I must admit that I often feel guilty about the amount of time we spend with Meips — or rather, not spend. While it is true that she is with me a lot as I go about my daily activities, my attention is frequently focused elsewhere as I run my errands and buy my groceries. Noey is in school for those short precious 3-hours, and then he’s home, demanding my attention with homework to complete and piano practice to get through.
I am acutely aware of the far that the second child is, in many ways, short-changed of that dedicated attention of both parents that their first-born sibling took for granted. And yes, the mummy-guilt strikes, especially when I again have to tell my precious little girl to wait cos “Mummy’s helping Gor-gor with something“.
So when DD took some time off randomly last Monday, I seized the opportunity to bring Meips on a date with just Mum and Dad, sans Gor-gor. (He was in school anyway so he wouldn’t have known any better!) We kept it simple and took off for the park, one of her favourite places.
There, she was able to scooter-skate to her heart’s content. She’s really good at it, this little girl, and she’s fast! We checked out the swans, found a millipede, and generally hung out. And I lapped up my little baby. The significance of the solo attention probably escaped her — she was happy enough just being with Mummy and Daddy. I did notice that she did not ask for Gor-gor though.
It isn’t often that we both get to spend time with our baby alone, and indeed, the opportunities will get more infrequent, especially when she starts school next year. So I savoured the morning, I did. And made a promise to myself to schedule in regular solo dates with each child, perhaps when they grow a little older — and Meips stops howling when I leave the house without her!
Mummy and Daddy love you little Meips!
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