melissa & i walked up to work today all excited to see our kids again (after a 3 day weekend) with flowers in tow for our boss (at the guarderia) because we missed her birthday on friday.
as we stood outside waiting to be let in I looked around and saw Gael's aunt with a woman i didn't recognize and now i am assuming it was his mom. I was at first happy because I think it's good for him to spend more time with his mom.
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Apparently Gael's mom abandoned him and his siblings and now his aunt takes care of them. His mom comes in and out of his life as she pleases.
Gael will always say he has two moms, but usually when talking about his aunt Mom he'll say Mama _______ (her first name), but when talking about his biological mother he'll say Mama.
And he calls me Mamita.
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Then I saw Gael once we got inside and delivered our flowers.
He had a huge black eye and a bloody nose.
I immediately asked what happened, as I do if any of my kids have any sort-of scratch-big or small. He said his mom hit him. This I was, to say the least, taken back by. Gael always has scratches and such from his brother who is close in age and I think that's a pretty normal brother relationship. But as I was talking to him about it, first I didn't know how to react, he started tearing up. Gael isn't a crier unless he's really hurt.
I just grabbed him in a long, loving hug and tried to make him feel as loved as possible.
The kids kept asking him throughout the day what happened and he was very quiet about it. VERY quiet. Very unlike Gael quiet.
Then Lucy asked Gael about it in front of the class and he started talking a little more about it.
I was cleaning tables and I just stopped and listened and I noticed Lucy looked at me to make sure I was listening.
He said his mom was mad at him. She asked if he was mad at him or just mad.
Then she explained to the class that they needed to be careful with their moms when they are mad or else they could be like Gael.
I seriously had tears in my eyes and thought I was going to cry.
I'm going to ask Lucy about it tomorrow.
Then to add to the irony today is a pretty big holiday in Mexico. It's Dia de la Candelaria. Essentially, there are tons of masses and people bring their baby Jesus statues to mass in their new outfits for the year (they change them every year).
So I'm walking the streets and I see all these people cradling and loving these fake babies and it made me sad and made me think of Gael-a real human being. And his mom hit him.
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