Holding Hands

Everyone knows that West is a mama's boy. While it's annoying at times, I sure love the fact that he loves me so much. A couple weeks ago, we had a little experience that melted my heart and I wanted to share it...

It had been a long day for West. We had a doctor's appointment early in the morning. He still wasn't awake when it was time to leave, so I had to wake him up (I HATE doing that!). Immediately following the doctor's appointment we drove to Orem to spend a day at the park with all West's cousins and grandma. By time we left grandma's house, close to 3pm, West was EXHAUSTED!!! I figured he'd immediately fall asleep in the car. Instead he just screamed! He'd gotten into this habit of holding my hand while he was in his car seat. I love holding his little hand, but when I'm driving it's pretty dangerous. While he was screaming, he had his hand up, so I knew that's what he wanted. But since I couldn't do it, I thought he would just have to scream it out till he fell asleep. About five minutes into the drive his screaming had gotten a lot more intense. I got worried that the car seat latch was really hot and burning his leg, so I reached my hand back to feel it out. As soon as my hand reached back there, he grabbed it, stopped screaming, turned his head to the side and closed his eyes.  I gently pryed my finger from his hand and he opened his eyes and started screaming again. I immediately reached my hand back, he grabbed my finger and fell asleep. About a minute after he started holding my hand I could feel his grasp slowly loosen. I pulled my hand away; he was fast asleep.

All my baby wanted was for me to hold his hand, that's all it took to calm him down and allow him to fall asleep. I know holding my hand isn't going to fix all his problems for long, but for now, I'll enjoy how much power holding my hand has!