I step quietly into the house, not consciously intending to spy on the boys or the new nanny, but knowing that they aren’t expecting me home quite so early. I hear laughter, and realize while expelling a sigh that I’ve been holding my breath with dread. It’s the end of my long first day back at work after my maternity leave, and I’m not sure what to expect.<\/p>\n
I don’t want to make a big deal of rushing into the house and freaking Lucas out any more than I have to, so I slip off my coat and walk with affected nonchalance into the living room, tossing affectionate greetings to Tristan and Simon as I beeline toward the baby. He’s been playing happily on the floor with his toys, and my anxiety lessens considerably at seeing him so content. <\/p>\n
I expect some form of reaction; I’ve never been apart from him for this many waking hours, and on the occasions when I have left him in the child-minding area at the gym, he has cried harder upon my return than he did in my absence. I brace myself and pause to let him absorb my presence before I sweep him into my arms. He beams in delight when he realizes I have returned, and when I pick him up he melds his body into mine. He engulfs me in his baby version of a bear hug, his arms and legs clinging so tightly that I’m sure if I let go he would hang suspended from my side like a baby chimpanzee clings to its mother as she swings from branch to branch. He lays his head on my shoulder, tucking it under my chin as if he’ll never move away again, and I can feel his relief at my return radiating from him. His perfect stillness as he wraps his body into mine takes my breath away, and I am surprised to feel the rush of tears welling in my throat. <\/p>\n
He has never hugged me like this before, and I can do nothing but stand and sway with him in my arms, caught in this breathless moment of love and relief. He’s okay. I’m okay. We’ll all be fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I step quietly into the house, not consciously intending to spy on the boys or the new nanny, but knowing that they aren’t expecting me home quite so early. I hear laughter, and realize while expelling a sigh that I’ve been holding my breath with dread. It’s the end of my long first day back … Continue reading “Mother and child reunion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-working-and-mothering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1586"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1588,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions\/1588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}