Not a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving
Baby has been teething for about two weeks now. I am certain it's the big molars in the back that are coming in. He's had a difficult time with naps. Instead of easily falling asleep mid-day, I've had to work all afternoon to help comfort him and help him fall asleep.
At night it hasn't been easier either. Instead of going to sleep at 10 PM, sometimes he falls asleep as late as mid-night. I've been staying up with him because Jeff has to get up for work, but I've had very little sleep this week myself and I had expected Jeff to help put Baby to bed the night before Thanksgiving so that I could get up with enough time to begin to prepare our holiday meal.
But, of course, that didn't happen. I had to stay awake with Baby on Wednesday night, too, and believe me, I wasn't happy about that.
Therefore, on Thursday morning I was not interested in waking up early. Although Baby has been going to bed later than usual, he's still waking at his usual time. Sometimes he will go back to sleep because he's exhausted and that's what he did Thanksgiving morning. He woke up just a little before 7 AM, nursed and went back to sleep. Then he awoke after 9 AM and that's when Jeff got up with him while I continued to sleep.
A number of times while I tried to sleep, Jeff would come into the room to tell me to get up, either to keep an eye on Baby or to begin to prepare our meal. As we were not expecting guests, we didn't get a small turkey breast this year, so our food was not going to take many hours to cook.
I got up mid-day after nursing Baby who had been a little fussy and was again having a difficult time falling asleep for his nap. I took him with me to grab some hot chocolate at Starbucks and then when we returned I began to pour through my recipes to collect my ingredients. Jeff had began to say that he needed to mow the lawn, which meant that he wanted me to keep an eye on Baby, but I wanted to get started cooking because it was growing late.
"If we don't get this going soon, we're going to have to have hamburgers for Thanksgiving. Is that what you want?!" I asked Jeff.
But Jeff wanted to mow the lawn and he said that he had tried to get me to wake earlier.
"I need to sleep, too. I went without sleep all week long, and I asked you to help put Baby to bed so that I could wake earlier to get started on the cooking. And did you stay up with Baby last night? No, you didn't. I had to stay up again last night while you snored. It didn't matter to you that I had gone all week without sleep, did it?!"
"Nope." He said with his back to me.
I didn't reply. He must have expected me to say something because he then turned to look at me.
"Get out of my face. Get out of here!" I shouted.
"Fine. I'll go mow my lawn!" And that's what he went to do while I entertained Baby.
After he was done working on his splotchy lawn, Jeff came back inside and attempted to apologize. He said he wanted everyone to have a pleasant holiday evening. It took a while before I relented, of course. I had wanted to punch him in the face, but I wanted to cook a nice meal for my Baby. Jeff had already put his holiday ham in the oven and I agreed to continue where I had left off.
During this time, Brian still was awake. I had put a Thomas the Train show on the TV for him and he really seemed to like it.
For his part, Jeff had begun a load of laundry.
"Where should I empty this basket?" He asked.
"On the bed, for now, I guess."
Baby and I followed him into the guest bedroom. Baby was standing beside the night stand and I watched as Jeff emptied the laundry basket on to the bed and then swung it back down narrowly missing striking Baby on the head!
"You need to be careful when he's around you." I said to him.
All three of us then made our way out of the bedroom. Jeff, still holding the laundry basket in one hand, pulled the door to close it as he was talking to me. Baby was standing on the other side of him, behind him.
Immediately, it occurred to me that Jeff didn't bother to look to make certain that Baby's fingers were not in the door way. He was looking at me so I interrupted to say, "Don't shut the door without..."
Screaming.
Baby was crying. Jeff had crushed the door on his fingers!
I looked at his hand and could see a bit of an indentation. One little finger looked bruised and the other bleeding slightly.
I was angry. "Never shut a door without looking to make sure your baby's hands are out of the way!"
"I'm sick and tired of this!" Jeff shouted and he stormed into the bathroom where I heard him crying.
Once again, it was a while before the emotional storm settled. By this point Baby wasn't the only one who had cried and shed tears. And I hadn't even started cooking yet.
Once we had all composed ourselves, I suggested to Jeff that he take Baby out to the yard for some fresh air. He still hadn't fallen asleep for his nap, so Jeff dressed him warmly and took him outside where from the kitchen window I could see my baby walking outside for the first time so it occurred to me to grab and then hand Jeff the camera.
"Video record him walking," I suggested to him.
A few minutes later they came back indoors and Baby was crying.
"What's wrong?"
"While I was setting up the camera Baby stumbled, fell and smacked his head."
"Oh, man. He's having one shitty day, eh?"
Jeff placed Baby in his high chair to watch Thomas the Train again. Just minutes later, Jeff found him asleep in his chair. His head slumped before him. Poor baby.
Our Thanksgiving dinner would be Baby's first Thanksgiving where in he would be able to eat. He was only about 4-months-old last year, and it occurred to me that we should start a new tradition. Before saying Grace, I thought we should take turns saying one thing for which each of us was grateful.
Later in the evening, I was nearly done in the kitchen. I asked Jeff to stir the mashed potatoes while I nursed Baby. Once Baby was done we could begin to serve our meal, I told him.
Jeff appeared in the door way, licking the potato masher, "You know, I think we should start a new tradition this year. We should all say something we're thankful for before we eat."
We gathered in the kitchen, finally, to load our plates and sat at the table. Before Jeff said Grace, I expressed I was thankful for Baby and his well-being. Jeff said he was grateful for his new job, and Baby can't speak, but I guessed he was probably grateful to be walking on his own.
Of course, I wasted no time. Why bother talking when you can stuff your face, am I right? Jeff gave Baby a little food and he spit it out. We tried to get him to taste the different foods and he grimaced, and whined and spit it all out. We lay bits of food on his tray so that he could grab to eat on his own, but he grabbed it and let it drop to the floor. He became fussy until Jeff handed him a fork and then he happily played with the fork and the bits of food on his tray.
Not a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving, but one we're grateful for, nonetheless. Happy Thanksgiving, Baby!
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