I’m not sure how the time passed so quickly, but my favorite seester’s visit has come and gone.  And I want to cry.  It was so nice to have her here, to actually have family close by.  Even if it was just for a few days.

I told Hilary I wanted to be at daycare when she saw Robbie for the first time, to see him smile when he realized that she had actually come.  He’s been asking for her for weeks, and she was finally here.  Hilary was convinced that he wouldn’t remember her, but he did.  He knew exactly who she was and didn’t stop talking about his Hal-a-ree all weekend.

It was Hal-a-ree who got him up in the morning.  Who brought him Elmo pajamas.  Who let him color in her good notebook.  Who made funny faces in the mirror when he was supposed to be going asleep.  I actually had no idea what was going on; all I heard was hysterical laughter coming from the hallway.  I crept upstairs to find Hilary on all fours making faces into the full-length mirror we had behind our bedroom door.  And in the mirror, I saw Robbie making the same faces back at her.  This went on for maybe ten minutes, with Robbie finally getting the last word in before really heading to bed.  Showing that he got the joke, he burst out with, “Hahaha, Hal-a-ree!”

Today, as soon as I picked him up from daycare, Robbie looked at me and said, “I want Hal-a-ree, Mama.”  And you know what?  So did I.