Jennifer and Tara are out of town for a few days, so it’s just Anna and I for a while. This is a fact now known to our family and friends, and to Anna’s teachers, friends, acquaintances, and anyone who has passed within 25 feet of Anna for the past few days. Tonight we went out to Outback Steakhouse for dinner because I was too lazy to go to Costco and get the usual steak-and-martini. She was well behaved, save the regular moping about how Mom was gone, and how she wishes Mom were here, and when were we going to see Mom.

Bedtime was especially challenging, because Anna has been having some nighttime issues lately; specifically she has been scared at night, and last night she went potty approximately 300 times. Tonight she was especially needy and reluctant to go to bed, but eventually she did settle down, and has been down for about three hours without issues.

I was looking forward to the break of not having a baby in the house, even if it’s a really low maintenance baby like Tara. After three months of having two young kids, the prospect of working all day, parenting only one child until 8pm, then cleaning up and having a couple hours of time to myself seems pretty sweet. I cannot imagine being the single parent of two or more children.

That said, for the months of July and August, I’m going to be a stay-at-home dad. When Jennifer returns to work, I’m going to take a couple months off to have Tara to myself. Anna will be in preschool, but I’ll try to have her home on a regular basis. I’ve always thought that I could manage both kids and make a little headway on the house in the process, but I have to find out if that’s really true.

(11pm) Anna just woke up briefly and went back to sleep. I need to sleep now, and hope that she goes the rest of the night. I’m really tired, and tomorrow I’ve got to start getting packed, because Anna and I have several activity-packed days ahead of us.