The Monkey Mama has left the building

The Monkey Mama is off on vacation. The Monkey and I are large and in charge.

I was catching up with an old friend who visited us this week. He asked if having kids is "hectic and stressful." Hectic, no: it's a pretty calm lifestyle. No disco dancing, no rent parties. Stressful, yes: sleep is less, responsibilities are more, and free time is out the window.

All of which is a long way to say: I am happy for the Monkey Mama. She is spending a long weekend with a close girlfriend in a resort destination. Unfortunately I had to burn 2 days of annual leave to care for the Monkey during her absence, but that's a trifle.

It helps, too, that I plan to spend next weekend kayaking in West Virginia.

It's interesting to me to compare this absence of the Monkey Mama with the previous one. Not much has changed. Of course the Monkey is much more developed: he has sign language, he is starting on regular language, and he can stand and walk (sort of). But he is still the same Monkey.

I thought it would be more of a challenge: he is more cognizant, and perhaps potentially more willful. So the absence of the Monkey Mama -- especially at bed time -- could be more disruptive. But he rolled with it then, and he's rolling with it now.

Anyway, we had a fun day together, just like old times (back when I was a full-time stay-at-home dad). Playgroup at 10am, followed by shopping at the co-op at noon. I was happy that some out-of-town visitors from Cornell could meet up with us at the co-op (kind of an unusual venue) as they rolled on their way. Then home, playtime, a potential visit to a new baby (born last week), and another trip to the grocery store. (The co-op doesn't sell red wine, and their steak is too expensive).