And then there was one.
For some strange reason Patti's parents offered to take Emily (4) and Ethan (2) for a few days. Not sure if they were drunk when they called, but we quickly jumped on the opportunity. Patti drove the kids down to the ferry in New London on Thursday and Patti's mother and Patti's brother took the ferry from Orient Point to get them. We tried to get them to take Emerson (9 months) but they were able to out run Patti.
So Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday and then Sunday morning we will be living as if we only have one child. The funny thing is when we first had Emily, we couldn't believe how difficult it was to do things with a child. If we wanted to run errands, go shopping, do stuff around the house, it was a pain. But now we can handle one while standing on our heads. It's a piece of cake. It's amazing how much freedom we have with just the one. We are going to go shopping, out to dinner, might see a movie, you name it, we are like two 15 year olds whose parents left them alone for the weekend. It's a three day party.
So right now, around 5:45 PM on a Friday, we would normally be in the dinner food fight, talking about the day, getting them to finish with threats of NO TV, followed by Waterworld bathtime then staggering bed times so Ethan doesn't beat up on Emily too much. Ethan will probably end up following asleep after destroying his room while Emily falls asleep in our room. The whole time Emerson will get as much attention as possible. Then around 8 Patti and I will have some wine or a beer, zombie like make and eat dinner, than crawl up the stairs around 10PM and fall asleep only to be waken a few times in the night be one, two or three of our little angels.
But not tonight baby. Right now Patti is doing some crazy aerobics video, Emerson is taking a quick nap, I am typing this stupid note, and we are going to head out, with the baby, to an Indian restaurant. The baby will be great during dinner and probably fall asleep. Tomorrow morning we'll watch the news in bed instead of freakin Dragon Tales and have a slow, leisurely breakfast while reading the paper instead of crunching Cheerios on the kitchen floor while ducking thrown sippy cups of juice.
Meanwhile, down in NY, Emily and Ethan are having a ball with Patti's brother Drew and her parents. Ethan, the only one we were worried about, isn't missing us at all oh that wonderful little kid. The old monster loves being with any of her grandparents and will probably forget what to call us by the time she returns.
This type of thing can have a wonderful effect on a marriage that consists of one parent with a demanding job, another parent with the tremendous responsibility of being a stay-at-home mother, and three kids who act like three kids who are all under the age of 5. Patti and I are almost giddy from the quiet house that stays picked up for more than 20 minutes and we kind of look like Martini from One Flew Over The Cookoos nest with his perpectual smile.
I love my kids and miss them terribly. Now excuse me while I have a martini and read the paper from cover to cover without guilt or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory playing in the background.