"Single" Parenting

My friend Shannon recently wrote an entry on her blog titled "Single Parenting" because her husband was out of town at the time, so I figured she wouldn't mind if I borrowed the same title because not only is it catchy, but this week it's true in the Palm house. Every year since we have been married, Brian has taken a five or six day ski trip with his buddies, so I'm somewhat used to taking care of one or two kids in his absence. But now that he's back at a Coast Guard station, his absences are and will be much more frequent and sometimes much longer. So here we are, in the midst of a twelve day deployment while daddy is off saving the world, and truth be told, everyone misses him very much.

Just a few minutes ago he called to say hi to the kids before he took off on another day of patrol, and the kids were literally fighting over the opportunity to talk to him. Charley was dying to ask him if he was killing spiders in Guam and to proudly announce that she went #2 at the store potty yesterday (yea Charley! . . . first poop in public!). Zander just wanted to hear his voice AND play with the phone, so neither was very excited to hang up. Boy are they crazy about their Dad. He holds a very special place in their lives, a place that is all about airplanes, Jeeps, reading books, playing baseball, and man is he good at kid snuggles. When Charley gets upset with me, the first thing she does is call out for her daddy. When Zander hears the garage door open, he immediately calls out for daddy. It's no mystery that these two kids miss Brian like crazy.

And, I miss having him around too. Of course there is all the mushy love stuff (which I'm sure nobody is that interested in hearing), but I also miss the every day stuff that makes me realize that we have a pretty good thing going here. Sometimes he gets home later than others, so the majority of the day the kids are with me alone, but every second that he's around and they are awake, he is spending his time with them. They not only love this time with him, but I enjoy the chance to divert my attention elsewhere for a little while, whether it is cooking, or cleaning, or having just a few minutes to myself. Charley won't take naps anymore (much to my dismay), and Zander is the world's worst napper (I'm lucky to get one hour each day), so naps are no relief for me. The tradeoff is that they go to bed early (7:00 p.m.). The downside is that Zander sometimes wakes up EARLY, like 6:00 a.m. or so. So, long story short, I never get enough sleep or time to myself when Brian is gone, which seems to add up after a week or so. Plus, I don't sleep well by myself anymore anyway, so that doesn't help either. I miss having an extra set of hands and/or feet to get the kids food or drinks or to chase them up the street (Zander has recently turned into a runner). I could go on and on, but the simple truth is, I really appreciate the role that Brian plays in all our lives and we sure miss him when he's gone.