My son blew chunks for the first time today. He also called me “Mama” for the first time. I really hope this is just an odd coincidence, and that the two things will not be forever linked together.
To preface this, the first word that came out of Chip’s (and Bobo’s, for that matter) mouth was “Da.” It remains his favorite word to this day, and he will happily squeal “da da da” every time he sees J walk in the door. Lately, his vocabulary seems to be expanding almost daily, and he has added ball, uh-oh, Boo, caca (cracker), na-na (night night), he-go (here you go) and even “sissy” to his repertoire.
Until today, however, “mama” had not been one of those words, much to my dismay.
Today, I was sitting at my desk working when I got an unexpected call from Chip’s daycare. My little one had been enjoying his afternoon snack, which ended up coming back up reincarnate all over the daycare floor. There had been a bug going around at daycare, so I drove down to pick up the kids early.
When I arrived, Chip was in quarantine in his crib, but was perched over the side, happily entertaining the other toddlers in the room with his babbling. He seemed perfectly fine at the time. I picked up Bobo in the other room, and we were on our way.
On the way home, Bobo jabbered on happily about her day at school, while Chip appeared to be dozing off in his carseat. I glanced in the rearview mirror to see if he had fallen asleep, just in time to see Chip open his little eyes and spew an inordinate amount of vomit all over himself, his carseat, and the back of my chair. And it kept coming… and coming. It was like the Energizer Bunny, vomit style.
We finally pulled into the garage at home, and I got Flannie set up with some cartoons to keep her occupied while I took care of the barf boy. I don’t care what anyone says; TV can be an excellent babysitter.
Chip, chunks of mystery food and drool dripping from his chin, was waiting patiently for me in the car. The poor little guy looked wiped out and completely exhausted.
As I picked him up and hugged him tight, he wrapped his soggy little arms around my neck and unmistakeably, undeniably said “Mama, mama” several times before putting his head on my shoulder. My heart completely melted.
It’s funny how some of parenthood’s best experiences can come at the most unlikely times. I held my little guy and savored the moment. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
Well, okay, if you take away about the bits of food stuck to my shirt, the sleepless night ahead of me, and the pool of ick I’d later have to clean up in the car, then that would be somewhat better.
But still, it was a pretty sweet moment.