I went away. In my five years of being a parent, this has never happened before. Sure, I have gone away for a long time during the day, and occasionally my husband has tucked my daughter in at night, but this has never, ever happened before.
I had to go to a meeting out of town, and it was physically impossible for me to do so unless I stayed overnight. I tried to get out of it, really I did. However, I realized that I was going to have to go, so I started the advertising.
My daughter would be going to her grandparents’ house with her dad while I was away overnight. They’d visit with my niece, who was also visiting the inlaws. The niece is a baby: this is very exciting. They’d have pancakes in the morning, maybe watch a movie at night.
Strangely enough, once I reiterated the inevitability of me going away, she went for it. I was so relieved.
I must confess that I enjoyed my evening away. I read a book, and watched television, and even had a bath. It was very quiet, and as an introvert I am rather fond of quiet. I called once, long before she went to bed so I wouldn’t upset the process. It was all good. She slept for the usual amount of time and woke only once.
Now, I don’t know that this opens up a whole world of going away for me, but you never know. I rather like being there when my daughter goes to sleep. However, there are many, many things that I have decided to skip over the years because I realized that I would need to be away overnight. Now some of these things might become possible again.
Have you gone away from your preschooler on an overnight trip? How did you fare?
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