"I'm havin' a great time!"

It's been one week precisely since Partner left for Africa. She's back in nine more days. I wish I could say that it's been horrible and awful and I can't do this on my own, but in reality it's been fantastic. It's helped by the fact that our babysitter is incredible. She gets to my house at 5:45 a.m. on the days I have to work. One day she vacuumed. Another she emptied all the trash baskets. The only thing she could possibly do more is empty the cat liter, but seriously? I hate doing it so can't imagine anyone doing it who didn't have to do it.

Cricket and I have been all over town doing stuff too. Today we ventured out to lunch and to the petting farm. He ran all over the place exclaiming, "I'm havin' a great time, Mommy!"

One of the things I have not blogged about is Cricket's clear preference for Partner. He usually wakes up in the morning and calls for her. After nap, he wants her. When I come home from work, he'll cry, "No! Go away-- I want MAMA!" It's been pretty hard for me, as one might imagine. He will actively push me away from him if Partner is around. I think we both worried about what would happen for these 16 days that she was gone. In my heart of hearts, I could not have hoped for as a good an outcome as we've had. I am treasuring this time with him. When I hear him calling "Mommy! Mommy!" in the morning, I nearly fly out of bed. One night I let him sleep with him all night even though that is not a precedent I want to set.

I wonder if it will last when Partner returns from her trip. I hope so.

For now, I think I'll go look at my sleeping child and relish in our enforced time together.