I've always enjoyed being away from home. There's something awesome about going
somewhere and seeing new things. From
the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam, I love to see it
all. And yes, I might have just ripped
off 'God Bless America'. It seemed
applicable in this case. The lone issue
with being away from home is that it's only a matter of time until homesickness
will set in. That being said, I might not
always be the one getting homesick. That
might be reserved for other people, or in the case of Ellie, another baby.
A little background.
I spent the weekend away at a men's retreat with my church, leaving on
Friday and returning on Sunday. I've spent
nights away from home since Ellie's been born, but never more than one without
her along. Now, I figured that I'd
get packed and out the door on Friday without any issues. That was not to be as Ellie's "Spidey
sense" started tingling as she knew something was amiss. In fact, she would basically break down right
around the time I was leaving. Without recourse , I went ahead and left as planned knowing that Ellie was in good
hands.
Once I returned home on Sunday afternoon, it was absolutely
evident just how much she had missed me.
I practically couldn't even get out of her sight without her frantically
searching for me. Who knew that all I
had to do to confirm that she does love me is abandon her with her mom and
grandma for a couple of days? Honestly
though, I figured that she'd be back to her normal self today and wouldn't
really be looking to cling to me so tightly.
Simply put, I was pretty wrong about that as she didn't want me out of sight unless she was fast asleep. So, of
course, I was going to find a fun way to take advantage of that.
Today following Ellie's lunch, I did the proper paternal
thing and took her upstairs to change her diaper before setting her down on the
floor where she could play in her bedroom.
Pretty quickly I noticed that she would follow me around her room
anytime I made a move. Knowing this, I
decided to engage her in a little game.
First, I got down on all fours and backed out of her room into the
hallway, obstructing myself with the wall and door. To ensure that Ellie didn't begin crying, I
occasionally peeked around the door so that Ellie could see I was still
there. It didn't take long before Ellie
came wandering into the hallway after me.
Once she entered the hallway, I realized that I had a fun
little game of hide-and-seek on my hands.
I quickly backtracked to the end of the hallway taking up residence
right outside our guest room. At this
point, I believe that Ellie realized exactly what the game was as she would come
hustling down the hall only to get momentarily sidetrack by a door stopper
(Boing boing boing). I then ducked into
our guest room hurtling over the bed to hide from our mobile baby. Peeking over the top of the bed, I was able
to see Ellie happily wandering around the corner into the guest room. She would then be distracted by our desk as
she began pulling stacks of 'Thank You' cards off and rearranging them on the
floor in her own particular fashion.
Once she completed her task, she began looking around to
discern where I had gone. With that, I
would peek around the edge of the bed so that Ellie could see me. With that, a laugh erupted from her tiny
mouth and she came shuffling around the bed.
I quickly grabbed her and began throwing her up into the air and catching
her. Once she tired of being tossed up
and down, I sat her back down where she just sat near me continually touching
my face as if to say, "I'm glad you're home, Daddy. Please don't leave me again." Of course to that all I can say is, "I
won't leave you for a while. And when I
do, I'll always come back."
So in other words, the exact same thing I tell her mother
every time I'm away from home. Per the old saying, what's
good for the goose is good for the gander. #DaddyWrite
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