Joey and Mommy Fun Day

After dropping off Benny for his first day of school last week, I buckled Joe-Bug into his carseat and said "It's time for Joey and Mommy Fun Day!" to which Joe replied "Yeeeaaahhh!" with both arms raised joyfully above his sweet little head. I am so excited to spend some alone with with Joe this school year. He will be attending school on Wednesdays but we will have Mondays and Fridays to ourselves while Ben is at school. I spent so much 1 on 1 time with Ben when he was little and just really feel like I've missed out on that with Joey; such is the curse of the second-born child.

Joey and I headed into Broad Ripple to my office to print out some documents for Peyton; such fun for Joe, I know! After our brief pitstop at work, where Joey was treated to a sucker, which thrilled him to no end, we decided to go for a walk along the canal to check out the ducks. It was awesome to slowly trail along with Joey and see whatever it was that his little heart desired to see. Joey kept looking up at me as though he was waiting for me to hurry him up, or tell him it was time to go. He treated me with numerous huge smiles and "hi mommas" as he slowly began to realize that this walk was all about him. We were on no timeline, had no agenda, and no distractions...well actually, we had tons of distractions, but each was more delightful than the last and Joey pointed everything that he noticed out to me with an excited chubby finger in the direction of the wonder and an enthralled "See? See Momma?! Ohhhhh."

We spent about 20 minutes of our walk in a 10 foot plot of sidewalk where Joey meticulously transferred small, smooth brown rocks from a flower bed to a hole in the ground. I asked him what he was doing and he just looked at me with a serious face and said "this." For some reason that sweet little response made me want to cry. Oh Joe. There was nothing in the world I wanted to be doing at that moment than "this." It struck me how rarely I truly allow myself to do nothing but focus on Joe or whatever it is that pleases him at the moment. Joe is better at "this" than anyone I know. He takes great pleasure in the moment, with no worry for what occurred before or what is to come. Just THIS; that is all Joe needs. I so admire his intensity and focus. Man I love that kid.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of activity (probably too much in all honesty). After leaving Broad Ripple, Joe and I attended a free class at Gymboree where he focused on the concept of push and pull. As per usual, Joey picked up the concepts they were trying to teach really quickly and then focused on doing the task over and over again until he had mastered it. After Gymboree we met Nana for a quick lunch at Chick-Fil-A where Joey regalled her with stories of our morning; even though we couldn't understand a word he said, it was clear Joey had a great day and was so excited to share his thoughts with his nana.

There was just enough time for a quick nap at home before it was time to pick up Ben. Joey was really excited to see his bubba, as was I, but I do admit that I am really looking forward to the next "Joey and Mommy Fun Day."