Yesterday brought a momentous occasion in the assimilation of Leah May into our family. It was Rene's first day of school, which meant that Kathy returned to work for the first time since beginning her maternity leave in June. This, in turn, meant that I would be taking Leah May to her school ... the first time she and I have ever been alone together.
It went reasonably well. She clearly would have preferred that Kathy be the one to take her to school, but she offered no complaint, docilely held my hand halfway on the short walk to school (first time she ever held my hand), and gave me a perfunctory hug at the school door. A good beginning, all in all.
Today, however, was another story.
As with yesterday, I woke her up from an incredibly sound sleep just a few minutes prior to Kathy's and Rene's departure. She's always a little grumpy in the morning (so is Daddy), but today she was worse than usual. The tears started the moment her eyes opened and she heard Kathy's hair dryer. Moments later, she was clinging to Kathy. This continued as they went downstairs, and the tears began flowing in torrents. Kathy consoled her for as long as she could, but then had to leave in order to get Rene to school on time. Her last words to me: "Good luck."
Panic time for Daddy.
Fortunately, even without my asking, Leah May immediately came to me, put her arms around my neck and sobbed into my shoulder. At least I wasn't being rejected. For the next ten minutes, she cried heavily while I gently rubbed her back, rocked a bit and whispered soothing words. Finally the waterworks dried up, but she clearly wasn't a happy girl. To this point of the morning, she hadn't uttered a single word. I thought it would be a bad idea for this silence to continue as she ate breakfast. But what could I do to take her mind off her troubles?
Sing.
Sing? Yep. Even though the Vatican has long discussed officially banning me from ever singing in church, I decided the best thing to do this morning was sing. I pulled every song from my repertoire of longtime American favorites and the best of the '30s, '40s and '50s: Yankee Doodle Dandy, Swinging on a Star, Elmer's Tune, Mockingbird Hill, America the Beautiful, Deep in the Heart of Texas, Anchor's Aweigh, and so on. In the shower I began favorite hymns: Immaculate Mary; Holy God, We Praise Thy Name; The Church's One Foundation; and more. All off key, all very loud.
Did it work? I think so. By the time I got out of the shower, Leah May was once again a reasonably happy girl, smiling and talking a little bit. (Anything to make me shut up, I'm sure.)
Whew.
The rest of the morning, what little remained, went well. She held my hand the entire way to school, gave me a big hug at the door and said, "Bye-bye!" As we walked away from each other, she turned around and happily called, "See you later!"
But I noticed she never asked for an encore. Oh, well. I'll settle for a tear-free morning tomorrow. Here's hoping!
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