Lyla starts exhibiting strange behavior after the divorce, becoming so clingy that Jo can't get housework done.
7:30 a.m.
As I'm standing at the stove nudging a pancake back and forth with a spatula, I hear the soft pitter-patter of bare feet enter the kitchen with me. My back is turned towards the entryway of the kitchen but it's not necessary for me to turn around to see who's in the kitchen with me. I already know who it is. The real question is; what is she doing awake? She's never—and I do mean never—awake at this hour. I always have to go in her room and wake her up to eat breakfast. She's never gotten up on her own. "Mummy..." Her tiny fingers wrap themselves around the fabric of my loose-fitting t-shirt and she gently tugs on it. I ignore her for a second so I can concentrate on perfectly flipping this pancake but she taps my leg. "Mummy...Mummy."
"What, baby?" I put the spatula down and tilt my head to look at her. She's looking up at me, bright green eyes misting over with tears. Her golden brown hair is resting on her shoulders and since she has her head tilted back to look up at me, I can see boogers in her nose. I stick my pinkie finger up her nose and clean out a booger. "What are you doing up, honey?" She puts her head down and wraps her arms around my leg without saying anything. I run my hands through her hair and continue flipping her pancake. I flip it and brush the spatula over the top. As soon as I get her fed, I'm gonna get her dressed for school, put her on the bus and go back to sleep until noon. I'm actually off today, which is a godsend because I have so much housework to do. Lyla's clothes are piled up and they need washed, I want to wash the bath towels after I wash her clothes and the bathroom and living room are both filthy so I need to clean. I have an off day, I won't have a child getting in my way since she has school and this is just an ideal situation. "Go get in your chair so mommy can feed you."
She lets my leg go and walks over to the table. She climbs into her chair and sits down with her elbows off the table just like Alex taught her. I scrape her pancake onto a pink Sleeping Beauty plate and turn the flame on the stove off. I smear butter on her pancake and take it into my hands. I start picking the pancake apart, making it into tiny, bite sized pieces. I drown the pieces in syrup just how she likes and put the plate in front of her, along with the matching pink fork. "Thank you mummy." She says in her usual, pint-sized, squeaky, soft little polite voice. She stabs a piece of pancake with her fork and feeds herself. She always says "please" and "thank you". Me and Alex have been teaching her manners since she learned how to talk. I go over to the fridge and fill up a purple cup with orange juice for her. I put the cup next to her. I go back to the fridge and take her lunch that I packed for her last night out of it. I packed her a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich, a bag of barbecue chips, orange slices, a pudding cup, a Kool-Aid pouch and three Oreos. "Lyla, do you have gym class today?" I ask her because the outfit I put her in is dependent upon what her activity period today is. It's Wednesday so I'm pretty sure that she has library class today. Mondays are music class, Tuesdays are gym class days, Wednesdays are library class, Thursdays are art class and Friday is health class. But I'm gonna double check just to be sure. Lyla politely shakes her head and continues to eat. "You wanna wear a skirt or a dress today, babes?"
"I wunna..." She twirls her sticky fingers through her hair and swings her feet under the table. "Weah jammies mummy. I no want school..." She shakes her head. "Stay home wiff you...pease?"
"No, you're going to school." After seeing how sticky she just made her hair that I just washed last night, I walk over to her and fold the long sleeves of her pajama shirt back. She doesn't need to miss school today. It's almost Christmas vacation and she's gonna have a full two weeks off of school. She needs to go to school today. "We can hang out and watch movies after school, bubbles. You have to go to school today."
"Pease mummy? I don't wunna go. My belly huuuts." All of a sudden, she pushes away her plate and stops eating.
"Lyla Isabella, you're not fooling me." I lean down and kiss her temple. "I promise we'll hang out after school. You have to go to school today though. And I know your belly isn't hurting."
"No mummy...it is." She nods her head. She looks up at me again and her eyes are still wet with tears. Maybe that's why she was crying when she came down here in the first place. Or maybe that's what woke her up out of her sleep. Maybe her stomach really is hurting her. "My belly-" As she's talking, her pancake comes right out of her mouth in the form of vomit.
"Oh...Lyla..." I pull her out of the chair and pick her up by her armpits. She didn't throw up a lot but it's enough to cover the front of her pajama shirt. Well this is gonna be a fun way to spend my day off...
8:00 a.m.
"Come here, honey." I kneel down in front of her and make her step out of her panties. When we get out of the shower, I'm going to put her in pull-ups. I think she might have a 24-hour stomach bug so I don't want to risk her having an accident in her big girl panties. I put her underwear in the dirty laundry basket and pick her up. She immediately puts her head on my shoulder. I secure my arm underneath her butt and step into the steaming hot shower with her. I didn't intend on spending my off day with my sick baby but I guess this is what being a mommy is all about. I pull the curtain shut and stand with my front hitting the spray and Lyla's back hitting it. "You feeling a little better, bubby?" She shakes her head. I suck my teeth and rub her back. "You will. Let the medicine kick in." I lower myself down so I can put her down on the floor safely but she won't let me go. "Let me go honey...I wanna wash you up."
"Noooo." She shakes her head. "I stay..." She wraps her legs around my waist and holds onto my shoulders. I think she's crying because she keeps sniffing periodically.
