Quiet

Nathanael was sick today- on Co-op Day! When he slept most of yesterday afternoon and wouldn't eat dinner, I was suspicious but still hopeful. It puts a stress on the rest of the co-op when one mom doesn't show up, so I didn't want to miss unless we really had to. This morning, Nathanael woke up all droopy-looking and curled up into a ball in the living room instead of running around the house with his brothers. Bad sign. I called it in.

I showed up at the church building where we have co-op long enough to drop the older kids off and give my class assignments to the other moms while Nathanael stayed in the car, wrapped in his blanket. And not five minutes after we arrived back home, he threw up. Good call!

So he curled up in my lap with his Winnie-the-Pooh blanket and I rocked him. At five years old, I doubt he'll let me rock him for too much longer. Eventually he wanted to watch cartoons, and he fell asleep in front of Lilo and Stitch. And I had the house all to myself.

I can barely remember the days when I had the house all to myself. They were sweet days, when I had babies that took long naps, days when I made playdates with other moms to socialize and swap stories of diaper blowouts and potty training woes. A long time ago.

So here I was today, with the thing I most often fantasize about: a quiet house. Just me and one sleeping boy. What to do with this unexpected opportunity? Catch up on grading math? Finish the painting project I began the Christmas before last? Fold laundry? Scrapbook? Read? Clean house? So many choices. And do you know what I did?

I took a nap.