Carry You Days

When I go wake up (get) Lulo in the morning, I walk in his room and he usually enthusiastically calls out the name of his chosen animal of the day - MONKEY, PENGUIN, LION, ROOOOOOOAAAAR. I try not to take special offense when he screams "ELEPHANT" + Trumpet Noise. I grab his clothes for the day, get him out of his crib, shower him with kisses and he says, "BOWNSTAIRS". Translation: Downstairs.

We walk to the stairs together and some days, he walks down counting out the stairs. Some days, he says "Carry you, carry you." This comes from the days when he used to stand at the top of the stairs look down and I would say, "do you want Mama to carry you?" and his arms would shoot up. And, he would rest his warm little head on my shoulder and we would go bownstairs.

Today, was a "carry you" day. I kind of looked at him and thought, "sure, you want to carry me down the stairs because I can't carry you." And yet, I garnered that one last ounce of strength, squatted without my knees giving out, and lifted him. And when I did, he took his little hands and put them on biceps and gave them a little rub. Out of blue. Isn't it funny how when you have nothing left, you find it for your kids. That little bit of bicep love carried me down those stairs. The "carry you" days are so special to me. Really, how long will he let me carry him?

Today, at EB, we did a lot of arm work with the running of laps around a parking lot interspersed in between arm work. And when I say arm work, I mean 5 lb weights in each arm, and a lot of reps, in a lot of new positions, and I could not hold the steering wheel on the way home. My arms shook.

Later on today, J. and I are going to go check out the preschool down the street so that we can potentially enroll Lulo a couple days a week for a few hours. I think Diego is tired of Lulo. He wants to spend more time rescuing animals with his prima, Dora and his hermana, Alicia. Maybe J will carry me through the parking lot and to the preschool. Shuffling and limping from the car to the preschool may not leave a good impression. And, literally, I may need the carrying to give me the courage to let my Lulo go.