What's it like when Daddy leaves for a week?

Phillip and Jack are having this Bedtime War lately. Phillip puts pajamas on, reads the stories, says the prayers, puts Molly in her bed (we gave up on the going-to-sleep-in-the-same-room plan about 2 months ago, now we put her down in our room and move her when we're ready to go to bed). Then he goes back to Jack to cater to any last demands. Drink of water? Bit of fuzz that needs to be removed from the blanket? Potty? The green passo instead of the blue one? Sure. But even Phillip Cheung has a limit, and for the last couple nights he's come downstairs while Jack is screaming his head off because his dad won't cave to one more bedtime delay tactic. 

Tonight Phillip came downstairs and ordered me not to go up. But then Jack started shrieking, "I have to go PAAAHHHHTTY! I have to go PAAAAHHHHTY!" and I don't really feel like that's something we should ignore, even though we are both 99.9999% sure he is screwing with us. So I went up there, stuck him on the potty and OF COURSE he just sat there, not looking at me because if he did, he would break into a giant I Am The Master Of Manipulation grin. Once it was clear nothing was going to be deposited in the potty (sorry) I hauled him off and slapped a diaper on and stashed him back in the crib. At least he's not howling anymore. 

Phillip is leaving Monday and not coming home till late on Friday. I have reservations about next week, but I'm slowly filling our social calendar and working on my Martyred Sigh. What I'm worried about is what things will be like when Phillip gets home. Are these kids going to be nice to him? I mean, they act up when Phillip gets home from WORK. What will they be like when he goes away for a WEEK?

And what will the kids do when he leaves for another week in April or May? 

I know this isn't the hugest deal in the world and kids are adaptive and everything will be fine and hello, have I heard of this little thing called troop deployment and Shut Up About Just One Measly Week, Me! But this is new for us and I'm a little worried. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to make it easier? We've already decided on a nightly Skype time. Hopefully the kids aren't driving me crazy and I put them to bed at, like, four.

I try to remember that Phillip has twice as much going on as I do, but I'm still crashing into bed every night and I'm never ready to wake up when I hear the kids start talking to each other. Today was the first day I didn't leave the house immaculate when we went to run errands in the morning and it felt amazing. I mean, I've quite enjoyed having a spotless house these last two weeks, but it's exhausting. It's ALREADY hard getting out of the house. And now I'm full swing into the rental house hunt. I have one decent possibility (and I went and peeked in all the windows this afternoon) (it's VACANT) but it's on kind of a weird street and I'm not sure how I feel about that and Craigslist is not offering an abundance of options and and and... 

But Jack... yeah... WHATEVER. I'm watching The Soup Awards and feeling much better. Also, I think Stephanie Pratt got a nose job. 

Comments

[Amy J]

Truthfully I really have no idea whether this is active in your area or not, but when my husband and I were looking for a rental house we used www.militarybyowner.com .

Good luck!

[HereWeGoAJen]

The daycare kids figured out at that age that "I have to go potty" got them out of nap early too.

You can do it! Think low expectations to make it easier. And be SO glad that your house isn't on the market any longer and you aren't dealing with that while Phillip is gone.

[Jess]

Maybe it'll be good! I always find the things that I am most nervous about/generally dreading tend to be totally fine.

[craftyashley]

Husband leaving for a week is a huge deal! I'm pretty sure it would kill me. If I don't get that weekend break I'm positive I would turn into the hulk and start smashing the house up in fits of frustration and sleep depravity.

[Christiana]

Yeah, dealing with 2nd go-round of daddy out of town for a week myself here (he returns tomorrow) and it honestly hasn't been as bad as I thought. The first week (last month) was horrible because she got sick, but this week has been significantly better now that she is well. And I spent yesterday at my mother's. :)

But you can do it!