All by myself, except not at all.

My wife is on a much-needed and much-deserved vacation this week.  She’s out with her extended family at their annual vacation spot, with all her worries behind her.  I, on the other hand, am home with our toddler son for the duration of her trip.  That may sound a little “woe is me,” but this was my idea.

Our son has been going to an early-intervention preschool, and the results have been phenomenal.  When the school year ended we opted to enroll him in their summer program.  We wanted to keep his momentum going; from his progress with speech, to getting accustomed to a school environment, to making new friends in the classroom.  But as luck would have it, the program was scheduled during the annual vacation with my wife’s family.

Could I have pulled him out of school for a week?  Sure.  Many of his classmates have already vanished for a few days to go on summer vacations with their families.  But we were seeing such great progress with him, and I felt that interrupting the program for a full week would only cause problems.  So I told my wife to take her vacation and trust me to handle things back home.

He’s been a good boy, as toddlers go, and despite the long hours of constant parenthood I feel like I’ve got things under control here.  I miss my wife, but it’s more important that she recharge her batteries by stepping away from all her responsibilities for a week.  Not everyone gets an opportunity like that, so if it ever arises for you I highly recommend doing whatever you can to take advantage of it.

Will I get a summer vacation, too?  Or have I sacrificed my one and only getaway opportunity?

Stay tuned to find out!