Father's Day weekend without Daddy

Both Daddy and I had plenty of one-on-one Mudgie time this week. Daddy had his usual evenings when I was teaching at the gym, but he got a bonus day on Thursday when Karen, our daycare provider, had jury duty. Aside from the huge meltdown Mudgie had when I went to work (it was quite heartbreaking, actually), he and Daddy had a great time together.

Then it was my turn for the rest of the weekend. Mudgie and I went to Stroller Strides on Friday, and then we played at the park after class. We ran some errands together, and later that day, we got to visit with one of my best friends, Jenn, who was visiting from North Carolina. Mudgie was very well behaved! Later that day, Dave left for a weekend of backpacking with his friends, and Mudgie and I were on our own.

Saturday we had a lot of fun together. We went to some yard sales in the morning, and Mudgie got some new fire trucks. We played outside with his swing, the pool, and the water hose, and then after his nap we took a trip to Kimball's for some ice cream. Mudgie and I even went out to dinner, just the two of us, and I think we both had a really good time!

Sunday, however, did not go nearly as smoothly. Mudgie was excited to get up and play with his new fire trucks. This was not a problem. The problem started when Mudgie wanted to play outside, and I told him we needed to change his diaper first. He started to whine about not wanting to change his diaper, and when he finally agreed it was ok to change him, he wanted to bring one of his fire trucks with him, but couldn't decide on which one...so he whined about that. In fact, he whined for so long that we no longer had time to play outside, as we had an appointment to get his 2 year pictures taken (a little early). After more than an hour of incessant whining, when he started to have a fit in the car I lost it and yelled at him. It was not one of my finer parenting moments. I know he was missing his Daddy, and whining, while annoying, was nothing to get that upset over. Fortunately, we both had a car ride to allow us to cool down, and he seemed better when we got to the picture studio.

That's not to say Mudgie was excited about pictures. At first, he was very concerned that we were going to cut his hair and use the "blow dryer," something he's been talking about since we got his hair cut 2 weeks ago. Then, when he relaxed a little bit, the only thing that would get him to smile for the camera was pressing the "button" that actually takes the pictures. Fortunately, the girl working there was a saint, and had an amazing amount of patience (and 2 people after us who canceled their appointments) and even found a spare trigger for Mudgie to hold. You can judge for yourself, but I think they came out pretty good! The rest of the afternoon was spent outside in the pool and sandbox and on the swing. We were both very happy when Daddy got home! It was a long weekend for us all, but I think we all had a really good time.