[twitter]I think my wife needs to leave town on business more often.
With Jennifer in Montreal for her annual sales conference, it was my turn to rule the household for 4 nights. And the stars aligned.
Had it been over a week with a solid routine, things might have been different, but two of the days she was away, the kids had Pro-D days. There was no getting out of it, I burned 2 holiday days and we made a mountain escape to Banff for Snow Days.
This played perfectly into my philosophy of not-at-home dad If we were home for 4 nights on our own, stuck in the routine of soccer, and dance, and art, and school, I could have gotten things done swimmingly, but it still would have been routine.
I’m not good at keeping the house clean, I’m not good at following the ‘rules of the house,’ I .. just do things differently.
So having to take time off to be with the boys and having the chance to get out of town just worked.
We went and threw rocks and ice chunks in a lake.
We went tubing.
We had hot chocolate.
I got really sick with a fever and the boys played Minecraft while I snored in the bed next to them.
We got up early and saw the sun rise through the trees at the Upper Hot Springs.
We went skiing.
We went out for dinner. We swam at the hotel. We drew pictures.
We watched “how-to Minecraft” videos.
It was perfect. And I fell in love. With Charlie. The last time I remember a work trip for Jen changing my life was the first one she took after we had Zacharie. It was just him and I for a few days. We went to the park, had sushi, stayed up late, and I loved it.
And now was my chance to fawn over the Chooch. Charlie is a Momma’s boy. Is it my fault for declaring a favorite? Is it our fault as parents for having “default children” when we go out? Is it just how it is?
Whatever the reason, Charlie spends more time with Momma than me. Last summer we took a camping trip on our own and it was great, but now I’m really “seeing Charlie.” How he acts without the security blanket of his mom around and it was great. He was eager to try new foods, he drew pictures and doolded the entire time, he pushed himself to take a chairlift ride and do his first big run after skiing lessons.
I love being a not-at-home dad and getting out of routine with the boys. The weather was perfect, I was able to take days off, we were able to swing a trip to the mountains. All the stars aligned and it was the best weekend ever.
I love it when my wife leaves me. And I can’t wait to go home and see her tomorrow.