A New Place To Call "Home"

August 7, 2011

It was never our intention to live at my dad’s house after Jacob was born. It was never our intention for me to even spend the summer pregnant at my dad’s house. Life is always throwing us for a curve. The most recent major curves came in the form of more costly, unexpected car repairs and then a derricho that ripped through Southern Illinois and demolished what was going to be our home.

Anyway…

Jacob had grown up knowing my dad’s house as “Home”. Dave stayed home with him while I worked, so he never went to daycare or anything. In eighteen months, he’d only ever seen the inside of about six or seven other houses(/apartments/etc.) and never spent more than a few hours at any of those places (my mom’s house, Dave’s dad’s apartment, and four friends’ houses).

He was really good during the whole moving process. My mom watched him for a few hours a couple of times, but he was great even while we were packing and moving everything all over the house and out to the moving truck. I showed him the moving truck the day we first picked it up and opened it up while trying to explain moving in toddler language.

We didn’t get to our new place until past his normal bedtime, but he was still in a decent mood. He had fun running back and forth from one end to the other and messing around with his toys. When bedtime came, though, he was scared and confused… crying and stomping his little feet outside of the doorway refusing to come into the room for his Binky and his puppy blankie. I picked him up and cuddled him in my lap for a few minutes trying to explain that this was our new home, but it just wasn’t right to him. (“Playing somewhere new for any length of time is perfectly fine, but you simply *don’t* sleep anywhere new, Mommy!”)

I couldn’t bear leaving him alone crying his little heart out in a new place on the first night, so I tried lying down with him in our bed. His chest heaved for a little while still trying to calm down from crying. He moved around a little but fell asleep within about fifteen minutes. He slept there next to me all night - not even waking up once. That hadn’t happened (him sleeping next to us) since he weaned himself from bed-sharing over three months ago. It was so nice cuddling next to him again. I’ve missed that so much.

The next morning, one of the neighborhood dogs came over to meet us. Jacob was so happy and excited to see a dog; he was grinning from ear to ear. Foxy always comes wagging her tail and ready to sniff and roll over onto her back for a quick pet or two. Jakey smiles whenever he looks at her, tries to say her name (“Fah… Fah… Fah”), and goes over to her to give her a little pat on her tummy or to point at her nose. He giggles when she runs ahead or follows behind him. Actually, he giggles and smiles almost the entire time she’s here.

The first week in town was pretty hectic, but we managed to throw in a few outings, too. It’s quite a challenge trying to move into a new place - unpack, arrange furniture, etc. - while trying to maintain a fairly normal schedule (eating, naps, etc.) with a toddler running around. Oh… and while trying to keep on top of pottying him, too!

We checked out Carbondale’s Friday Night Community Fair (music, vendors, kids area) where Jacob and I spent the majority of the night at the kids area playing with a ball toy & Play-doh and occasionally crawling through the tunnel when the older, rambunctious kids weren’t rolling around inside. Jakey could’ve easily spent the entire evening there playing with the balls, but we took him around to see the music, art, and everything else a couple of times. He tried blackberries for the first time and had fun feeding a few to me. J

The next morning, we headed back into town to the Farmer’s Market. We had moved during the hottest week of the year, and it was pretty miserable there since most of the market is in direct sun. Dave took Jacob around so that I could see who had what, and I picked up an eggplant, a zucchini, and some donut peaches. There was a harpist playing across from a shaded area, so we stopped there for a little while and Jacob listened and watched her play.

My brother and sister-in-law invited us over for dinner that night at their new house. It’d been a while since we’d seen them, so we got to catch up on what they’d been up to… and Jacob had a blast. He was excited to see his Uncle Derek and Aunt Ali again and their dog, PJ, but he was a little overwhelmed with PJ’s energy level (crying and running away when PJ came bounding towards him with his toy). He tried to get their cat to play, but Waffles was more interested in trying to appear invisible. They had the baby’s room pretty much set up already (Jakey will have a second cousin sometime next month!), and Derek got out a turtle constellation light and spent some time showing it to Jacob. He put it away after a bit, but Jacob took Derek back in there and insisted on checking it out again. Derek decided that Jakey needed one of his own, so he ordered one just for him.

We didn’t make it to any of the Thursday night Sunset Concerts this year. It was just too hot each week, plus Jakey’s bedtime usually falls just thirty minutes to an hour after the bands are scheduled to start. He wakes up during the night a LOT more frequently if he doesn’t get to bed within the usual time frame. And since I’m always the one to get up to respond to his cries in the middle of the night, I’d rather keep to a schedule even if it means missing out on something that might be cool. Being a parent really changes your perspective on things.

*Sweat mohawk from the heat and humidity! ------->