Ladies Man

It wasn't really the baby weight that did me in, it was the pre-baby weight. One good thing about being deathly ill for an entire pregnancy means minimal weight gain. In fact, until the preeclampsia water weight hit I hadn't gained an ounce (even lost here and there.)

I had good intentions of getting in great shape following Hudson's birth, but there's also something bad (besides the obvious) about not being able to eat a thing for 9 months that doesnt make you sick. Once you can finally eat again, food actually tastes good, and it becomes very hard to deprive yourself. But, this shouldn't be a problem. Being a stay-at-home mom should leave plenty of time for hitting the gym and working off any bad eating slip ups. Well, one might think...

Due to some nice weather (hit and miss) and Dan being back in town, I have been able to avoid taking Hudson back to the gym with me. But, yesterday, Dan had a late meeting and it was raining so I decided to give Hud another chance.

He took his usual 2 hour morning nap and woke up happy as always. I changed his diaper and fed him a yummy lunch, got his backpack and we headed out. He seemed suspicious when we arrived at the gym, but no tears. He watched carefully and took it all in. We entered the children's gym and I worked to get him checked in reminding them that we had some issues last time. Hudson struggled to get down and ran off to play with 2 older girls, about the ages of his girl cousins. He didn't look back.

I went ahead and took a pager, but was assured that he would be alright.

15 minutes in the cardio room passed as I nervously watched my pager (I kept one ear out of the headphones this time having learned my lesson). I'll just peek in at him, I thought.

I went to the door and the same attendant that had checked us in greeted me, "he's quiet now," he said. Uh oh.

The director walked towards me. "Don't worry," she said reassuringly, "he is working through it.

He was back in the play area. Hudson could not see me, nor I him. That was probably a good thing. Half of me...ok, maybe 99% of me, wanted to grab my sweet baby and run away promising him I would never leave him again, but that 1% was strong enough to provide me with visions of a grown up mamas boy chained to my leg. We both had to push through. And so, I went back to finish my workout.

I kept watching my pager but it remained silent. I pushed through another 20 minutes then decided to check him again. From the hallway I could see and hear that it wasn't going well. I could hear a sharp shrill scream I had never heard before accompanied by a red, sweating, screaming, snotty, mess of a Hudson. The cute boy I had dropped off in his jeans, hoodie and spiky hair had been stripped down to a onesie hanging on by one snap, his hair stuck to his head with tears and sweat. His screamed "mama" and lept into my arms, sniffling and sobbing.

I apologized to the staff. The director told me to just keep trying and little by little he would get adapt to being away from me. His crying had stopped and I got him dressed to leave all the while feeling the sympathetic looks of the other moms. As though he was embarrassed or angry, he wouldn't look at me. But, he happily ran down the hallway and to the exit of the gym, saying hi to those we passed and waving. When we got to the door he turned as to run back to the kids gym. Um yeah, like he wanted to go back?! We went home to play for a while before nap time, but he still held a grudge.

After his nap, he awoke then same happy Hudson from the morning. We played and giggled and had a great day.

Since he woke up this morning I've been going back and forth whether we should try it again.
He was having a great day and so I decided to give it another shot. He woke up from his nap, had lunch and we packed up "cookie monster" (his fuzzy blue blanket) and a pie pie (pacifier) and headed out.

Once again we arrived at the gym and he was all eyes, taking it in. We got to the kids facility and there waiting for us were 3 young, cute girls, gushing about adorable Hudson. He flashed them his squinty dimply smile and reached out for them. I explained the trouble we have had and explained he could have his pacifier and or his blanket if he became upset. As I checked him in he giggled and flirted with the girls. They were giving him stamps and showing him some balloons. I smiled, thinking to myself about the Hudzilla monster that would soon replace this sweet innocent cutie. Hudson didn't give his old mama another glance as I smiled, told him to have fun, and left.

15 minutes in, I watched the pager. Silent. 5 more minutes passed. I couldn't help it. I had to check on him. I walked to the door and was greeted by one of the girls. "He's doing great!" she reported. I could head his sweet "hi" repeating over and over again, each one followed by giggles of the girls and "awws."

Well, at least he sounded OK. "Enjoy your time and I will page you if he gets upset," she promised.

So I went went back to workout. I lost track of time, but the next thing I knew another 45 minutes had passed. "Uh oh! this is not good," I thought as I dashed to get him and relieve the poor staff.

But, when I arrived I was greeted by another happy attendant, glowing that he had a wonderful day and hadn't shed one tear. I looked up to see one of the girls bringing him to me, a huge smile and a ball in his hand. I reached out for him, and he hugged me, but then reached back for her with a squinty smile.

Wow. Problem solved, or at least for today.

I'd like to think that my smart mom thinking of having his pie pie and cookie monster with him made all the difference, but I'm not that naive. For the Hud, it's pretty clear that cute, young girls make all the difference.

So now what? I don't think it would be very polite of me to start requesting attractive child care providers, would it?

Oh the Hud...