Crossin' off the days

Today's the last day of single-parenthood. Laura's been in Seattle since Wednesday - she flies back tonight. A friend from college asked her to be in her wedding. I'll let her to you all about it.

But my hat's off to every single parent out there. It's. Not. Easy. And I've only been doing it for four days. The tough thing is there's really no "off" switch to Jack. Not that I want an "off" switch - I'd settle for a "chill" switch. One game leads to another game and that leads to another game and then oh, let's play that game we played 30 minutes ago and blocks, let's play blocks....

There's never an appropriate time to say, "hey Jack, let's just hang out and watch 30-minute Meals together..."

I'm not complaining though. Jack and I went to the beach on Friday and the day was great. Jack and I built a mini-city of sand castles. Yesterday, Jack and I ventured to Franklin Zoo. Seventeen dollars and 15 minutes later I was informed it was time to go while on our way to see the lions.

I could feel that stubborn, foot-down feeling of fatherhood seething inside of me.

"Sit back in your stroller Jack, we're seeing some lions..."

We even had time to see the gorillas. The baby gorilla had a green blanket he was carrying around. He came right up to the window to where Jack and I were standing. Jack held up his Blankie for the gorilla to see. It reminded me of that scene in Close Encounters where the scientist and the alien stand face to face and communicate through sign language. It was kind of cool.

"I want to go."

So we came home.

Today, we'll probably walk to the playground. Maybe we'll feed some ducks at Jamaica Pond.