After a month of being three hours away from home Monday-Friday, D is finally home. It was harder than I ever expected. Three of the four weeks, the little guy and I made the trek out to visit D (hence my staying-in-a-hotel-with-a-toddler post). Because he had to work overnight shifts, the little guy and I had to stay out of the hotel during the day before naptime so he could sleep. So we still didn't get to spend a whole lot of time together. I know the time away was hard for D, too, because he really hates spending time away from the little guy.

We did manage to get in a family trip to a zoo while we were out there, which was a lot of fun. I also took the little guy to an apple orchard, playground and wildlife preserve while D was sleeping during the day. I felt bad that he couldn't be with us for all the fun, though. I have to say, my hat goes off to those who have spouses who travel all the time for work or who are deployed. I don't know if I could handle being separated from D all the time.

Working was interesting as well. The hotel had wireless Internet, but as I mentioned before, the connection was less than stellar. The little guy took a nap every afternoon while we were visiting D, but I had to go hide in the bathroom until he fell asleep since being able to see me was too distracting. However, I did manage to get in my normal hours, even though my seat on the floor was a bit uncomfortable.

The photo above, by the way, is the result of me having to be on the phone for work for 30 minutes while the little guy was awake. Obviously he's figured out that he can't really get in trouble when I'm on the phone. Like I said, things are getting back to normal ...

This morning I found out I had to be on a conference call at 10:30. Those are always difficult when the little guy is awake and running around, but it's more time I can bill for, so I always call in, no matter how last minute. Of course, the little guy and I happened to sleep in this morning, so I didn't have much time to prepare.

In the hour and a half that I was on the conference call, I filled up the little guy's cereal bowl three times, cleaned off a highchair and toddler coated in Rice Krispies, had to go searching for my phone charger when I got that lovely "20% battery left" notice, got the little guy cookies, dealt with a 15-minute potty trip (we're beginning potty training, and the little guy is VERY enthusiastic, so it's a lot of up and down off the potty), and broke a mirror. My cell phone, on speaker and mute, followed along the whole time.

Just another day working from home ...

Since he's bound to be a major topic of this blog, I thought I'd introduce you to my son. And, no, he doesn't look anything like the cartoon baby pictured above. That is a still from one of his current favorite cartoons--the Jack Jack short from Pixar's The Incredibles. He has very little interest in TV and movies in general, but he loves the Pixar shorts. My parents got him a DVD for his birthday that contains all of the Pixar shorts and he wakes up every morning asking to watch it (he calls every movie a "disk," but usually he means his Pixar disk).

He's a funny little guy, as most toddlers are, and just turned 2 earlier this month. Besides running around the house and watching his Pixar cartoons, he loves to play outside, draw, cook (or pretend to cook) and attempting to run up to every dog he sees (real or fake) to give them a kiss.

From the ages of 3 months to just a few weeks ago, he spent a lot of time with my mother-in-law since she watched him while my husband and I were at work. This resulted in him becoming somewhat of a neat freak, which my mother-in-law fully admits is her fault. He runs up to me for cleanup when he gets something on his hands, he can't stand to wear clothes after they get a little messy, and he often runs around the house looking for things he can throw away. In some ways, I hope this continues when he's older.

This summer we have big plans for him--moving from his crib to a regular bed and starting potty training. He loves his crib and is content to play in there after he wakes up (in fact, sometimes I have to force him to get up), but he's tall for 2 and I'm afraid he's going to fall out one of these days. I know it's time, and I'm sure he'll do fine, but I'm pretty sure some tears will be shed on my end when the crib is gone. As for potty training ... well, I'm in no hurry. We'll work on it, but I'm not going to set a deadline where he HAS to be potty trained by a certain date or age.

Stay tuned for the amusing stories that are sure to come from those summer activities ...