Long weekends have never felt shorter...

Everyone cribs about long weekends being too short. Before you know it, you end up heading into another dreary week at work. Until a few months ago, I felt the same way - however, the past two "long" weekends haven't lived up to their name even by those standards... Despite all efforts to lengthen the duration of the weekend by flying in early, flying out by the last possible flight and spending all my time at home for a full three and a half days, it still feels like I haven't spent enough time with my son.
It was 5.30pm When I rang the doorbell on Friday evening. R wasn't expecting me (as usual, I'd made her believe that I wouldn't be able to make it until saturday morning) and she was depressed all day coz of that - but seeing me walk in the door - she was thrilled. So was I... Thrilled that my weekend with my wife and son had officially kicked off. A had just been bathed, and was being groomed by his mother as I approached. It took him 10 minutes to warm up to me. It wasn't coz he didn't know me - it was quite obvious that he recognized me... but he hadn't seen me in two weeks and was suddenly very shy. He refused to give me a second glance, fixing his gaze on his "Amma" no matter where you moved him... finally, about 10 minutes later, he gave into all the coaxing, and everything was normal in the world again. He smiled, laughed, giggled and kicked the air in excitement as I played with him for a bit. This was pretty much how the weekend was spent. When he slept R and I would either talk or play our silly word games on facebook and if I was bored doing that, i'd pretend to try and wake him up (this would get R all worked up, coz she would have just rocked him to sleep). R kept reminding me she couldn't take care of two kids at the same time and that I would have to grow up and I would quote my erstwhile friend, S, here.... "Growing old is mandatory - Growing up is optional".
A made my day that night... he normally turns towards R, cuddles up to her and then goes to sleep... that night, he turned towards me, cuddled up and we both slept that way until his feed time. After his feed, he turned the other way and slept with his "Amma" till the morning. He already has a sense of fairness. He wanted both of us to feel special.
Saturday was a quiet day- lazed around with A as per his schedule- A's "A-M" had arrived the previous night. We went out to dinner on saturday. "A-M" was treating us all. As usual A was a well behaved kid all through the evening. As long as he had his bottle of milk, he didn't care what was on the menu. He spent a lot of time looking around at the lights, the paintings, people and when he had enough of looking around, he quietly went to sleep in his car seat.
Sunday was again another lazy A-centered day. He woke up to be fed, played for a bit, then took a short nap and it was time to feed again. What a wonderful life - he gets to do that all day for the next couple of years. I hope he's enjoying it as much as he can - once he gets to the point of running the rat race in about 2 years, it will be a while before he can look forward to his retirement.
That night as I lay down with him, he cuddled up to me... but the moment R got into bed, he rolled over and went to her - R was thrilled - even though she didn't show it the previous night, she did feel bad that he'd ditched her the moment i'd arrived on the scene :-). I guess he senses these things and makes sure no one feels left out - smart kid eh?
Monday came by and it was no different from the previous lazy days. R kept saying the weekend's almost over, and I kept wondering if I should just take an extra day off coz i wasn't ready to leave my wife and son and head back yet... the only saving grace was that I was flying back on the early flight on tuesday morning so that I could get to work on time. This would mean i would get to cuddle up and sleep with A one more night... the day was quite uneventful, except for A's antics when he was awake, and the delicious cake that R baked, and some wonderful crumb fish for lunch, in hindsight, I should have brought the two pieces of cake that were left over to bangalore :-( (R.... *hint* *hint*).
A slept snuggled up to me all night- as if he knew I'd be gone when he woke up in the morning. As I kissed him goodbye while he slept, I wondered if he'd miss me as much as I would miss him. I guess he would... he's just not able to express it yet - plus being a boy, he probably won't express these feelings even after he grows up :-). Men have this problem with expressing themselves. They do different things to show they care, but will never be straightforward about it.And I understand that... After all - I'm that way too. Someday he'll read this blog and wonder if this is really how his dad feels... and i'm fine with the way this post has turned out, as he's still a baby - I'll probably change the tone of these posts, as he grows into a young lad. :-)
Evidently, three days were totally insufficient, though some might wonder why I'm complaining. It comes with the territory and I can't wait for them to join me, which will be pretty soon! As I spend the rest of the day thinking about R & A and this past weekend, I console myself saying that I'll get to go visit again in two weeks... and I'm already looking forward to that.