I’m a software developer by training, as I keep mentioning. Part of my job as a manager in a software firm is managing the changes to requirements as they come in, ensuring that they cause as little disruption to the ongoing projects as possible.
We’re about to get thrown a requirement change.
My wife’s going out of town for a few days next week – it’s the first time that I can think of where the kids will be waking up on various mornings without her around the house.
Both the Monster and R have dealt with my being away before. I do tend to take one or two business trips a year, and I’m often gone for the better part of a weekend at a bonspiel (curling tournament) for two or so weekends over the winter. But I’m not the one that they generally call for when they want something. Even if I’m home, they tend to turn to her.
(Which is not to say that I’m entirely useless and I don’t serve any positive purpose around the house. Certainly, she does a lot with them. But I’m also actively involved with getting homework done, with changing diapers, with feeding people and getting the place tidied up. I also usually do at least one of their bedtime procedures if not both, depending on the evening and who is at home at what time.)
Now, I’m under no illusions as to how difficult next week is going to be for me, while I’m doing her job and my own at the same time. On the other hand, the kids are going to have a harder time adapting, the Monster especially. I’m somewhat preparing myself for the fact that he’s probably not going to understand why Mommy’s not around to get him things, or why he has no one to appeal to when he doesn’t get his way on matters, or why I can’t do X with him because there’s only one of me around at the moment and it has to last for both of them.
On the other hand, it just seems to me that parts of it beg for organization. I’ll obviously be re-arranging how I do things in the morning – probably letting R kick it in his crib for a little extra time while I concentrate on getting the Monster out the door, etc – so that too might either help allay some of the problems or let them snowball further. Fortunately, most of his usual ‘schedule’ is not at risk of being disrupted – we have therapy while the wife’s gone on Tuesday, but that’s the only “outside the house” thing we have to do until she’s returned on Thursday.
Life is about change. He’s going to have to learn about it eventually.