The Moon

So, it turns out, I'm the moon.

The coolest thing is a while back I was walking with Ellie out in our backyard and I asked, where's the moon Ellie, and she looked around the sky and pointed it out. A little after that she'd point and say, 'Moon' and I think that it is cool when she takes something from a book and matches it with the real life thing. The moon comes out at night and often represents the nighttime for children. (See: "Goodnight Moon" and us telling Elise, "The sun is going to sleep and the moon is waking up.") But there is more. I personally really prefer the dark. I would never have any lights on if I could help it and Ellie is like her Daddy in that she is very photosensitive - the child freaks out when bright (and not so bright) light is in her eyes. All this to say, that I want to tell you about Ellie and Daddy's dark mornings on Sundays, or what I call, Moonday.

My favorite time of the week is Sunday Mornings. Meredith and I have this absolutely fabulous arrangement that I recommend for all parents with young children. On Saturdays, Meredith wakes up at the crack of dawn and takes Elise, turning off the monitor and allowing me to sleep in. Fifty years from now, some smarty-pants will ask us the secret to our marriage and I'll respond, 'She let me sleep in'. (Sleepin' in was good when I was a kid and sleepin' in will be good forever!) Sundays of course, Meredith enjoys a little extra pillow time. Now, I'm going to be perfectly honest for the sake of you dads out there, I used to be terrified of the Sunday Morning. First off, I'm not a morning person, and second off, what would we do? What would I feed her, how will I pass the hours besides growing more and more resentful of that mean-spirited woman upstairs who has no clue what I'm dealing with down here! Alas, it turned out that as with all things parenting... I figured it out.

I'd like to share our Sunday morning routine here because, frankly, it rules. So I hear her rumble awake and slowly get up, turning off the monitor and kissing my sweet wife on the cheek or forehead (aawwwww.) Then, I go in and a grab my little girl. She usually is sitting up, but when I pick her up she lays her head on my shoulder and I rock with her for awhile until she sits up in my lap, looks me squarely in the face and says questioningly, 'eat?' I respond in the affirmative, we change the diaper and make our way downstairs in the dark. As I mentioned, I hate the light. During our Sunday morning ritual Elise and I don't turn on any lights unless we absolutely have to. In fact, I lay claim to teaching her to 'cover her eyes' from our mornings when I have to open the refrigerator. So we make our way down stairs and scrounge together some food. She helps me make the coffee and drinks her milk and eats a couple of things while sitting on the counter. All the while we usually talk politics, sports and religion, while we intersperse a negotiation about Elmo that goes something like:
"Elmo?"
"In a little while sweetie...did you know that Daddy thinks the Flyers are the greatest team in history, who do you think is the greatest?"
"Elmo?"
"Elmo doesn't play hockey sweetie"
"Elmo?"
"Well, I suppose they have a sports episode where he might play hockey"
"Elmo."
"Sweetie, Elmo is red. And Red is the color of the Devils and the Red Wings and we hate both of those teams very much. So, when Daddy is talking about hockey, you have forget about Elmo."
"Ernie?"
"Ernie wears Orange and black, just like the Flyers. I love you sweetie."
"I love you Daddy and I love the Philadelphia Flyers!" (Okay, that last part she only kind of tries to say.)

You get the idea. After the coffee is made and waffles or toast are ready we take our breakfast downstairs and to (yeah, I'm a sucker) watch some Elmo. Then we play for a while usually on the big exercise ball, and with her dolls and stuffed animals. Then we make our way back to the kitchen for my favorite time of Sunday Morning... Pancake time. We go through all the ingredients we need and Ellie has gotten quite good at cracking the eggs, and pouring the milk, but nobody stirs as well as she does. Making pancakes with her takes about twice as long, and certainly makes twice the mess, but it is ten times the fun. Then, we go surprise mommy. We creep up the stairs and into the room all the while, we are putting our fingers to our mouths and going, "ssshhhhh." Then after waking mommy with our incredibly loud, "ssshhhhh-ing" we pounce! Then come the kisses on Mommy and of course Ellie tells her everything important that she missed, all succinctly stated in one word - "Elmo!"

The morning progresses with play upstairs and I'm definitely the A #1 parent until the morning fades into afternoon and the planets realign back around the sun, which is of course Mommy. Moonday rules!