Dear Ellie,
Uncle Vaughn called me today while he was trying to put you into the car after picking you up from daycare. You were crying and yelling no. When you heard my voice, you quieted down a bit, but you were stilling crying, except now you were saying “Mommy, no.” I told you that it was okay, that everything was okay. I asked Uncle Vaughn to stop trying to put you into your car seat to just hold you, he did and you quieted down a little more. Then I asked you if you wanted me to sing you a song. “Oh, stop your crying it will be alright. Just take my hand, hold it tight…” I sang the song that I’ve sang to you since the day you were born. I used to sing that song to you as I walked the halls with you in the middle of the night when you were first born. Today, just as you did as an infant, you stopped crying and just listened. Halfway through the song Uncle Vaughn asked you if you were okay and ready to get into car. You responded, “Uh-huh,” and he calmly strapped you into your seat.
Before I left for deployment, we moved to Lebanon for a month so that you could get used to being there before I left. You started school the first Monday that we were there. You only went two days a week, just so that it wouldn’t be a shock once I left. The first day that I was gone, Uncle Vaughn called me in the morning on your way to school and you told me that you weren’t going to school. When I told you that you were, you whimpered a little bit. But that afternoon, the same as today, when Uncle Vaughn came to pick you up, you fought to stay out of the car to go back to his house. He said, that when he came to pick you up, you ran back into the room and started playing with the toys. You just didn’t want to leave. Maybe you were afraid to go back to the house and see that I wasn’t there. Maybe you simply wanted to keep playing. I guess I’ll never know.
All I know is that tonight, after I sang you your goodnight songs, you told me “Night, night Mommy.” You wouldn’t say that yesterday. I pray that this will all get easier for you, but we have to take it all one day at a time. 2 down 398 to go.
Loving and Missing You Dearly,
Mommy