The Daddy Experiment

9-27-10

Today I begin the real test of my stay-at-home-ability. O is off to work and I am in charge of the house, 3 kids, 4 cats and 1 dog. This isn't a task for the amateur parent - I'll have to make use of all the skills I've developed over the last 6 years, combine them into a superhero caped father figure and fly around the house, swooping in and around the kids.

Things start out well. N (5 months) sleeps in, after waking me up only twice in the predawn hours, allowing me to concentrate on only 2 kids on the first morning of this next full-time aprent stage. L (7) woke up at 6:30 with a bad dream but I still had time to set out bowls and spoons, hair combing equipment, cleaned eyeglasses and a packed lunch for Lyric before needing to wake up the girls.

L is already awake and complains that M (2) hasn't allowed her to go back to sleep after her dream. M, poised half off her bed, asks, "get up?" I say, "Yes, time to get up!" and she jumps off the bed and scrambles onto my lap.

Cereal and hair-combing go smoothly - I can even grab a second helping of Rice Krispies for M in between L's braids. It is raining this morning so we gear up with rainboots, hoods and umbrellas. M cries because she want's L's Tinkerbell umbrella and can't understand why she can't have it. I tell her she can share with me but she is dejected and sullen as we walk out the door. The girls are intrigued by the wet, misty morning and are quiet as we walk out to the end of the drive. M's curls pop out from under her hooded sweater. N bobs and chews on his carrier, close to my chest.