Mothers Day Off When Your Boss is a Two Year Old

(picture note-that’s not purple lipstick I’m wearing. It’s the attractive result of drinking an incredibly deep, dark and luscious Shiraz. I’m just happy I wasn’t teeth-smiling)
I started off my Mothers Day with a delicious breakfast of Strawberry Crepes and Champagne, (yes I realize how lucky I am to have married an excellent cook), and I got to sit all morning while my husband took care of everything. It was great not having to get up to clean the kitchen or pick up the toys. That’s the best present I could have received; the ability, or excuse rather, to not do a single thing. I just got to sit. It was perfect. We then drove to the lake and enjoyed the beautiful day on a big blanket by the water until it was toddler nap time.
My mother and the rest of my family came over for a picnic in our yard while the little one slept. We drank wine, ate cheeses and cured meats and talked and laughed for hours. Then they left and it was just the three of us again. I took a long, hot bubble bath while the boys played downstairs. My husband ordered me a girlie movie off the TV and I geared up to sit down some more while my dinner was being prepared in the other room. But the movie never came on, and my husband spent over an hour trying to convince the cable company that he did, in fact, know an incredible amount about technology and that, no, he was not an idiot, and that yes, they will be paying for the movie that he wanted his wife to enjoy on her special day.
So 2 year old and I played with fire trucks and trains and colored pictures and read books and really, really tried not to bother Daddy while he was on the very important phone call with the not-so-nice tech support lady. I wasn’t sitting, I wasn’t anywhere close to relaxing but I was doing what I have been trained to do; be with my little boy and make his world a wonderful, happy place.
So it was now past 8:45 and 2 year old desperately needed to go to sleep and Mommy and Daddy desperately needed to eat, or at the very least start cooking. (Thank you very much, not-so-nice tech support lady). But I was fine. After our son was tucked into bed I had my movie that had just begun to work and my first glass of the fancy wine that we had been saving for a year.
Dinner took a little longer than either one of us had envisioned it taking… he had planned on roasted beets with dinner (which are one of my favorites) and we all know how long it takes to roast a beet. Husband was now getting a little concerned that his special dinner wouldn’t be executed the way he had hoped so Wife put herself back on duty for a short moment and came up with a solution.

I sat back down, feeling oh-so-proud and drank my oh-so-fancy wine and watched more of my movie. I kept hearing popping noises but didn’t think too much of it, I’m always hearing loud noises and witnessing giant splatters when I’m off kitchen duty, (my husband is an excellent cook, but an incredibly messy one). About 8 minutes later he came in to tell me that my plan had worked. The beets had successfully ‘roasted’ in the microwave and dinner would be served shortly. He also came in a second later to add,

I really tried not to think about how the beet juice could have gotten all the way on the rug. I think the fancy wine helped. (What I now know is that although the microwave worked wonders on quickly softening the beets, it also caused them to erupt like tiny purple volcanoes. Note to self: Always cover a beet.)
Not too much later he served my dinner- Perfectly Caramelized Filets with a Port Wine and Onion Jam, Candied Beets and Sauteed Broccoli Rabe. It was absolutely delicious and I didn’t want it to end. We ate it while we watched the rest of my movie and right when we had gotten to that cozy part of the evening where you’re about to enter your last glass of wine and the last 20 minutes of your movie, we hear a loud cry coming from upstairs. This happens very rarely with our son because he is such a good sleeper, so we ran upstairs to check on him. We think a bad dream was the culprit – he was standing up sobbing and looked simply terrified. We tried to tag-team a song for him to get him to go back to sleep, we reminded him that Curious George was still next to him and that he would never let anything bad happen to him, and we tried reasoning with him (that part was the wine talking, as you all know trying to reason with a half asleep 2 year old is impossible.) The next logical step was to bring him and Curious George downstairs. So for the next 30 minutes I held my sleepy son in my lap and on my shoulder while holding Curious George in one hand, and fancy wine in the other. We finished our movie and our wine and all three climbed into bed together.
It wasn’t the night I had planned, it wasn’t the most relaxing day I have had, and I didn’t sleep well because I kept getting kneed in the ear, but it was strangely perfect. As I sat there holding my sleeping toddler I realized how long it has been since I’d done that. I thought about how many days and nights I sat on this very couch and held a sleeping baby. I wouldn’t even have a Mothers Day were it not for this little man burrowing his cheek into the crook of my neck and it dawned on me that that was why he woke up. He just needed to remind me that it’s not all about me anymore. Even on my special day. And it certainly was a very special day.

*Roasted Beets in a Pinch
-Cut off the stalks and tips of your clean beets and place on a microwave-safe dish. Place a double layer of paper towels on the floor of the microwave. Poke beets several times with a fork, cover with a lid or a wrap of some kind and microwave on high for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of your beets. Keep checking them to see if they’re tender and flip them over once to ensure even cooking. Allow to cool enough to handle and carefully remove cooked beets from the dish. Rub the skins off with a dry paper towel and cut into desired shape. You can now saute them to give them some good color and flavor. And be sure to keep a spray bottle of ‘Wine-Away’ near by.