Part I
Today was different.
As I woke up this morning, I got ready as I often do on a Wednesday. 5:00 AM, wake up, stretch, head into the bathroom and brush my teeth while I scroll through daily meditations, that have hit my inbox. After this is when the day changed compared to my average day.
Today I have the day off from work. It’s Wednesday, that is uncommon. There’s a suitcase by the door in our bedroom. My wife will be leaving for Mexico with her mother and two sisters. The three latter women will often or occasionally babysit our children. Our two wonderfully, energetic toddlers. For the next 10 days, I will be single parenting here in our home.
I have a few things planned for the next week and 1/2, but not many. I figure I’m going to take this one day at a time. That is the wonder of raising toddlers. They are beginning to explore the world around them and learn so much about everything that is happening, minute by minute. I hope I can better understand, and perhaps take a step back over these next 10 days and once again look at the world the way my children look at it.
Don’t get me wrong, I will be running this house. I am in charge. I have hidden all the duct tape. I have minimized my to-do list. We have gone grocery shopping to ensure that we have a stocked refrigerator and cabinet. I have run through activities and lists of books in my mind to help fill our time while mama is physically gone. But I have not written it all down.
So I will give you a brief rundown of today’s goals, and then reality.
Today’s goals:
- Make sure we all eat at least three meals.
- Have a clean kitchen before we go to bed.
- Pray for Mama.
- Tire out the kids, but don’t spend too much time outside to cause crazy allergies.
- Finish my full-time course load of graduate work for this semester.
Today’s reality:
- I don’t make beans the same way mom does. But “that’s OK, we can still eat them with chips, dad.”
- The dishwasher is running, and the kitchen is clean.
- While our son was in preschool, my daughter and I went on a rosary walk around town offering it up for mama’s travels. I will also count cleaning the bathrooms as a prayer that I offered up. That certainly is something I don’t get energized by.
- The kids were tired. Both of them took a nap today. This is not always common, especially for our four-year-old. I think it helped going to the park after breakfast, and then I also got them excited to eat dinner outside.
- I have completed the last three assignments for this semester.
Goals. Met.
Notes for Mama:
Mama is missed. Our daughter went to sleep and still wanted to sleep on “mommy’s bed.” I tried to ask her if she wanted to lay on dad’s bed, but she corrected me. Dad, you silly fool.
Naps don’t take as long as graduate work. Today may be the last time for the next 10 days we watch Encanto (which my daughter is obsessed with at this point) so I could wrap up the assignments for the semester. I plan on unplugging the television and hiding the cord tomorrow before the kids wake up. Books will be scattered on every floor.
Our daughter’s new scooter? Yea, the one that just came in and is super pink? Yea, the handlebars snapped right off when her older brother rode it down the sidewalk. 4 minutes before his bus came. So that needs to get replaced. However, silver lining – our neighbor walked up to our garage from across the street to help try to put our son at ease with that white puppy we have been watching. Super nice guy, now I have finally sort of met him. Our son also learned a great lesson on offering up our sufferings. We talked about it right before bed again and he agreed later. Nothing like some good ol’ “offering it up” and a blue popsicle can’t alleviate.
I’m sure I will have more notes tomorrow for you. Every day is a lesson. Can’t wait to get back into the classroom tomorrow.
Forever yours,
Ethan
Ethan Avina 
Sounds like a good start!
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