On My Own

Since Henry was born I've worked really hard to avoid being the sole parent on duty to both kids at the same time for any long periods of time. Ann was here to cover me at the beginning and my mom came up when Oliver's school was closed for Spring Break. Even when I was pregnant, the thought of trying to do bedtime with two kids frightened the hell out of me. But in the last few days I've had to face that fear and I'm happy to report that we all survived!

Brian had book group yesterday evening, so that meant that I was on my own from four to nine o'clock. Meaning dinner, bath time, and bedtime were entirely up to me. Oliver's a handful just on his own during that time of day but having Henry creates an added challenge. Henry loves to clusterfeed all evening long. So, not only did I have to do dinner, bath, and bedtime for Oliver, I had to do it all while nursing Henry. I prepped Oliver before Brian left and told him that it was just going to be the three of us and that I needed him to be my big helper and have his listening ears on. And, for the most part, he obliged me. He stayed in a good mood most of the evening and I got him into bed a little earlier than we usually do (it's amazing how quickly you can shuffle a kid off to bed when you're highly motivated). I was even more astounded by how well Oliver behaved because he wasn't feeling well at all yesterday. He was congested, had a runny nose, and his eyes were so gunky. Which leads us to my next challenge...

An entire day alone with both kids. Oliver's eye gunk looked suspiciously like pink eye last night so I made the decision that he couldn't go to school until a doctor could look at it. We woke up this morning, Brian left for work (after getting Oliver fed and dressed), and we waited for the doctor's office to open so I could make an appointment. We got to the doctor and she declared it allergies (in fact, she feels fairly certain that everything that's wrong with him right now - including this most recent asthma attack - can be traced back to his allergies). So, no pink eye! Great news! Let's get this kiddo to school! Except... I had already made the mistake of telling him he wasn't going to school today. When we left the doctor's office, I said something about how he could go to school and he got really upset and called me on it: "You said I didn't have to go to school today!" Ugh. (Side note: Oliver loves his school but who doesn't love a day off, right?). So, I made him a deal. He could stay home if he was on his best behavior. If he didn't listen to me or started to throw fits, he was going straight to school (I wasn't crazy about using going to school as his "punishment" for misbehaving but I was desperate for good behavior. I had lots of work I needed to get done today).

And then a miracle happened... Oliver was good. All. Day. Long. We didn't have any fits. He took a nap without arguing. He played by himself when I told him I had work I needed to do or when I had to take care of Henry. It was like an invasion of the body snatchers thing. My almost four year old, who hasn't gone three hours in a row without throwing a wall-eyed fit because we told him he couldn't do something, or because the pb&j sandwich wasn't "squishy", or because it's time to turn off the television, went eight straight hours today as the most well-behaved kid I've ever been around. He was polite, he was helpful, and I am so grateful to him for making my first day on solo duty with two kids a rousing success. And, yes, I told him over and over again how proud and grateful I am. Positive reinforcement, amiright? His response to my gushing: "Oh, thank you, Mommy!" No, kid. Thank you. Really.