"I have to wash you up and then I have to wash up too." I pry her legs from around me, as well as her arms and put her down anyway. She stands with her butt against my legs and keeps her head down so the shower doesn't spray in her face. When Lyla gets sick, she gets cuddly. Well, she's a big cuddly teddy bear anyway, but when she's sick...she's REAL cuddly. The reason she's standing with her butt against my legs is because she HAS to be skin to skin with me no matter what. I'm gonna put her down to sleep after we get out of here and then I'll skip the nap I had planned and just start doing laundry and stuff like I planned. I lather up Lyla's pink loofah with soap and start washing her little body. I can tell she's really not feeling well because she LOVES washing herself up with her loofah and she's letting me do it. "Alright, you're done ladybug." She turns her back to the spray, puts her forehead against my knees and puts her arms around my legs. I don't think she's gonna let me wash myself up. So I sigh and lean forward to turn off the water. I'll just take a shower later. "Come on baby. Let's get out." I pull the curtain back again and grab the two towels I hung up prior to getting in the shower. I wrap one around myself and the other around Lyla. I pick her up and like her head is magnetically attracted to my shoulder, it goes back there again. I carry her to my bedroom and put her on the bed. She looks at me like I just betrayed her. "Hold on. Mommy's gonna get dressed." She nods and I go over to my dresser to pick out a pair of pajamas to put on. I toss my hair up into a damp bun and get myself dressed. Lyla holds her arms out to me and of course, I pick her up. "Why don't you take a nap for a little while? You'll feel better when you wake up...you wanna take a nap?" I carry her to her bedroom. She nods her head against my shoulder and sighs like she's truly miserable.
I grab a pull-up and a t-shirt for her to sleep in. I pull the pull-up to her waist and slip the t-shirt over her head. I brush her hair up into a ponytail and hoist her up on my hip again. I bend down and pull the blankets back on her bed. "Mommy will make you soup and grilled cheese for lunch..." I tuck her into the bed and turn to leave out of her room.
"Wait! Wait, mummy!" She springs up out of the bed and runs over to me. "I come wiff you." She holds my leg again. "Don't leave me..."
"I thought you wanted to take a nap." I rub her hair. I actually am pretty annoyed with how she wants to be up under me all the damn time but if I'm mean to her while she's sick, I'll feel so bad. I just have to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to get anything done today. "You want mommy to take a nap with you, don't you?" She nods. "Okay." I pick her up and carry her back to my bedroom. I climb into the bed with her and she immediately lays on top of me and puts her head between my boobs. She puts her thumb in her mouth with one hand and with the other, she starts rubbing my ear. I cover the both of us up and rub her back until she falls asleep.
12:00 p.m.
"I totally wouldn't mind if you took her to the park today but she's sick, Alex. She woke up throwing up and she's just not herself. I fed her this morning and she threw it all up." I twist the can opener and open up the can of chicken noodle soup. I dump it into the pot and keep the phone against my ear with my shoulder. "Yeah, I gave her some medicine and a bath. I put her down for a nap around 9:00 or so. I slept until 11:30. She's still sleeping." I stir the soup and turn the flame on medium heat. "Yeah, that's fine. You can come over...eat dinner, put her to bed. I work tomorrow so if she's not feeling well, I'll have to call off. Unless you don't work and you want to stay with her." While the soup is heating up, I pick up the mop and resume mopping the kitchen floor like I was doing before Alex called to ask if he could take Lyla to the indoor playground with Ellis and Meredith today. "I'm making a lasagna for dinner, if you're interested." I mop up a soda stain from the floor. "Alright...see you later...bye." I hang up and sit my phone on the counter. I don't think Lyla's going to be going to school tomorrow either but it's good because Alex doesn't work and he wants to keep her for me if she doesn't feel better, so I won't have to call off work. I just hope Lyla's not sick for Christmas. She's got a week and three days to feel better.
Speaking of Christmas, I think Alex is spending Christmas at my house this year. The custody agreement says that he gets her on Christmas Eve and I get her on Christmas Day, but I think we're in agreement that he'll just spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day over here. We don't really abide by the custody agreement anymore.
"Mummmyyyy!" I hear a squeaky little voice scream to me from the top of the steps. I don't bother to go meet her because I can hear her footsteps coming down them. So I just continue to mop the floor and wait. I knew she wasn't going to stay asleep for much longer after I put her down. She was sleeping on my chest for the entire time we were napping and when I woke up, I had placed a pillow next to her body to trick her into thinking I was still lying there. But it didn't work and I knew it wasn't going to so I just came down here and made her lunch. And just like I thought, it's not long before she's standing in front of me. Her finger is in her mouth and she's SOBBING her eyes out. "Mummy..."
"What, Lyla?! I'm right here." I put the mop down and walk over to her. "I'm right here."
"I wunna..." She coughs because she's so upset. "I wunna hold you, mummy! I wunna hold you!" What she means is that she wants me to hold her. But she's been phrasing it that way since she learned how to talk and I guess it's just a habit now. "I wunna hold you..." She puts her arms out to me. I sigh for the millionth time today and pick her up. Her head goes to my shoulder and although I'm annoyed with her, I kiss her forehead nonetheless and hold her for as long as she wants to be held. With 45 pounds of my five year old in one arm, I pick up the mop with my free one and continue mopping because I have to at least try to get work done around the house. I don't get another off day for two weeks.
I can't wait for Alex to get here later. I need him to take her because "mummy" needs a break.
