Mornings with Gillian

Gillian wakes up full of smiles and while I get her clothes ready, she drinks some milk.

Since Gillian's new sister Olivia was born 3 weeks ago, life has been a tad busy for her parents. Juggling the baby's (non-existent) schedule, a busy 2 1/2 yr-old, house, dog, etc, all in record-breaking heat, is no mean feat. However, having one set of grandparents 5 minutes away and another set of grandparents 30-seconds away has hopefully, made it all a bit easier.

Daddy started back to work this week after a 2-week 'vacation' spent cooking, cleaning, helping with Olivia and taking catnaps whenever possible. The return to the normal routine meant that the mornings were going to be very busy, if not impossible for Mommy, after he left at 6 am. How does one feed a newborn (Olivia is breastfeed and that's time consuming), get another busy toddler out of bed, dressed, and to daycare by 7:30 am?

Well, Honey and Poppa happily volunteered to take on the job of getting Gillian up and out in the morning. It has turned into a lovefest for both of us and the interaction of spending 45 minutes with her every morning is something neither of us are anxious to give up any time soon.

The morning starts with Honey's alarm going off at 6:15 am. Because I'm a mega creature of habit, I cannot go anywhere until my stomach has received it's 8 ounces of hot, sweet tea and then passed on the message to my entire body that I'm awake and mobile. Five years of retirement has made me a bit slow in the morning. By 7 am though, I'm dressed and walking though the backyard to Gillian's house. By 7:01 am, I'm going through the side door to be greeted by Doug the Pug.

I grab her glass of milk from the fridge and go to the closed bedroom door. If I hear her talking, I open the door and go straight in. If I don't hear any noise, I quietly open the door so that I can have a couple of moments to just stand and watch her sleeping, her stuffed monkey Max clutched tightly against her.

Oh, the joy of being greeted by a huge smile and big sleepy eyes...every, single morning! She lies there and lifts Max so that I can kiss him first and then starts to tell me how Max feels this morning, whether or not he had a good sleep, and 'shushes' me if I talk too loud because he may still be sleeping. She giggles if I make a funny face at her, she stretches with relief as I take off her diaper and smiles as I wipe her clean and put on a dry one. Sometimes she makes room for me in her bed so that I can lay beside her while she points out all the different things she sees around her: "Pink birds, yellow birds, my Princess doll".

My favourite moment is when I start to brush her hair. She has been blessed with her Mommy's thick, curly tresses and it's long and lush. Not having had much experience with fixing a little girl's hair, the first few attempts at securing a ponytail on a squirming, preoccupied toddler's head wasn't pretty but I'm getting better at it. She patiently reads her book while I try to grab handfulls of silky hair and wrestle it all into a teeny-weeny elastic. She always looks in the mirror when I'm done and while she doesn't voice an opinion on the outcome but I'm convinced the size of her smile is directly related to what she sees in her reflection.

We try to have a few minutes after her clothes go on to settle Max in the doll cradle or colour a page in her book before it's time to go out the door and meet Poppa, who is waiting with the wagon to take her to daycare. It may only be a 10-minute walk but she has questions and comments for Poppa: "What's that noise?";  "Here comes the bus"; "A red car".

What started as a offer of help has turned into something so much more. That short morning routine stays with me all day. If I close my eyes I can feel the silkiness of her hair and see her smiles reflected in the mirror. I can't wait until tomorrow.