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  Mike is traveling this week for work. He left this morning and will be gone for three nights.  I did what I usually do when Mike travels, eat cereal. 

I realized that each of us has our own "solo parenting" style.  My dinners often consist of either sharing a box of mac-n-cheese with the kids or a eating a bowl of cereal.  I always give them a bath (Mike never does) and then we all pile into Ben's room and read books together.  I usually have them in bed earlier than we do as a team (oddly enough).

Mike has a totally different routine. He generally makes a frozen pizza with the boys, then lets them hang out in my bed, stay up late and eat popcorn in our bed while watching a movie.

I think it's great that we each have our own "things" that we do when the other one is out for an evening or traveling. 

So what is your "specialty" when your spouse is out for the night or away? Do you do anything special/different with the kids?

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  I kissed my sleeping boys goodbye this morning as I silently tiptoed out of the house and made my way to the airport for a nice 5-hour flight to San Francisco.  I leave the kids approximately two times per year, once for this conference (the Online News Association, I get to meet the founder of Twitter!) and once for another work trip to Washington, DC.  That's about it.  Occasionally I've had an overnight to my parents' house (funeral) or with my friends (shopping) but that's not even annually.

In anticipation of this trip I bought two good books (one of which I just left on the plane, boo!), made dinner reservations at a fancy steak place for tonight and plan to take a sightseeing trip…ALL BY MYSELF.

I'm not the kind of mother that dreads leaving my kids. It might make me sound horrid but I actually look forward to a little me time. Time to eat a quiet dinner with a good book, sleep in a comfy bed (all night long with nobody waking me up), network with other professionals in my field, etc.  I've been excited about this conference for months.

So I found myself quite surprised this morning as I rode on the tram to the terminal that I just kept thinking about the boys riding the tram when we went to Disney and how they thought it was a "ride".  I found myself getting a little teary as I passed the KidSport play area in the airport and pictured my boys sitting on the play airplanes looking out at the big one waiting for their turn to get on. 

I actually really, truly miss my kids.  A lot.  As beautiful as this city is and as excited as I am to go explore it I find myself rather sad today. Sad and lonely.

I think for the first few years the kids were just SO MUCH WORK that a little break was such a breath  of fresh air.  I got to go to an actual restaurant, not a McDonalds! But these days life is much easier with the boys. They play well together, they sit in restaurants and eat their meals (most of the time) without embarrassing us. 

I think I'm realizing that the older they get the more I am able to truly ENJOY them, and not necessarily NEED a break from them like I used to.

Those little guys are my buddies now and I enjoy sharing these kinds of experiences with them. 

Of course, as fate would have it, on the airplane I happened to get seated within arms-reach of the three babies on the entire plane. It must have been the "kid section" guess I fit right in, wearing my PittsburghMom sweatshirt.  At first I was not pleased. I'd come to enjoy the peace and quiet and instead would have to listen to other people's kids cry.  But the headphones and good movie made even the most unpleasant hours go by quickly and I got to "babysit" a four-month-old while his mom went to the restroom.  

I know I'll enjoy that sightseeing trip today but I think as I look out over the Bay Bridge, I'll just be thinking about how much the boys would love it, too.

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