in French translated to corn starch) and called it an experiment. I missed what the experiment was exactly. When he was done, he and Reid painted on the driveway with the dyed goop. B was amazed that I would let Reid do such a thing but followed her suit. B and Reid drew hopscotch courts with chalk, got the hockey sticks and a ball out and played with bubbles. R, V and their parents came out, too. The kids played together and Reid helped R on his bike. It’s a cool tricycle from Radio Flyer that you can push around with a handle. I visited with V as she sat in her stroller and with the mom.

Reid had some tuna while I heated pasta and sauce for supper. She meowed a lot, especially while I was opening the can. Leo would have been proud. He scored a bit of extra tuna since I couldn’t very well give Reid some and him none. I actually got Reid through her bath and into bed more or less on time. She got sad once her head was on your pillow and she said, “When Daddy is gone, only the days are good. At night, I miss him!” and she started to cry a bit. It was good to be able to say that he would be there with us in only one week. I can keep her busy during the day but the nights will be harder.

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