"Where is Mommy?" he asked. My breath caught in my throat and my mind raced for something to tell him, but all I could manage was "I don't know, baby". He went on to babble half coherently, as 2 year-olds often do, about watching Elmo "Delmo" on her telephone. That's what they did when she last visited in early July; they watched Elmo video clips on her cell phone when she and her mother came for one of her rare visits. He never talks about her anymore and I was surprised he mentioned her and even more surprised that he remembered the activity they had engaged in. It seems the only time I can count on her visiting is when her mother visits from out of state once or twice a year and makes her rounds to see all the children and grandchildren.
When she's here she's not really here. She doesn't sit on the floor and build block towers, she doesn't read him any of his dozens of books, she doesn't chase him around being silly. She just sits and watches him and talks to him in between answering text messages and looking up YouTube videos of "Delmo", the Fresh Beat Band or Yo Gabba Gabba. There are no tickle monsters, no games of chase, no cuddles or crayon coloring sessions. But, he remembers those video's of "Delmo" and he remembers Mommy, I just wish she remembered him (at least more often than every second or third month).
I have faced the first difficult inquiry posed by this curly-haired 2 year-old and I failed miserably at my answer because I was so unprepared for his innocent question. "Where is Mommy?"...I don't know, baby. I don't know how anybody who knows and loves you could possibly stay away so long. I don't know how to enfold your sweet little heart in bubble wrap to protect it from the sadness sure to lurk there one day. I don't know how to make them love you more. I don't know, baby...
When she's here she's not really here. She doesn't sit on the floor and build block towers, she doesn't read him any of his dozens of books, she doesn't chase him around being silly. She just sits and watches him and talks to him in between answering text messages and looking up YouTube videos of "Delmo", the Fresh Beat Band or Yo Gabba Gabba. There are no tickle monsters, no games of chase, no cuddles or crayon coloring sessions. But, he remembers those video's of "Delmo" and he remembers Mommy, I just wish she remembered him (at least more often than every second or third month).
I have faced the first difficult inquiry posed by this curly-haired 2 year-old and I failed miserably at my answer because I was so unprepared for his innocent question. "Where is Mommy?"...I don't know, baby. I don't know how anybody who knows and loves you could possibly stay away so long. I don't know how to enfold your sweet little heart in bubble wrap to protect it from the sadness sure to lurk there one day. I don't know how to make them love you more. I don't know, baby...