A Week without Daddy

Emma and I were on our own from 7-12 March while Kurt attended a conference on the west coast. It was an exhausting week and we did better than I expected but I was so happy to have Kurt home again. The mornings started out early so that I was completely ready for work before Emma woke up. We got her breakfast and changed and were out the door relatively quickly. I was actually into work around 730 all week long. In the evenings, I would pick her up and we ate dinner and then did our normal bath time routine around 730. She was very good for me during both bath time and bedtime. I just had to tell her that Mommy had chores to do and that she needed to be a big girl and go to sleep. The chores consisted of getting clothes ready for the following day, cleaning up toys, cleaning up dinner dishes and getting lunch ready for the following day. Generally I was able to finally sit down by 9pm before heading to bed and starting all over the following day.

On Monday, Kurt helped get Emma ready for school and all of us went to daycare to drop her off in the 2 year old classroom. Kurt left from there to go to the airport. That evening, she asked for Daddy and I told her that he was on an adventure. (Emma knows what an adventure is; we use it frequently when we go for walks or to a store.) Kurt had a layover and called us during dinner time. Of course, Emma wanted to hold the phone more than she wanted to talk.

Tuesday morning, she asked for Daddy again when she woke up. I told her that he was still on an adventure and she was easily distracted by breakfast. Tuesday evening, she really seemed to miss Kurt on the way home from daycare. Luckily we had a lot of plans the last part of the week and I was able to distract her. She was very excited that on Wednesday we were going to see Calvin. I took time to explain to her that we would eat dinner at Calvin's and then she was going to hang out with Calvin and Adam while Mommy went on some errands with Melanie. (The errands were the first night of cake decorating class!) She said that that would be fine. Then I told her that on Thursday, after school, Grandma was coming to visit and would probably be waiting for us when we got home. She got very excited and quickly asked if Papa and ReRe were coming too--she was disappointed that they weren't. She said that she and Grandma would have a ton of fun at home together on Friday. These distractions for the next few days helped the days fly by and I don't think she dwelled on Kurt being away too much.

Wednesday evening went very well. We ate dinner and Emma, Calvin, and Adam went upstairs to play. Adam said that Emma did great and didn't cry at all when I left. She and Calvin play so well together. Since it was a late night, I changed her into pajamas before we left then took the sleeping baby up to bed as soon as we got home.

Thursday, we had torrential rain and Laura hit some traffic on the way here. Emma anxiously looked out the front windows for her to arrive. As soon as she walked into the house, Emma immediately started bringing toys to show her and gave her lots of hugs. Emma barely let me give her a bath and wanted Grandma to read her stories and put her to bed.

Friday, Emma and Grandma had a lot of fun at the park and made new friends there. Emma wore herself out and let Grandma relax for over 3 hours while she napped!

Saturday, Laura took Emma to the park while I ran and then showered for the day. Shortly after lunch, she tried to put Emma down for a nap but Emma was too wound up. Emma was very sad when Grandma had to leave. She stood at the door crying for a while and wouldn't let me comfort her. It took me over an hour and a half to get her down for a nap! She woke up on the wrong side of the crib and was relatively inconsolable for quite a while. I was finally able to cheer her up by telling her that we were going to meet her friends, Cameron and Claire for dinner that night at Red Robin. Emma started the dinner pretty well...but soon she just wanted to be down out of her highchair. Eventually, she settled down when Melissa (C&C's Mom) held her and helped her color. She was very distraught when Melissa had to put her down and kept calling her Mommy. *Sigh* She had a lot of fun at the park and insisted on playing on the big kids' equipment instead of the tiny tyke stuff. I had to follow her closely to make sure she didn't fall through cracks or walk off a ledge. She was very excited when Kurt called to tell us that he had landed.

On Sunday morning, Kurt was excited to see Emma. She let it be known that she was mad at him. She wouldn't go to him or let him give her a hug or a kiss for quite a while. He brought a stuffed moose back with him for her. She took it from him, and threw it in the opposite direction with a look on her face that said "you can't buy my love Dad, how dare you leave me?" Within an hour or so, she had forgiven him and enjoyed cuddling with him on the couch and watching carebears.