A Great First

Jim and Sera had another day together. Today was the last day of the first trimester. Students were released at 10am, including the daycare. At Jim's school, it's the end of a grading period. He finished his grades yesterday and took a personal day today to take care of Sera. At my school, it was the last day of finals. Final grades had to be compiled and submitted, and I had to prepare for a new batch of 100 students on Monday. It's the first day of school all over again.

Sera had a bit of rough night last night. Nothing major, just some congestion. She tossed and turned and kept waking up. Around 8:30, she woke up crying and calling for daddy. She was so tired, she wasn't even standing up. I had coated her up earlier with baby vaporub, but it wasn't enough. I went in and picked her up. She immediately stopped crying and could breathe easier. I sat with her in the recliner until we both were sound asleep. When I woke up, it was after 11pm. I popped her back in the crib and crawled into my own bed. When I left this morning, she and Jim were both still sleeping soundly.

I called home around 10:30 to see how she was doing. As usual, Sera was very interested in the phone. She loves to play with the phone, whether it's our home phone, Jim's cell, or one of her toy phones. She'll even pick up a rectangular block and pretend it's a phone. When she's playing, she'll babble away on the phone. Lately, she's been practicing saying hello with the phones. That is until someone answers back. Whenever we put her on the phone with a real person, she becomes mute and just looks at us with surprise that someone is talking to her through the phone. While we were talking, Jim held the phone to Sera's ear and let me talk to her for a few minutes. While I was talking she suddenly said, "Mama!" "Hi!" Then she started laughing. Jim came back on the line and talked about it being the first time she spoke, then went back to our conversation. Sera wanted the phone again, so he gave it back to her. Next thing I hear is Sera's voice saying, "See ya!"

When I finally made it home, they were both sitting on the front step waiting for me. They did the same on Wednesday. On Wednesday, my driving up confused Sera. She didn't recognize the car. She seemed mad at me when I got out and wouldn't come to me until we were back in the house. It was a different story today. As soon as I pulled in the driveway and she saw me through the window, she started smiling and laughing. After I stopped the car, Jim put her down and she ran to me. After we were inside, she wanted me to hold her and she kept stroking my arm and laughing. I went into the living room and sat on the couch with her while she snuggled in for a good while. She was silly and smiling and laughing. I think my girl missed me today and was happy to have me home. That's the best homecoming ever.