Manny

My dad has been staying with us for three weeks now. I’ve gotten used to having him around. He is incredibly helpful and it’s striking how one more adult in the house has an exponential effect on the care of the children. It eases the frenzied pace of the daily schedule – my dad helps drop the kids off at daycare and pick them up. He’s around to watch one or both of them while Stewart and I cook dinner/throw a load of laundry in the dryer/go to yoga class/take a shower/check our email…any of the minute things a person does in a day that are unreasonably difficult with a toddler hanging on his or her leg.

The children adore him, which makes it easier to leave one of them howling behind the door when we leave. Kyle has reached the level of awareness that makes him sad and even cry when we all say goodbye at the end of one of our visits. He says things like “I will be sad for Gramma and Grampa because they will miss me.” So he’s not yet out of that center-of-the-universe phase. Speaking of the universe, Grampa bought him a solar system model kit which he discovered this morning. His face lit up like it was Christmas and he said “Is this for me?!” When my father confirmed that yes, it was for him, Kyle said “Grampa! I’m so proud of you!”

I adore him, too. For the last three weeks I have been taking advantage of his presence, essentially dumping the kids on him and Stewart and heading out to yoga/dinner/networking functions and keeping up the kind of social schedule that only people who don’t have children can maintain. Finally a few days ago I was watching him play with the children, realizing that he will return to Connecticut in a short time, and I felt a stab of sadness. I haven’t spent much time with him myself. So yesterday we went out to lunch and ran an errand together, just him and me. And it was good.

He leaves tomorrow. Normal operations will resume. Our family is fortunate to have found the perfect daycare provider for the children 5 days a week. The peace of mind that she gives me allows me to have my wonderfully flexible work schedule and the alone time that I sorely need. It would be wrong of me to then employ a part time nanny to do all the things that my father does while he is here. Also, I can’t afford it. But it’s nice to dream.