Fun with Single Parenting! (Or: It's Chips in the Bed Week!)

It's a good thing I got to see lots of The Husband last week while the kids were up in Canada on their Spring Break. No sooner had we walked in the door after our Easter long weekend than he packed up and left again. For the entire week.

(Cue mournful violin music.)

Actually, the solo parenting gig gets easier all the time (but don't tell him that - I'm angling for a very nice treat from the drudgery of a European business trip that is somehow cheaper with a Saturday stay and thus requires a side trip to Vienna. Poor baby).

Part of it is just lowered expectations - I've learned by now that while it's fine to make plans to clean the house from top to bottom and catch up on the laundry and take the kids out on all sorts of adventures, as long as we get the big three (Fed! Alive! Safe!), it's a success.

Also, older kids rock. They can entertain themselves, they can read the instructions on their video games for themselves (ohhhh the Pokemon dialogue I have had to read), and they generally get their stuff done with only a minimum of nagging.

Of course, we're only into Day 2 and I'm still flying high from a suppertime declaration of, "Mom, you are the best cook," elicited by my husband-out-of-town specialty - spaghetti noodles from the box + sauce from the jar.

So we shall see if we can maintain this general sense of well-being.