Now What do I Do

Bill left for Beijing at 5am this morning, and I've been dreading having to take care of Kai by myself since we found out about this business trip last week. My mom came over and made some food. Before she left for her dentist appointment, she asked if I'd like her to come back in the evening and I said I'd like to see how things go tonight. She had done enough for me already. Plus, my mom's got a bad knee, and I just don't want her to have to travel between two places after dark.

Kai was in his usual cranky mood when he woke up from his afternoon nap at 4. He had to poop and was having trouble pushing it out. I held him upright in my arms and sang to him. I sat on the couch and set him on my belly facing forward. Then I moved his legs up and down while singing the silly poop-poop song I made up. He tooted a couple of times, but he was getting quite upset.

I let him nurse for a bit. Sometimes he poops when he's on the boob. Nope! It didn't work this time. He was getting increasingly agitated and started drawing his legs in and kicking them out, all the while keeping my nipple in his mouth by gumming down really hard (ouch). To keep him from chewing (okay, gumming, if you must be so technical) and stretching my nipple as if it was a piece of juicy fruit, I popped him off the boob and put him in his little chair. Even with his toys all lined up in front of his eyes, Kai was not to be deceived. He saw right through his mom's intention to distract him and he was not gonna have any of it. The corners of his mouth went down, his eyebrows came together, and his eyes started welling up. The sobbing began, and I knew I had to do something to stop the heart-wrenching "I'm-in-pain-and-you're-NOT-helping-Mommy" cries from coming out. QUICK! I touched the only switch on that chair.

The chair was set to vibrate.

The frown immediately turned into sheer stun, and the little one completely forgot what he was upset about. He started talking to his toys, so I took the opportunity to eat. 20 minutes later, I was texting Bill about how wonderful Kai had been and I heard this soft little "Agoo....". I turned to look at him and found him fast asleep in the vibrating chair (Note to self: the vibrating function puts Kai to sleep)!!

Suddenly I have all this free time and I don't know what to do. Well... at least I finished this post.