Chronicles of a Working Mom -- Part 8, Chronicles of a Working Dad

Y'all, this Working Mom would be totally lost without another important member of the family -- Working Dad.  Let me take a moment and thank all single parents out there.  Thank you.  I have no idea how you do it.  I BARELY do it, and there's two of us tackling this parenthood thing!  Y'all rock.

To best describe how blessed I am to have Jason helping me raise Tyler, let me describe our typical day.

Time of Day	What is Megan Doing?	What is Jason Doing?	What is Tyler Doing?
4:00-5:00am	waking up, getting ready for work	(4:30) waking up, getting ready for work	sleeping (please, Lord, let him be sleeping!)
5:00-6:00am	getting ready, making M&T's food for the day	getting ready, starting to work from home	sleeping?
6:00-7:00am	working	working from home	sleeping?
7:00-8:00am	working	working from home, waking up Tyler, feeding him and getting him ready for school	waking up, playing, eating, getting dressed
8:00-9:00am	working	taking Tyler to school	going to school
9:00am-3:00pm	work	work	school
3:00-4:00pm	finishing up work, going to after-school meeting or running errands	finishing up work, picking up Tyler	school
4:00-5:00pm	home, moment of "me time", playing with Tyler when he gets home	driving home, moment of "me time" while Megan plays with Tyler	playing with Mama and Daddy!
5:00-6:00pm	playing	playing or doing things around the house (like yardwork)	playing with Mama and Daddy!
6:00-7:00pm	making dinner, eating dinner, feeding Tyler	occupying fussy Tyler while Megan makes dinner, eating dinner	getting cranky, eating dinner
7:00-8:00pm	bathtime and "night nights"	bathtime and "night nights"	bathtime and "night nights"
8:00-9:00pm	tv-watching, falling asleep on couch	tv-watching even after Meg falls asleep	sleeping!
9:00-10:00pm	couch-sleeping	tv or couch-sleeping	sleeping!
10:00pm-4:00am	sleeping, getting up to soothe cranky baby	sleeping	sleeping, still occasionally waking up

4 words: My. Husband. Is. Amazing.

When we were looking at daycares, one of the biggest issues was that SAS's daycare didn't open until 9:00.  When I became a teacher, Jason kept nearly the same schedule (going in and leaving earlier than the typical 9-to-5er).  He wasn't too keen on going into work during rush hour, but SAS was too good to pass up.

The problem was the afternoon.  If Jason worked 9-5, picked up Tyler and was in rush hour, Tyler would basically get home in time to eat, have bath time, and then go to bed.  Jason was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle seeing my son this little during the day (he was right!!!!).

So what was his solution?  He now wakes up around 4:30 every morning and begins his day by working at home for a few hours before heading to SAS.  That way, he still gets to leave around 3:45, and I get more time with both my guys in the afternoons.  When Tyler sleeps til 7:30am, this plan works like a charm.  Mornings my early riser just can't help but greet the morning?  Well, it gets a little more difficult, but Jason makes due.

one such morning back in November

Normally, Jason gets Tyler up in the morning.  He plays with him, makes him a bottle, dresses him in clothes I lay out the night before, and gets him to school on time (for those who are wondering, yes, we do call daycare "school."  I don't know what originally made us do it, but now Tyler really likes "school," so we're hoping when he really starts to go to school it will seem like a positive thing to him).





In the afternoons, Tyler and I play while Jason works on things around the house or just decompresses after a day of work.  Then, Jason takes over Tyler duty at about Tyler's worst time of day.  My mom calls it the arsenic hour.  I abandon him for forever (ok, I go in the kitchen), he's hungry (but it isn't quite meal time), he's sleepy (but it's too late for a nap and too early for bedtime), and Jason swoops in and entertains and distracts him.

I love watching them play together.   He runs Tyler around the house on top of Jason's head.  He builds block towers and gets Tyler to knock them down.  He vrooms an airplane around Tyler's head until Tyler grabs it like King Kong.  I just don't think to do any of those things!  He really does get two different playtimes with his two different parents.  Jason is just so creative and energetic with him!


After dinner, it's Tyler's FAVORITE time of day -- bath time.  He and Jason have this whole routine where Jason asks Tyler what time it is (to which Tyler begins grinning and squealing and trying to jump out of our arms).  When Jason answers his own question by exclaiming "It's bath time!" Tyler can barely contain himself!

I know there will be bathtimes where only one or the other of us does it, but it's really helpful right now to double-team it.  It's also a nice family time where there are no other distractions.  After bath time, he plays a little in his room and then Jason kisses him goodnight and gets some goodnight fives.



I couldn't do this without Jason.  If he wasn't in the picture or if he was a distant dad, I don't think I could work and take care of Tyler.

For more "aww" moments between Jason and Tyler (especially for those of you new to the blog), you may want to read these old posts:
Wordless Wednesday
Daddy's Boy
Daddy Time
Mornings
Life



Thanks to those of you who made it through the end of this series.  It's been really fun writing, but I'm ready to get back to posting tons of pictures of Tyler and catching up on what we've been up to recently.