PRESCHOOL BLUES

In less than a week Arden will turn four and she’ll start going to preschool five days a week (up from three). I’ve been waiting, less-than-patiently, for this moment ever since the day I became a full-time stay-at-home dad. However, now that the big day is upon me, I feel conflicted.

There’s no question the days when I have both girls are tough. But I’m already starting to miss the little sass machine. I really won’t see her during the week anymore. The mornings before school don’t count because I’m busy feeding the baby and getting Arden dressed and ready for school. And evenings after I pick her up from school don’t really count either because they’re filled with making dinner, fighting over how much parmesan cheese Arden can put on her chicken nuggets (according to Arden everything tastes better with parmesan cheese and ketchup) and putting the baby to bed (we’re weaning Alex off the boob so I have to put Alex to bed while Jen gets to read stories to Arden.) So again, I really won’t see that much of her. And I can’t believe I’m gonna write this, but I’m gonna miss getting down on the floor and playing dollhouse (granted I insist on using Star Wars figures when we play) but I’m also gonna miss painting her toenails random colors and playing that god awful Madagascar 2 board game. Man did they miss the mark on that one.
Sure I can still do all this on the weekend, but Jen will be there too which means I’ve lost my special one-on-one time with Arden. Or one-on-one-and-a-half time if you count Alex. I don’t think Arden favors me any more than Jen, in fact I think she might even prefer Jen since the traditional roles have been reversed and I’m the one who tells her “no” all day long and Jen’s the one she waits excitedly by the door to see at the end of the day. But even though Arden may favor her mother right now, I’m gonna miss our dynamic. Plus she probably won’t even realize Jen and I will essentially be spending the same amount of time with her now, so she’ll still favor Jen.

So what am I gonna do? I’m gonna buy Arden everything she wants and make her love me more than Jen. But seriously I figure since I’ll already be watching one kid during the week, why not occasionally opt to watch two. I think at least one day a week I’ll take Arden out of school early. I haven’t figured out exactly what we’ll do yet. Maybe I’ll sign her up for a pottery class or something or go on one of our many day trips to the Museum of Natural History or Best Buy. Doesn’t really matter where we go, as long as the two of us get to hang out like the good old days of last week.