Daddy home?

While the big girls were at
camp, Naomi and I played
peekaboo behind a tree!

 "Daddy home?"
Spend any amount of time lately with Naomi, and you'll hear these words.
"Daddy home? Soon?"

What a cute little questioning voice, raising slightly at the end to indicate a question (she's not quite a grammarian yet, and must rely on tonal inflections). What a sweet sentiment! The 1-year-old misses her daddy.

It begins shortly after he walks out the door for work in the morning.

"Daddy home?" Naomi queries, looking at the rest of us through sparkling eyes to see if we laugh because she means it as a joke this time. She hasn't always meant it as a joke, though--and in fact, at first it was nothing short of a tragedy if the answer was "no." I tell her that she's silly, and that of course Daddy isn't home, he left for work! We have a good chuckle, and then continue with breakfast.

After breakfast the inevitable happens. Naomi gets a little bit hurt. She's crying, and through her tears wonders:

And why do they want Daddy home so
much? Look what he let them do!

"Daddy home?" It's not quite so cute and high-pitched this time--more of a sob, of course. The poor girl is hurting, physically or emotionally, or both, and apparently only a hug from Daddy can soothe the affliction. Naomi is not happy with the negative answer, but soon is demanding a consolation prize in her distressed state: "'lise hug! Nini hug!" and her sisters are happy to oblige. Naomi cheers up.

"Daddy home?" She asks again a little while later and looks around expectantly. We're in the middle of getting dressed, frustratingly not much closer to her beloved parent's already much-anticipated arrival than we were last time. When I remind her that he's not, she wonders if it'll be "Soon?" I let her down as easy as I can: "He'll be home at supper."

Kalina composed her own
music!

The toddler is blessedly distracted for a while by dropping off the bigs at their summer camps. While they learn circus skills (Elise) and craft with fabric (Kalina), Naomi and I are enjoying "Mommy camp," in which we take advantage of all the sweet little toddler play places that Kalina and Elise are mostly too old for. I get to revel in precious and innocent young toddlerdom, and Naomi gets some brand-new experiences because sadly, she has never gotten to attend baby storytime at the library even though she's now almost aged out of it. She is a pro at baby storytime, by the way, and was joining in the fingerplays and sharing toys like she's been doing it her whole life (but maybe she has?).

"Daddy home?" Naomi brings up the topic again as we're on our way to collect her big sisters. Fortunately, since we're not home either, I know she can't get too upset and she's simply making conversation in the car. "No, Sweetie," I remind her again. "Where's Daddy?" "Work!" she proclaims. "When will he be home?" She really does know the answer, now if only she had an actual concept of time: "Supper." But she goes on--after all, we're stuck in the car so we might as well chat. "Nini home?" "Kalina's at camp." "'lise home?" "Elise is at camp, too!" And now she gets silly: "Mommy home?" the girl says with a smile in her voice. "Silly Naomi! Mommy's in the car with you!" Sometimes she goes on asking about various family members, including Poky (especially Poky), or sometimes she loops back to Daddy again. But no amount of asking will bring him home. Fortunately, we soon arrive at camp, and we can bring the big girls home with us, and a certain level of order is restored in the sweet toddler's mind.

Elise found Ice Cream Sundae
at a garage sale for 25 cents.
I paid because I knew there
would have to be sharing, and
because we clearly couldn't
leave her behind--not with the
smile on Elise's face, anyway.

"Daddy home?" Groggily, just waking up from her nap, Naomi remembers her question before her head has left the tummy of Pink Puppy. It's often the first thing she says when she wakes up. If it's a Friday in the summer and Daddy isn't running errands, I might be able to triumphantly answer, "Yes, he is!" but that is not usually the case. But she's usually happy enough to cuddle with me a few minutes before we head downstairs for the afternoon's activity.

"Daddy home?" The poor girl is frustrated: her sister is playing with a toy she'd like to be playing with. "Daddy home" is more of a demand this time: "Either I want the blue and pink car to ride on, or I want Daddy!" But we must all learn to take turns, whether we're sharing a car with a sister or Daddy with his job. Naomi usually figures out that when she asks nicely for a turn ("Turn please?") and waits until the sister hops off, she can at least secure the car; Daddy takes a little more patience, but at least doesn't require a "please."

"Daddy home?" We're heading home from the library, and Naomi is just wondering. Maybe she can sense that the glorious time is getting close. "Sorry, Sweetie, not quite yet." "Aw. Soon?" "Yes, soon! At supper time!"

Naomi has company
watching for Daddy.

"Daddy home?" We've walked in the door, and Naomi is hopeful. "No, but soon!" Unfortunately, Naomi takes "soon" to mean "his car is pulling in the driveway as we speak!" She dashes off to the door. I open it so she can look through the screen door, and she's content to stand there a bit and watch other cars drive past, knowing that soon one will turn into the driveway, and it'll be the right car.

"Daddy home?" Naomi has been watching for a full five minutes, it's been too long without Daddy, and she's bored. She can't handle another "no" answer, but she has to. Naomi starts to fall to pieces. We put her back together, and she wanders off to read library books on the recliner ("The end! Yay!") or cook dinner for Pink Puppy, momentarily distracted.

Until the moment when we hear the front door open...

"Daddy home!!!" And then there's the pitter patter of at least one pair of little feet, and sometimes an entire stampede, as Daddy is welcomed home probably more enthusiastically than is always enjoyable, but he takes it all in stride.

Mother's Day!

All is well in the house. Daddy is home, as is the rest of the family. And while you'd expect Naomi to glue herself to him the rest of the evening, she doesn't, actually. Sometimes, she's even a mommy's girl.