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Our daycare takes kids when they are six weeks old. Claudine is at the end of the four weeks she is taking for maternity leave. Do the math and you'll discover why I put in only a half day at work today. At noon, I came home to go solo with the kids. And I get to stay home from work tomorrow. Whee. The rest of the week is covered thankfully.
There has always been a day like this with all three of our kids. I mean two before today. Plus today. You know what I mean. It is such a difference to be the only parent around kids. There is no one to hand off to. When Claudine went back to work after Jake was born, she was in her residency. So she would leave at 7:00 AM on a Friday morning. Then she'd come home around 12 noon on Saturday. She'd promply fall asleep for a few hours. We'd have dinner and then go to sleep. At 7:00 AM the next morning, she'd go back in to the hospital and would return at 4:30 PM on Monday afternoon. I learned to be a parent real quick after that. I gained a lot of confidence as a parent very early on. And I gained an immense respect for true single parents.
After Bobby was born, I thought I knew it all. But there was a new wrinkle. I couldn't give my undivided attention to the infant like I did before. I couldn't ignore Jake just because I was trying to settle Bobby down. And I had to plan things differently. Jake had a set bedtime and I had to get Bobby asleep before (or after, in some unusual cases). And if I thought that making dinner was difficult, it really adds to the challenge to have a squirming infant in your arms. I mean, just one slip and Bobby could have splashed into the pot and been dinner. Did I just type that?
Well, today, I had Annabel for a few hours and then got to pick up the boys from daycare. And I screwed up the bedtimes. I thought I had everything down right, but Annie woke back up while I was reading to Bobby. So I had to carry Annie back into Bobby's room to finish his books. Once I finally got them both to sleep, it was time to get Jake ready - half an hour late. I think that Jake is going to have to show a little more independence in getting to bed. But at the same time, I don't want to lose that time we spend reading books at night.
And tomorrow, Annie's all mine right from the start. So you can expect a huge entry from me tomorrow.
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