Monday, September 19, 2011

The rules go out the window

This past weekend I was solo parenting while DH was in Connecticut for a college friend's wedding. I had 48 hours to fill with Cameron. Normally that's not a problem but we are between kid activities, I'm a bit depressed post BigFinance layoffs and all I wanted to do was veg out around the house. My solution? Throw out all rules and get through the weekend.

Here are some snippets from our time together:


  • Lots and lots of television. I think we watched Tangled about 8 times and I even let her pull out her travel DVD player so I could watch football and HGTV yesterday. OK, you got me, it was more like watching Millionaire Matchmaker and occasionally checking in on the score.

  • Let her eat crap. I dug into the "only once a month" type of snacks and drinks and let Cameron go wild. She even had two juice boxes yesterday (the horror!).

  • Convinced a friend (begged really) to come over for a many-hour play date on Saturday. It resulted in every single toy being pulled out, played with for 5 seconds and discarded but at least Amanda and I got to catch up.

  • Put a pillow over my head. Cameron decided on Saturday that 6 AM was a good wake up time. I managed to hold her off until 6:30. On Sunday it was 5 AM when she started calling for me. I closed my door and put my pillow over my head. We had breakfast at a much more respectable 7 AM.

  • Bribery. I had to do a Target run for essentials. So naturally I stooped by the One Spot and picked up a few things for Cameron to keep her entertained.

  • Forgo bath time. Typically we bath Cameron every other day but somehow I missed Saturday's bath. I took her to McDonald's (or as Cameron calls it, "Old McDonald's) and by the time we got home all I wanted was to put her to bed and pour a glass of wine.

  • Didn't push potty training. Ironically this stance kind of backfired on me because she ended up going like 10 times over the course of the weekend which was good because we've had a regression lately with the training efforts.

  • Let the house become messy. I did pick up post play date (only because otherwise I couldn't have walked through the house) but otherwise I did the minimal amount of housework I could get away with.

We survived and Cameron was very happy to see her daddy on Sunday evening. He even did bath time and bedtime for me so I could relax. And now we are back to our normal routine. So, what do you do to cope when your partner in crime is away?

3 comments:

LauraC said...

Jon travels too much for me to throw the rules out the window.

But I ALWAYS go to Starbucks and Biscuitville to get the kids breakfast when Jon is gone. Like tomorrow morning!

Stephanie said...

My hubby is out of town all the time (long-distance trucking), so I really have to keep to the rules, BUT I do let the munchkin sleep with me on weekends. It means that he sleeps longer (and so do I).

Also, I confess that I still use a baby gate to corrall him in his room when i need more than fifteen minutes of peace and quiet. Though, it does break your heart when you say, "Mommy needs some alone time" and he replies, "Can I be alone wif you?"

Mommy, Esq. said...

My kids also call it "Old MacDonald's". Too funny. As for me, I do everything by the book to prove it can be done solo. Aren't I obnoxious?