Single Parents and Four Hours

I had an all day class today.   My husband is out of town on a ski trip with some guy friends, so I’m relatively on my own this week.    That’s not completely true, as I have help left and right, but it’s one less parent, which translates to twice the children, and sometimes it can feel overwhelming.

Yesterday I had a sitter watch the children while I was in class.  I got home and panicked because the house was a mess, the children were still in their pajamas and the grandparents were arriving in fifteen minutes for dinner.    We got ready to go out, but that still didn’t fix the messy house and get all the other things done that needed to happen before the children and I could respectively crash for the night.

Today I had help from my parents while I was in a second day of class.   They got my daughter to take her to her Orientation and Mobility session, took her back to school, got both children and took them to play therapy and then got dinner and met me at home when I got back from class.  

They stayed for a while and then headed out after a busy afternoon of children chauffeuring.    It was at the point when I arrived home though, at 5:10, with dinner awaiting me on the counter from my parents, that I started four hours of non-stop cleaning, putting up, bathing, changing, discussing, putting to bed, lunch making, email catchup for school and family, garbage, recycling, mail, bed remaking and, hell, I don’t even remember what else, but it was a solid four hours before I got down here to sit and write this blog post.

I don’t know how single parents do it.  They have my utmost respect.

The Big Boy Update:  My daughter is not what you would call a typical princess.   She doesn’t quite get into the princess image portrayed on our society these days.   Sometimes we’ll have people (strangers) talk to her who are trying to be friendly.   They’ll say something like, “Are you a princess?  Is pink for princesses?  I bet you love pink!”  My daughter is never quite sure how to respond when these conversations happen.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I lost my temper at my daughter today because she didn’t like something I said or did and maid an angry squeal/grunting sound at me.   I told her I was done responding to that sound and if she wanted me to help her in any way going forward, she could use her words.   Tonight, she remembered when she got mad and talked to me instead.