So, the wife’s returning this morning from her trip, and I’m done single-dadding it for a while.

And the long and short of it – I’m tired.

(For those who have been wondering – I’ve actually been writing these entries at night, while R and the Monster are asleep, so I can spend more time with R.  There’s liable to be another entry during the day.)

Now, I know that some of you who are reading this are single parents and are going, “now you know what it feels like”… except, no.  It’s not the same thing.

I’ve been working from home so far this week, mostly because I don’t have any backup for a change.  My in-laws have been out of town, and with my wife on her trip… the nearest family I have is 90 minutes away (and he’s also solo-parenting this week, since it’s his wife who has been with mine in Las Vegas).  My family is four hours up the coast, so no help there.  And, as mentioned, I’ve had to work, so I’ve been juggling taking care of R while I do my regular job from home.

On the other hand, it’s given me the chance to put my spin on things.  I’ve made the Monster do his homework as soon as he gets home, save for last night, when we had to go to the JCC for the camp fair so I could, theoretically, sign him up for camp.  (Yeah, no.  They just more wanted to show what the options were, let the kids play around, and hand out the applications.  It did, though, remind me that R is now old enough to go to camp next summer…)  It also showed me that everyone loves the Monster.  The woman who runs the special needs program at Camp Milldale was there to say hi to the Monster and give him hugs, and his counselors from Noah’s Ark (the preschool camp) remembered him as well.  The latter were shocked at how big he is, much less that I had R with me as well and that he’s old enough to come this coming summer…

Going to the camp program wasn’t a good idea, in the end, though.  It was too crowded and too noisy for the Monster, who really wanted to get going ASAP once we were there… and it was at 5 PM, which meant I was taking the kids out to Owings Mills at dinner time.  I therefore ended up stopping for chicken nuggets on the way home to make sure that they were fed before we got home so I could wrestle the Monster down for his homework.

At least after this morning, I can share the responsibility again for getting s*** done with the kids…