Two weeks. I survived two freakin’ weeks as a single, stay-at-home dad. No, wifey hasn’t left me…yet. She does work part-time though. So, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. I was the lone individual responsible for keeping two, insane children alive and from killing themselves, or me.
So here are my thoughts and some snapshots of what went down:
1) Stay at home moms fucking rock. And! Single parents should be given full-tax breaks and awarded Pulitzer Prizes of Awesomeness made of diamonds.
2) My daughter is absolutely head-over-heels in love with Patrick from SpongeBob.
3) My kids watch too much SpongeBob.
4) Watching my boy interact with strangers on a sledding hill brings the biggest, dumbest smile to my oversized face.
5) Checking out the view from the top of the Sears Tower is kick-ass and makes wifey poop herself.
6) It becomes painfully difficult to find time to masturbate when children are in your life 24/7.
7) Wait…I mean…#5 is something I heard on Oprah.
8) Shit – I swear I did not start watching Oprah over the past two weeks. I hate that woman!!! But seriously, her holiday episode…I mean…SHIT!
9) I get my period when I’m alone with the kids for that long of time.
10) I found myself standing in a room at least once a day, with absolutely no idea why in the fuck I walked into it.
11) I went grocery shopping twice with a list of over two dozen things and came out with only beer and popcorn.
12) My daughter thinks she’s iCarly and wants to kiss a boy.
13) iCarly is banned from this house for the next 13 years until she goes off to college.
14) Parenting with a hangover is really really really hard.
15) When my kids are lying on the couch, entranced with a movie, and not moving—they are the most adorable fucking things on this planet.
16) My wife wonders what I “do all day?”
17) I’ve learned how to turn my phone off all day, then when the wifey asks “what’s up with your phone,” I use my brand-new, off-the-shelf mid-western accent and say, “Ohh geeze…the battery died so I had to plug it in to charge and forgot to turn it back on-okay! Sorry yah!”
18) Trying to do a cartwheel when you’re naked and alone to celebrate the children going back to school is not a good idea. The cat attacked Mr. Small-Time and almost made it Mr. No-Time.
19) I hate…hate…hate my fucking cat. Lazy, furry, cozy, snuggle buddy. I mean..that asshat.
20) My son and I became closer than we’ve ever been and it makes me weak in the knees.
21) All I have to do is look in my daughter’s eyes for a split second, and she’s scrambling to sit next to me…grabbing my arm and laying it around her and across her chest.
22) My wife has the ability to make me do whatever in the holy hell she wants me to do and I have no control over it. I painted our bedroom and hallway, and went to Ikea all in a two-day span. And I didn’t even know it happened until it was over.
23) Three days is the limit for me not taking a shower. After that…even I’m writing myself hate-notes and slipping them under my pillow.
24) A lot of employers don’t post available jobs during the holidays.
25) Despite all that’s absolutely and totally fucked right now…I love my life and those who are in it.