Six weeks of summer: Week 1, a life on the road

For all of Ben’s life my partner has been at home with him, tending to his needs, making him laugh, helping him develop his routines, which best suit him and keeping him safe. I tell her all the time that he’s so happy and content because of all of the hard work she has put in while I have the easy job of going to work.
But now things have to change.
My other half has to go back to work as she has used up her maternity time with Ben, and over the next six weeks it is just me and him (as I’m a teacher and get this time for the holidays). Needless to say I’m very, very excited about spending time with him. Over the next six weeks I’m going to tell you about what we get up to together whilst mummy’s at work.
But before I tell you about our first week I have to say: Although I was—and still am—so excited to be with my boy, I’m was also quite nervous because my partner has done such a good job, and I was wondering, can I step into those shoes and be the super parent she is?
I guess over the six weeks we’ll find out.
So, are you ready? Week 1 …
I’m going to start on a slight downer I’m afraid. You see, we have had the builders in this week to redecorate our bathroom (which of course is a good thing). However, they’ve been starting at 9 in the morning, which coincides with Ben’s monster morning nap that is around 8:30 a.m. and usually lasts 2-2.5 hours, setting him up for a good day. Well, by five past 9, the banging, sawing, hitting and drilling has begun, and Ben has been scared awake.
Not the ideal start to a six week period in which I’m conscious of keeping his well-established routine.
But hey-ho, we all have to roll with the punches sometimes, and roll we have. Instead of staying in for his morning nap, we’ve been on the move, living a life on the road, seeing grandparents, going for walks, anything that might help him sleep—and it worked!
Once.
The others days this week he has been over tired and a little grumpy. And the fear of me ruining all of the hard work that’s been done to establish his simple but joyful way of life has been high.
Again, not the best start, but it’s not been all bad this week, here are the highlights that happened between our one-on-one time and time with grandparents.
Tuesday we went to one of Ben’s favorite groups. It’s called musical bugs. Basically a bunch of babies get together to play with toys that are associated with songs, and mums (because everyone else in the group is a mum) sing to their little ones. I think dads are put off by it because it involves singing and being a little silly, maybe? But being someone who is a performer by trade, I loved it! My other half has talked about how much he enjoys it, and I’m so happy that he did so with me, despite his morning nap being reduced to a mere 25 minutes. I thought I was going to be nervous about going into a room full of women to sing songs, but I guess because I was so focused on Ben it was pretty fun! I can’t wait to go next week. (I might even sing a harmony on “Three Blind Mice!”)
Wednesday my other half had a day off, and we ended up at her parents’ to get away from the mess and chaos at home. We pretty much stayed in our pj’s all day and played with Ben, and Thursday we had a party at a huge soft play center (which Ben slept through most of—again, no proper morning nap). But when he did wake he played in a ball pit and slid down a slide with his daddy and giggled a lot.
So despite it being a chaotic start to the six weeks of summer and Ben being a little confused about the massive changes that have happened (first no mummy, second more daddy and third no morning naps at home), it’s actually been a good week. If I’m really honest it has been tiring, for I’m learning a whole new skill set in forward thinking every meal, change of clothes and essentials for a life on the road, but it’s also been an amazing week. I’ve gotten to have some quality time with my baby, who is also my best mate.
So to summarize: I’ve been nervous, my house has been chaos, but my little boy smiles on through.
Let’s see what next week brings!