Jacob's Special Day

Early last week, Mark declared that Saturday would be Jacob's "Special Day". He had gone through a difficult week of missing his Daddy and Daddy missing him too... Saturday, Mark would be home all day and so that would be Jacob's "Special Day."

We started out the morning slow. Waking up late (a usual at our house), a quick breakfast, a few errands and then off to Fond du Lac we would go. Jacob decided he wanted to spend the day shopping with Daddy for a special prize for trying really hard to work through his stutterring last week.

Much to Jacob's disappointment, Mommy and Kyle had to come along too... he got over that pretty fast though and decided it would be "O.k." if we had to go.

We really didn't do anything out of the ordinary. We went to Target and Jacob found a special toy that he had wanted for his prize and walked around the store for awhile. The two of them (Mark and Jacob) were so cute to watch though - playing the PS2 "trial" games together and checking out all the toys... I was starting to think I had one more child with me that day.

After Target it was off to the mall just to walk around and "window" shop. We decided to check out the book store to see if they had Jacob's favorite book "Bear Snores On". We own this book, but it's a small paperback that we got from the Cheerios box last year and are always losing it in the house and I was hoping to find the hardcover copy for him. Jacob helped me search all the shelves, carefully checking out the stories. We found one about kisses from Mommy - Jacob said "Aw, that sounds nice, you think mama?" I did think. But we kept searching for Bear. Unfortunately, we couldn't find that book anywhere. Jacob was very disappointed. Just then, Daddy walked around the corner and joined the search. He managed to find a different book, "Bear Wants More" - the sequel to "Bear Snores On". Jacob's little face lit up - he was so excited.

"Thank you Daddy, thank you, thank you!"

Off to the cash register to pay for it. The cashier put it in a bag and Jacob carried it around for the rest of our trip.

We stopped at the OCB for dinner that night. This is Mark's favorite type of restaurant - not only do you get good food, but then there is dessert. He got Jacob all exicted about making his own sundae for desert. That little boy ate the best dinner ever - because without it, there would be no desert.

As I fed Kyle his last few bites of babyfood, I looked over and Mark had just finished his last plate of dinner. When he was finished, he opened his napkin and laid it over the top of his plate. Two seconds later, there was little Jacob, opening his napkin and carefully laying it over the top of his plate. Mark then took a different napkin and wiped his mouth, patted his lips and set the napkin on the table. Two seconds later, there was Jacob again, with another napkin - wiping his mouth and patting his lips - copying everything Mark did. It was really sweet.

"Desert time Daddy!" he said suddenly, breaking the moment both Mark and I were enjoying watching him copying his Dad.

Off to the desert bar they went. Jacob came back to the table with some chocolate cake. Mark with ice cream and cake.

"You share Daddy?" Jacob asked keeping his eye on Mark's food.

"You bet buddy."

The two of them sat and ate while I changed Kyle. When we were finished, we decided to go to the park by the lake for a visit.

Mark and Jacob climbed up to the top of the lighthouse at the park. I stayed in the car with Kyle as he was napping. Jacob yelled for me from the top of the lighthouse and waved his arms so I could see him.

When they came down, he had the biggest smile on his face. He climbed in the car and we headed back home.

"Thank you Daddy," he said from the back seat on the way home.

"For what buddy?"

"For the bestest day."

"You're welcome," Mark said with a smile.

"Daddy, I just love you," Jacob said with a big yawn.

"I love you too buddy."

We got home and Jacob stayed up to play with his new game for a little while. Then he climbed up on the couch by Mark and laid next to him until they both fell asleep.

I looked over at the two of them, before nudging Mark up to help me get Jacob to bed, and I just smiled thinking of how much that little boy loves his Daddy and how he tries so hard to be just like him. It's so sweet to watch that from the outside looking in, I can only imagine how it feels for Mark, being inside moments like that.