Being Solo
My wife needed to urgently fly out of the country to help her sibling get back home, so I was trying to hold down the fort. It was something unexpected and unplanned, but it needed to get done. Our kids were sad because we all didn’t know how long it would take. I emphasized that we all needed to help each other while she was gone and off she went.
Early last week, my wife left in the afternoon and luckily she got to stop by the daycare to say goodbye to our 4 year old son C, who didn’t get a proper goodbye in the morning. He was really happy to wish her well on the trip and now I needed to figure out how to keep things together. The first order of business was to take care of my 1 year old son L. It wasn’t too bad with him during the day. We mostly spent time playing, on a walk, or taking a nap. At times, he would be voracious since he wasn’t able to breastfeed, so he ate tons and tons of food.
I had to do pickup early for C since I needed to pick up my 6 year old daughter E from kindergarten. L was just along for the ride and even though we were running late that first day, C suggested we park closer to the other path to the school since we were nearby and it was a great idea to save some time. We all sprinted to grab E just in time. I ended up taking everyone to the park to have a good afternoon. The kids played and all got in the swing, so I pushed all three kids for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only 20-30 minutes. They had so much fun on the swing and even L enjoyed it (this was his second time on the swing and the first time, he did not enjoy it at all…). The only thing that was worrisome was when I was adjusting the collar on our dog, L stood up near the top of some concrete steps and was wobbly. I was worried he was going to fall backwards and hit his head really hard, so I made sure to not startle him as I walked over and grabbed him. Crisis averted.
Since the kids had some play time outside, I was hoping they would be tired. We ate dinner at home, showered, and got ready for bed. Everyone was going to sleep in one room and it was hopefully going to work. Although E and C went to sleep, L did not sleep soundly at all. He kept waking up every 30 minutes and crying for Mommy. He naps well with me, but nighttime was when he got Mommy time and basically got breastfed all night. Maybe it was a combination of no feeding and no Mommy that kept him from sleeping soundly. Even though it was a rough night, we made it through.
The next day was a bit better. Got the kids to school and pickup wasn’t too bad either. We had to go to dance practice all together, but luckily E was right near the window and both C and L got to see her plenty. It helped because I was on the phone with the airline trying to figure out how to expedite my wife, her sibling, and her mother coming home. They were late getting to the airport and needed some assistance. Luckily the airline assisted them through the airport and they made their flight with only a bit of time to spare.
Since my wife was coming home, I figured we should celebrate a bit. We went to the store and bought sandwiches and food for a picnic. I took the kids to the park and we ended up eating outside. It was nice because E and C actually gobbled up their sandwiches and didn’t make a big deal even though their usual sandwich wasn’t available. They ran to the pickleball players and ended up helping them grab the loose pickleballs between points. It was like they were the ball girl and ball boy at the US Pickleball Open. The family that was playing was really sweet to them and I got a chance to feed L his dinner. Learning from the night before, I made sure to feed him a lot of the sandwich and plums we had. Even for someone who wasn’t breastfeeding, he ate a ridiculous amount of food by those standards. I had to cut the kid off!
Once we were done with the picnic, we took the dog around the block for a quick walk. The kids were exhausted and we got ready to sleep knowing that they could see Mommy in the morning once they woke up. They were too excited about that and it took a while for them to sleep (especially C who was restless), but eventually they fell asleep. Once L was asleep, I got to enjoy a bit of quiet time with the kids before finally falling asleep myself. Luckily I only got woken up a handful of time by L.
My wife was home early in the morning and everyone was so excited she was back (especially me). It was like my fatherhood final exam and I passed with flying colors (I think!). The kids were taken care of, they went to their activities, they had lots of fun, and most importantly, we didn’t argue or scream. We worked together as a team and I think the constant sign posting and reminders of the rules or activities we needed to do helped them set their expectations. They were such great helpers and I was so proud of them. Even though it was fun with the kids looking back, I’m fine with this not happening again for a while!
