1 Mother 2 Another

Cora’s on the mend after a rough
week with RSV, and she finally began sleeping through the night
again on Friday. (Thank you, my Lord.) She’s even been
napping again, which tells me she’s still not completely
well. And sometimes she’ll wake up from a nap before
she’s really ready to, and she’ll start crying from
fatigue and achiness.


That happened Saturday afternoon, so I went in and cuddled her and
she fell back into a light sleep. I lay there holding her, going
into that dreamy Mommy mode where all’s right with the world
because you’re holding your precious baby in your arms and
she’s happy. Cora eventually woke up but wasn’t ready
to move, so we lay there snuggled up while she had me sing a few
lullabys for her.

Cora asks me to sing a lullaby every
night, and has me sing quietly right up against her. It’s a
sweet time for me, and this particular afternoon we were face to
face on the bed, centimeters away from each other. Cora was staring
intently into my face, almost dreamily, as I finished the lullaby.
Then she put both hands on my cheeks and said softly, “Mommy
–


You’re on my pillow.”


And the sweet moment ended.


Cora’s got this heart-shaped Ariel pillow we picked up at a
consignment sale, and she’s more attached to it than anyone
could believe possible. She fluffs it importantly every night as
she settles into bed, and absolutely refuses to let anyone
else’s head rest on it. Poor Maddie’s gotten the hard
end of a verbal beating from Cora on more than one occasion when
she’s gone in to snuggle Cora and, in an effort to be close
to her, laid part of her head on Cora’s pillow.


I’d thought somehow that I was magically exempt – I am
the Great Mommy, after all – but apparently I am not. Every
time I put part of my head on that stupid thing as I try to snuggle
tight, she rebuffs me – sometimes kindly, and sometimes not.
Then I’ve got to politely remind her that SHE asked ME to
snuggle with her, and if SHE won’t let ME lie on the pillow
then she’s got to get off the pillow to get a good nestling
going on.


So far, Cora’s moved off the precious pillow long enough to
snuggle in with me, but I fear there will come a day when she will
choose that stupid thing over me and prefer to do the night-night
routine at a distance.


I just hope I don’t accidentally wash the pillow. In hot
water.