I hope it’s a short-term thing, but Ishu’s back to waking up in the 5’s. 5:30, 5:59. They’re all the same. I had gotten so used to the 7:30am wake-ups that anything in the 5’s feels horrible.

A few days ago, when he was up at 5:30 and jumping all over my face, I begrudgingly got out of bed, got us ready, and then fell back onto the bed.

“I’ll give you 100 bucks if you can put him in the stroller,” I told Ankur, who was leaving the house at the same time as us.

He laughed, “Oh yeah? How’s that gonna work?”

“I’ll transfer it into your account,” I immediately answered. (We share the same account).

He did it anyway.

He got 100 bucks of his own money for strapping his wiggly, “ISHU CAN WALK” baby into the stroller.

I don’t know about y’all, but every small task like THAT that someone can take off my plate feels like an enormous gesture during these toddler years. The small things that seem so trivial. But if it’s one less thing I have to think about, it makes me feel THE MOST GRATITUDE EVER.

(I know Ankur is his parent and it’s not quite ‘taking it off my plate’ as it is pullin’ some of that ‘dad weight,’ but if you’ve got kids with someone who’s going through their medical journey, y’know that it ain’t 50/50 in this phase of life. And that’s OK! I knew what I was getting into. But when he is there and does the small – BIG! – things like that, it makes me so appreciative).

So I guess this is my reminder to you that anything – anything! – you can take off a mama’s plate is probably so appreciated. Even if you think the task might be oh-so small. It’s probably monumental to them.