Down to One Fish

     It's funny, when you have two children, four, or eight, when one goes to stay with Grandma and Grandpa (or anyone really), it feels like you've suddenly been given a vacation.  You are down one child, time to par-tay!  It doesn't seem like anything should change because you still have the remaining, or in my case the one, to deal with, but it certainly does change your days.  One less kiddy to strap into their car seat, one less kiddy to take out of their car seat, one less to haul into the grocery store, one less to chase in the store, one less to argue with, well, you get the drift.  Don't get me wrong, I miss my absent child terribly when they are not with me, but I love that I can give the existing child more attention that they've been sharing with their sibling.  (And, of course, errands are a tad quicker. Score!)  The negative- it also makes you realize just how much you can actually get done around the house when the younger child has the older one to play with.  And if that child is removed from the equation, all that's left is you. Oh, no. *slowly removes party hat*

     My daughter has gone to stay with her Memaw and Pop-pop for the week so that leaves just me and her little brother, getting to have one-on-one time to throw (or "frow" in Li'l B's terms) his basketball back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, honestly this could go on all night, and no, I am not exaggerating.  It gives us extra time to play cars and bang on instruments and play cars and chase each other around the house and play cars and shoot his basketball and play cars and wrestle which is really him just choking me...did I mention play cars?  Good, I thought maybe I forgot that activity.  It also gives me a chance to realize just how much I depend on his big sister to help me out.  She is a fellow kiddy so she has relatively the same amount of energy as he does.  I am an adult.  I do not possess this much energy anymore.  After a few activities I'm ready for a break, whereas he is rip-roaring to go and get into something else.  I think his new favorite game to play with me is, "Mommy, wake up!"  This little bugger won't even let me rest my eyes for crying out loud!  And try to sneak into the kitchen to make dinner?  Ha!  Forget that, Jack.  He comes running in yelling, "Mommy, where are you?! Play!" And off he runs back into the living room expecting me to follow. 

      Our daughter has become such the helper with her little brother and I realize this even more when she's not around.  I will tell her, "Now, mommy needs to call *insert who I need to call* and I need it to be quiet, can you play blocks with your brother?"  And she does.  I'll even hear her trying to quiet him down if he squeals or yells, telling him, "Brover, shhh, mommy is on the phone so we need to be quiet."  This just truly amazes me to no end.  So when she's gone and I try to make a phone call, my son is staring at me, screaming "Mommy" over and over to the point where I hang up before anyone answers.  And Heaven help me if they already have and I have to apologize repeatedly. So. Embarrassing. 

     Now this all may be very different for those who have more than two children so when one is gone, you are still left with playmates for the remaining kiddos.  This is when I wish we had stuck with our plan of having three, but after two, I threw in the towel. (But that's for a different blog.)  On days where I am my son's sole companion, I could kick myself at times.  Hard.  Oh wait, he does that for me.  He's such a sweetheart. So this week, I get to spend some quality time with my little man, the house gets to be neglected, the bills will be paid at night after he is in bed, we will pretend that there are no such things as phones and we will play.  We will run.  We will throw the ball back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Now, I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh yes, we will play cars, multiplied by 1000.  And you know what?  I will most certainly enjoy every minute of it.  Until I get to pass out onto our bed from exhaustion.  Well, bring it on little man. Bring. It. On.

Wait, how many days until Miss G comes home?!