8.25.2011

Sailing Solo, Part the Dos (or, "Mama Hits the Road")

This weekend, I'll be hitting the flipside of my previous Sailing Solo post.  This time, I won't be the single parent at home with le bebe.  Rather, jetting to bee-yoo-tiful San Diego for a girls' weekend with old college buddies. 

There's been a lot of inner strife over this, y'all.  As a fulltime working mama, I spend a max of 4 hours of waking face time with my kid each weekday (during which I'm also supposed to get us both dressed, bathed, and fed).  I don't mind that I have to work, and I like getting the adult interaction each day.  But I do relish a weekend of simple park hopping, games of chase, morning stroller runs to Starbucks, and picking flowers with my daughter.  I love spending time with Hubs and HD.  They're fun people, and I definitely feel that in the hustle and bustle of life, we have to slow down and remember to hang together, minus the TV.

But.  Like all mamas since time began, I have to stop and actually, literally, remind myself that it's ok to do something that's just for me.  Something that has absolutely nothing to do with Hubs or HD.  That ultimately, a mama who knows how to be an individual is a good thing for her kid.  You know, so I (a) teach her how to be a strong, independent woman and (b) don't freak out in a couple of years when the kid starts to desire a life of her own and I don't know what to do with myself.  Not to mention the fact that Hubs is HD's numero uno, and I know they'll have a blast together without any mama interventions.

So bring on the Coronitas, the sun, the adult feminine chit chat.  I'm ready.  I may even manage to keep it down to one phone call to the fam per day, and one teeny kid gift in my carry-on.  Hubs will be repaid by having Sunday evening to himself and his scotch. 

We interrupt this tirade to announce that my baby brother and brand new sister-in-law had the Funnest Wedding Ever last weekend.  And this terrible mother adores her in-laws for taking the baby so we could enjoy every last bit of it kid-free (besides, parents need nights off together to remember why they're married, right?).  *Muah* to both families!

8.17.2011

Sailing Solo (or, "The Weekend of the Single Parent")

Last weekend was my first full weekend as a single parent (Hubs was in the Vegas for his bro's bachelor party...don't worry, I dispense comeuppance in two weeks when I jet to San Diego for a bachelorette!).  Things I learned:

HD, helpfully "brushing" her own teeth (i.e. teething on the rubber finger grip thing) 
  • Group mentality ("takes a village to raise a child") does not necessarily apply to people who have kids that are grown.  HD and I went to a former co-workers' house for a BBQ.  After an hour, he looked at my plate and wanted to know why I wasn't eating.  He asked me this while I was running after HD, trying to thwart her attempts to nom on their lovely flowerbeds.  I just laughed in response (God bless his wife, who took over Toddler Watch for a good 40 minutes).
  • Yo Gabba Gabba is AMAZING.  It's also kind of the devil.  Great learning for tiny kids, cool music, definitely dance-inspiring (HD's moves consist of bobbing up and down and waving her hands).  We watched a grand total of 2 episodes broken into a few sessions throughout the weekend.  HD is now mildly obsessed, and there are non-stop requests for "gabby gabby."  We're attempting to keep it to 2 episodes a week.  [HD says "we'll see".]
  • Single parenting is the best diet ever.
  • If you get the laundry done, you sort of by proxy consider the rest of your house to be clean as well.  Clean undies = (practically) vacuumed floor.

    I may have forgotten a couple of parenting steps in my attempt to keep her happy all by my lonesome.

8.04.2011

Ye Piratical Nature of Me First Matey (or, "Ways My Daughter Is Actually Like a Pirate")

 I submit the following as evidence that HD is, in fact, my child:
  • Obsessed with mermaids (or, "mimis" as she calls them)
  • Loves shiny jewelry/baubles
  • Laughs when she inflicts pain (hair pulling, pinching, the occasional nibble or flailing kicks?  all hilarious when they land upon a parent!  needless to say, we're working on boundaries...)
  • Hits the bottle multiple times a day
  • Leaves a complete path of pillaged destruction in her wake (we're also working on the concept of putting things away)