Last week, I had to go away to Clearwater, Florida for a business trip. When I left, it was Mother's Day and my 18 month old son, Drew, had been attached at my hip. For days, I wasn't able to go five minutes without him wanting to be held and when we had a family BBQ the Saturday before Mother's Day he clung to me like everyone else were aliens. My husband, Josh, wasn't looking forward to my departure as he knew that for a week straight the only words to come out of Drew's mouth, would be, "mama, mama, mama..."
So, fastforward a week, and I was traveling home on Saturday. Drew suddenly spiked a fever early morning on Saturday and Josh and I were on the phone all throughout the day (my flight to Maine wasn't until 5:00 pm, arrival 11:30 pm) discussing Drew. I couldn't get home fast enough. The thought of my little boy being so sick and me not being there to hold him was terrible!
As I drove home from the airport, Josh was still up with Drew. He had woken up after going to bed and would not go back to sleep. So I talked to Drew on the phone as I drove home and I felt relieved to hear his baby laughs and babble on and on with the words that he knows. I couldn't wait to have Drew in my arms, hug him, kiss him, and rock him to sleep....
Well, Drew had other plans for me and this is when I start the punishment. I walked into my bedroom to find him bouncing up and down on his knees and crawling all over Josh on the bed and looking like a perfectly healthy, baby boy. As soon as he sees me though, he stops. I expected him to squeal in delight at the sight of me and want me to hold him right away. I couldn't have been more wrong! He immediatly turned his back on me. I kept my distance and said hi to him and he grabbed onto Josh as tightly as he could. I tried to walk around the bed so we could face each other, but no matter where I went, he would turn the opposite direction. I then sat down on the bed and tried to rub his back, he curled up in a ball at the sense of my touch and said, "no!" My little Drew was furious at me for leaving him and he was going to show me what-for. Josh would ask Drew if he wanted to give me a hug and Drew would only hug Josh tighter and say no to that option. Then Josh needed to use the bathroom which meant Drew was going to be with only me. He cried and squirmed to get away from me. I was eventually able to hold onto him and rock him as I sang
You are my Sunshine quietly in his ear. This seemed to calm him down and tears rolled down my face as his little warm body snuggled into mine. When Josh came back into the room though, it was as if I no longer existed and he sprung from my arms into his. Drew was obviously so overtired by this point and Josh put him to bed; a job that I would normally do, but not this night, Drew still refused to look at me as he was carried out my bedroom door.
The next morning, I heard Drew wake up. I went into his bedroom to get him, but as soon as he saw me he no longer wanted to come out. He layed back down in his crib and faced his wall. I saw down on the floor next to him and tried all my tricks to make him laugh or play back with me. I succeeding at none of it...and the punishment continued. For about 15 minutes this all played out. I would finally get him to peek at me and I think I may have even gotten a smile, but that was all.
Then thankfully, my other son, Jacoby, had woken up and came in the room. Jacoby wasn't punishing me and I got a wonderful hug from him and was able to cover him in kisses from head to toe. Drew was very interested in seeing Jacoby. The only reason Drew allowed me to lift him out of his crib was so that he could see his older brother.
We all played in Drew's room for a while. I gave them their presents that I had brought back from Florida. Drew kept his distance from me for most of the morning, only using for things that he wanted...a drink...a toy he couldn't reach, etc. Then it happened Drew came over and hugged me and gave me a kiss. I smiled in delight, and he turned his back on me again...I think he forgot that he was supposed to still be punishing me. For the rest of the day he would go back and forth on whether or not he wanted to give me a hug and little kisses or if he wanted to get as far away from me as possible. My punishment did eventually end though as I was determined that it would. I was able to rock him to sleep that night and I will admit, that I held him in my arms about 10 minutes longer than I normally would have, just to watch his peaceful face sleep and to have him next to me.
Kids are funny. You never know how they are going to react to you leaving them. I never expected this kind of punishment from Drew, but it makes me appreciate him even more. I love to see him develop into his own little person and have his own unique feelings. Drew and I BFF again until my next trip later this summer...
