Cole went with Spencer today up to Akron so that he could have a special visit with Gram and Papa. That left just me and Jack. It was a weird feeling to be down to one kid. It was a little overwhelming for me. I was surprised that I got so anxious watching Cole leave. For most of the day Jack just repeated "Coley" over and over again. He was so sad to not have Cole there. It broke my heart. After his nap I decided we were going to go have some one-on-one time.
I took Jack to walmart and got a really "healthy" picnic dinner and then we drove to one of our favorite parks. I was amazed that he sat down and ate anything with the park tempting him, but he did eat a little, guzzled his strawberry milk (hence the above picture), and then we were off. We went on the swings, went down the slide, and then went on a run. The run was the cutest part. He would take off and I would run right by him. I would ask him if it was a race and he would say "no". I would ask him if he was winning and he would say, "no". I would then ask him if we were just running and he would say, "yeah".
Then we ran closer to the woods and we could hear, and then see, some squirrels. He got so excited, and then decided that was what were going to do the rest of the time. He would run to different wooded areas then put his finger to his mouth and say "shh". We would stand still and listen and when we didn't hear anything he would say "no" and then run to a different spot to repeat the process all over again.
It was such a good afternoon. I think I take him for granted. With Cole it was just Cole so there was only one-on-one time. There are still a lot of times that Cole gets that individual time with us. But I am realizing that Jack may not get that same time. The good news is he doesn't expect it, but I hope I learn from today and start giving it to him anyway.