Weekend with Emily - running diary
Weekend with Emily
Patti is going away this weekend with some girlfriends to New York City. For the first time ever, I am left alone with Emily, our 20 month old daughter, for more than a day. In fact, I have never been alone with her for more than 12 hours. I?ve watched her all day, watched her in the evening where I fed her, bathed and put her to bed, and do normal stuff, but just never had her for three consecutive days without Patti. It?s not that I mind, it just never happened. So this weekend, from Friday at 9AM until Sunday after she goes to bed, I will have her. This is going to be my running log of how it?s going and how it went.
<u>10:10 AM Friday:</u> Patti left about 55 minutes ago. No problem so far. Dropped Emily off at a neighbor?s house about 10 minutes ago to take a work call. Will pick her up at 11. So far so good.
<u>10:24 AM Friday:</u> Still ok. Of course she is not here, but no calls from friend who is watching her until 11.
<u>12:20 Noon Fri:</u> She WILL NOT take a nap. I put her down, walk out of the room and here ?thump thump thump thump? and she comes booking out of the room. And I KNOW she is tired. But she just wants to play and run around like a banshee.
<u>1:35 PM Fri:</u> Gave up trying on the nap thing. Had lunch, tried the nap thing, gave up, and just decided to let her do her thing. She is watching a movie in our bedroom and I am hoping, nay, praying, she falls asleep. Otherwise its going to be a long afternoon. We?ll find something to do.
<u>2:30 PM Fri:</u> Just watched Barney for the past hour. I would put a dart in my head if I had to watch that show all day long. But it?s good for kids because 1) they sing slowly, 2) they say nice things like ?I love you?, ?thank you? and ?you won?t get beat up in public school if you are on this show? and 3) the main ?adult? character is made up and in a big colorful get-up so nothing strange like four grown men playing with kids (i.e. The Wiggles). Only 4 and a half more hours until it's her bedtime.
<u>7:30 PM Fri:</u> The little monster is finally asleep. And what the h**l does Patti do with her all day. I had a tea party with invisible water, scattered plastic animals all over the house, made an army of odd shaped people who all had to fit in a 2 foot tall home, and watched almost all of our Disney videos. If the weather was nice, I would have spent the day outside but since it is zero degrees, not joking, without the wind chill, I thought it wise to stay indoors. So we went from first floor to second floor to relieve the boredom. But we had a nice dinner, pain-free bath, and some down time that consisted of her taking cardboard wrapping paper rolls and banging them on my head while laughing right before she conked out. But she is down, it?s 7:40, and I have the night to find some serious drugs to get me through the weekend.
<u>7:50 AM Sat:</u> Kind of a rough night. Up a few times, the longest being from 2 to 4. The good thing is that when she is up, she sleeps late. She would usually be up by now but is still sleeping, giving me time to write this silly note.
<u>11:45 AM Sat:</u> The kids show Caillou has to be the very worst kids show on television ever. This wining, bratty complaining kid is the centerpiece of the stupid show. ?I don?t wanna eat?, ?I don?t wanna draw?, ?I want a chocolate bar?, ?I?m hungry?. That is basically all he says. And he does it in a nasally tone that makes the hair on my deck stand up. If I were one of the writers of that show, I would change the parents from being weak, cave-in wimps to stern, disciplinarians. I would definitely take it to the other extreme. The first thing they would say when Caillou complained would be ?You?re in MY world now, brat?.
As for Emily, things are fine. I braved the 1 degree temperature and took her with me to run errands. Nothing special. Coffee, library, supermarket. It was fine.
<u>7:00 PM Sat:</u> Not a bad afternoon. Again, no nap, but not too bad since she hung out in her room really quietly for an hour. I tried to put her down but I guess she just needed some down time. Other than that, the afternoon was just hanging out and playing. So far, our friend Diedre has called to offer help and see how I was doing, my friend Chuck called to see if I wanted to go to the mall with him and his girl and my friend Mark called to see if I wanted to come over with Emily to play with his boy while we watched football. Everyone knows I am alone this weekend and is offering help. Not sure what that says about my reputation as a care giver, but nice still the same. Now it?s off to dinner and football at the Dobrindt Tap and Grill.
<u>8:15 AM Sun:</u> Great night. Really great night. She slept from 7 last night until 8 this morning. She NEVER does that. Oh, glorious sleep, uninterrupted sleep, nights rest.
<u>12:30 AM Sun:</u> Just got back from a baby shower. Will not do that again. Nothing against baby showers, but they are not for me. I brought Emily and I think it was no kids allowed so that makes it even worse. But I was only there for one hour and Emily was kind of ok. Anyway, back to the baby shower. Not going to do it again.
<u>8:15PM Sun:</u> The weekend is over. Patti got back about 4 this afternoon and everything is fine. Actually, I had a good time. Once I figured out what to do for those long stretches of time in the morning and afternoon, since it was too cold to do anything outside, I was fine. Now it?s back to normal.