Long Weekend with the Guys

Kirsten's flown back to Rhode Island to take care of some things at Ichabod House (Did we mention that all worked out and we closed a couple weeks ago? No? Well, we did.) I finally learned today, when Kirsten first saw the house this morning, that I will not be sleeping in the potting shed for the next 15 years because I totally blew the house purchase; she likes it.

A secondary consequence of Kirsten's trip is that I'm truly solo parenting for more than half a day for the first time. Soren's weaned, Kirsten wants a break from full-time mothering, and I can take a little while off work now. So, to ease into it, we figured we'd go for six and a half days. We're planning to spend from Friday Night Football through Sunday sitting on the couch watching sports, drinking milk and eating peas, but that still leaves three and a half other days.

Adding to my anxiety heading into this, Soren is in a phase where he's been very clingy to Kirsten for the last week. He wants her to hold him, or he tries to climb her legs, or he sits at her ankles and cries. I think he's a little conflicted about being a toddler, one moment eager to wander off in his own direction on his own feet, and another scared by giving up his total dependence on his parents (so he thinks). I had visions of whole days spent sitting in front of the door, wailing.

Yesterday was our first day together, and Soren's just a blast when you can give him full attention and do the things he wants when he wants. I hadno problems with clinginess. He woke up around 7:30, I gave him his breakfast (a banana and some baby cereal), and we took a walk to get me some coffee. When we returned, he was acting a little tired, so I asked him if he wanted a nap. He paused, stood up, walked into his room and pointed at his crib; I put him in, and didn't hear from him for 90 minutes.

In the afternoon, we went to the Anchorage Museum of Art and History. I had hoped that after some time in the children's gallery, he'd let me look around the "grown-up" galleries a little, but we spent two hours playing with interactive art exhibits, including a play kitchen, a table for using magnetic building blocks, and a reading bench made of encyclopedias. While there, we ran into some friends, and arranged for dinner with them.

On this trip, I also was reminded of Soren's peculiar magnetism. He attracts people all around. On this trip, he drew all three of the young women running the ticket desk at the museum to talk with him, and even pulled a grandmotherly woman from across the street to say hello. While he mostly draws women of all ages, he even regularly gets responses from teenage boys, who are shocked by his super-friendly, super-enthusiastic, "Hiii!" I certainly wasn't interested in interacting with babies as a teenager, or until about 15 months ago.