Silence... what's this?

For two years I have never been away from my little man for longer than a night or two. The only exception was for a big event that I did for work last year in New York and that was 4 days, until yesterday. Yesterday, the wee man went on an adventure. He happily got into Opa (grandpa) and Oma's (grandma) truck and headed to the beautiful mountains of West (by God) Virginia. He will be gone for SEVEN whole nights.

As I sit here in the quiet of my kitchen, I am amazed at how quiet and serene it is. Truthfully, it's quite unnerving. I keep looking and listening for the stomping of little feet and the insistent "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" that usually follows. I woke up this morning not to "Mommy... up", but instead to the sound of my dear husband's light snoring and one of our cats howling for his breakfast. Other parents often told us that you learn to tune out the sounds of a child. I totally agree. But when you are faced with silence, it's weird, very weird!

I miss my little man. He's not a snuggler, so I love it when he lets me snuggle. I sat on the couch yesterday and vegged out all day. In the back of my mind I kept wondering when C was going to wake up from his nap. I then had to keep reminding myself that he wasn't here and I should relax. And I did relax!

I know he's having fun and will really enjoy hanging out with Oma and Opa. He's got a whole week of Camp Grandma/Grandpa ahead of him. It's good for him and it's good for us too. Thank you Oma and Opa!

And yes, I will sleep in, go to the movies, go to a concert, go to happy hour and generally socialize like I normally don't get to on week nights :).

The path to Victory!!!! .... sorta

Well ya know you're a parent when others bodily functions become paramount.

the wee man pooped on potty. He is not consistent. But damn it happened once. We have started down the path.

Here's hoping that it is a short and smooth path.

Parenting 101

So many of my friends without children or newly pregnant often ask how to prepare for having children. My honest answer is - you can't, just take it as it comes. I don't think you can truly be prepared for having a kid until you actually have one and experience the ups and downs. So as I was reading from one of my favorite kid/parent blogs, I came across this and I laughed out loud. It's training exercises for preparing for kids.

Here’s a few suggested training exercises:

1)Wake up at 3:26 am for 5 nights in a row to break down, clean and reassemble an M-16. Your baby will demand that level of alertness and precision at your deepest sleep moments. You don’t want to get sloppy changing a diaper.

2)The next 5 times your friends call you to go out, politely refuse. And spend the rest of the evening watching Bob the Builder.

3)Drop random foodstuffs and clean them up, while dressed in your best clothes.

4)Only dine in restaurants that have kid’s menus. Learn to love mac n cheese, or start being OK with discarding a $6 entree after only $0.22 worth of it has been consumed.

5)Scatter hard plastic toy parts across your floor, remove your shoes, turn out the lights and walk on them.

6)Sniff random things. Your ability to discern, and stomach to withstand, urinary/fecal matter, spoiled food and hazardous chemical substances will be pivotal later in life.

2 years into this parenting thing and I am still amazed by the things I have experienced as a parent. It's definitely worth it, but boy it's still sometimes a shock to the system. :)