Home Alone With My Two Year Old
by Gabriel A. Fraire ~
gafraire@comcast.net
Healdsburg, CA. ~ Any par- ent who takes an active role in their childrens’ lives knows: the return to school means a whole new life-schedule for the family.
Whether the kids (or parents) look for- ward to school or not doesn’t matter.
The
fact is, everyone needs to make adjustments each new school year. Parental Understatement 2331: It was a major life change the first time, on a routine basis, I was left alone all day with my two year old daughter. My sec- ond daughter throws a major league fit whenever she gets frustrated and she can get frus- trated simply trying to put on a T-shirt. But heaven help the person who tries to help her, she throws an even bigger fit, “I do it. I do it.”
When the older one was young-
er I was able to leave her to her own devices while I wrote. She generally played well alone and she loves animation so if worse came to worse I could just pop a tape in the machine and she would stay glued to the tube. But the youngest doesn’t care much for the television and I’ve yet to see her play by herself. It’s not fair to say I was dread- ing that first day when I was
left alone with my two year old but when the day started, some- where around 6:30 a.m. and she was already throw- ing a fit about getting dressed, it was going to be a long day. My youngest has tak- en to getting up in the middle of the night and crawling into our bed. One night I was hav- ing this terrible night- mare about a dentist.
My eyes bolted open just at the most horrifying moment, and there it was, my daughter’s hand was in my mouth. There is noth- ing quite like the early morning smell of urine soaked diapers. The little one likes to do what-
ever anyone else does, so I fig- ured it wouldn’t be too difficult to keep her occupied, just let her tag along doing whatever I’m doing. I refer to times like that as Father Brainless Time. The first thing we usually do
in the morning (after the others have left) is make the bed. Un- fortunately, we have in the past played this little game called “bump”. This game involves one or both of my daughters be- ing on the bed while I throw a sheet or blanket over them and then say: “What is that bump under my blanket?” Then I jump on top and tickle them. It’s great fun and we all enjoy it. Howev-
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er, now anytime I go to make the bed the little one wants to play “bump.” So we left the bed un- made. Being a parent sure makes one think of their own parents. And although I have yet to say to my kids, “Because I said so.” I have used other phrases that my parents used on me. The one I kept thinking about on this par- ticular morning (although I nev- er said it aloud) was one of my dad’s favorite retorts to whenev- er one of his kids asked to help him with something. He’d say, “If you were old enough to help you wouldn’t want to.” We spent two hours doing the dishes together. I kept wonder- ing how many times in future years I’ll hear myself saying. “Whose turn to do the dishes?” And her replying, “Oh dad, do I have to.” So I leaned over and kissed her on the head, grate- ful she was still a baby and I am lucky enough to be able to spend time with her before she’s all grown up.
Tese columns are excerpts
from the book Daddy I Need to Go Potty by Gabriel A.
Fraire. Fraire has been a writer more than 40 years and is the current Literary Laureate of
Healdsburg. He can be reached through his
website:
gabrielfraire.com
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