1m2aSandbox

Wednesday, as I’ve mentioned before, is officially Mommy Day: I teach Monday and Tuesdays after school through bedtime, so Wednesday is the first chance the girls get to come home from school and hang with Mommy for the rest of the day. We keep the schedule clear – no play dates, no appointments – so we can really relax and hang out together all afternoon.

A couple weeks ago Cora was having a hard time getting back into the school groove post-Christmas-break, and I knew she was desperately looking forward to Wednesday. How do I know? Because she told me so on Monday morning. While running errands that Monday, I came across a yummy cashmere sweater on clearance at the outlet mall, and bought it using a gift card Cora had given me for Christmas. (This is getting somewhere, I promise).

That afternoon Cora walked home with me, glum. She was already bemoaning the fact that I’d be heading off to teach when we got to the house, and how she just didn’t get enough Mommy Time on Mondays and couldn’t WAIT until Wednesday. It was just TOO HARD!

So when we got home, I ran and got the sweater I’d just bought. “Let me show you something,” I said. I pulled out the simple cream sweater I’d bought, and she rubbed it to her face. “Do you know who got me this sweater?” I asked. She shook her head ‘no’.

“You did! I got it with the gift card you gave me!” I said, and her face lit up.

“This is a snuggly sweater, isn’t it? So I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to set it aside, and I’m not going to wear it until Wednesday. And on the morning I come in and wake you up and I’m wearing this Snuggle Sweater, you’ll know it’s Mommy Day all day long!” And Cora broke into a big anticipatory grin.

This totally worked, by the way, and she can’t resist snuggling me when I wear it.

So Sunday this week was an official Pajama Day in our house, and I wore the sweater with my pj bottoms. Cora didn’t comment on it all day, but then at night as I was loading the dishwasher she said, “You know, Mommy, you better do laundry tomorrow or Tuesday.”

I looked at her. “Do you need something specific to be cleaned?”

Cora shook her head. “Nope, but you do. You’re wearing your Snuggle Sweater, and you need to clean it tomorrow or Tuesday so it’ll be ready for Mommy Day on Wednesday.” And she skipped off.

Better get that thing ready for Wednesday. It’s the Snuggle Sweater, you know.