Life with the Liggetts: A Week of Single Parenting

Single moms have always impressed me. Whether they're moms who are really young and not quite "ready", moms who are without a partner in all of this, or moms who don't have any type of support system, I have so much respect for them, and to be honest, I'm still not really quite sure how they do it. I do know one thing though -- they are a heck of a lot stronger than I am. That's for sure.

Ben was in Baltimore for work most of this week, which meant I had to be 100-percent "on" 100-percent of the time. Overall, it was a good week {the beautiful bouquet Ben had left waiting for me when I got home from work on Monday helped}, but that's not to say that this little ham didn't do his best to keep me on my toes for a good part of it.

After my dog bite incident, I had promised the ER nurse that I would keep my battle wounds covered to prevent any type of infection. She had sent me home the night before with plenty of extra gauze, but my method of choice was band-aids. In my mind, I thought it looked a little more discreet, but this selfie that I sent to Ben proves otherwise.

On the way home from work that day, Jackson and I made a quick stop into Michael's. He did pretty good -- despite the fact that he took off both shoes and a sock and pulled everything out of the diaper bag including a small candy bar that I had no idea was in there. He was already pretty filthy from playing outside at Mimi's, so the candy bar was just icing on the cake. And as if that weren't enough, when we were standing in line to check out, he told me "booger, eat" and then proceeded to do just that. Definitely not my proudest moment. Out in the parking lot, as I was struggling to get him in the car seat, I noticed that I was keeping a man from being able to get into his car. I apologized, but thankfully he was understanding and said: "That's okay...I'm just reliving the exact same moments that I had with my son 24 years ago. You'll miss this one day." I responded by asking my strong-willed child, "You think, Jackson? You think I'll miss this in 24 years?", but I know that I will. I'll miss this sweet face even though he can be quite the challenge sometimes.

Bathtime -- a.k.a. nearing the homestretch.

Lately Jackson has gotten so good at using the big boy potty. He doesn't quite know how to hold it yet, so he goes in both his diaper and the potty, but he knows that he has to go in order to get a sucker and is capable of going as soon as he sits down. And when he goes, he insists that everyone get a sucker, too.

Tuesday got off to a rough start.

He got up at 6, which is pretty early for him, and it was a battle of wills between the two of us. He dumped dog food in the water bowl and threw rocks into the neighbor's yard, but as soon as I brought out my bowl of cereal, he suddenly became my best friend again.

Later that morning, we met up with some girls from Sunday School and their kids for a St. Patrick's Day playdate at Waterloo. Both the kids and the moms had a great time, and afterwards, as I was changing Jackson's diaper in the back of my car, I ran into a colleague that I know through a professional organization and hadn't seen in quite sometime. He was wearing a suit, and I had band-aids all over my face and was up to my elbows in stinky poop. Picture perfect, I tell you.

That evening, Ben's parents brought dinner over and ended up taking Jackson home with them to spend the night. Unfortunately, my mom had woken up feeling horrible that day and was diagnosed with both a sinus infection and bronchitis, so Kyle had offered to watch Jackson the next day so that I could still go to work. It really does take a village sometimes. That night, the house was so quiet and a little lonely, but it was also the most picked up that it has been in a long time, and I even had time to do a little reading before bed. Love & Logic is quite the helpful parenting book these days, but some parts are just downright ridiculous.

Jackson and Kyle had a wonderful day together, and I loved getting to see all of the pictures and hear all of the stories. I'm still not sure which one of them had more fun.

Jackson was already at the house when I got home from work, and it was so good to see him. A quiet and clean house is nice, but I was so glad to have him back -- even when things took a turn for the worse at bedtime when after a few wardrobe changes, I gave him the choice between bed or books, and he chose to hit instead. The power struggle is real, y'all, and sometimes I think I'm losing! Thankfully he fell asleep quickly and woke up in a much better mood the next morning.

I've recently decided that Thursdays are my favorite day of the week. For one thing, it's the end of my work week and the start of my "weekend", but on top of that, it's also garbage collection day. And anyone who has a toddler knows that garbage day is pretty much the best day ever. Jackson absolutely loves the garbage truck, and therefore, I love it, too. On Thursday morning, we went to Stroller Strides at the mall and then ran a few quick errands. Ben introduced Jackson to Great American Cookies the last time that we were all there, and now Jackson somehow finds it and runs directly to it every time that we're there. Like father, like son.

I obviously didn't buy him a soda, but seriously, no paternity test needed. He is his father's son.

While running our errands, Jackson did his best to tell both the sales clerk at Macy's and Stride Rite all about the recycling truck that had stopped by our house that morning and the truck that was digging in front of the mall on our way in. And, of course, on the way out, we had to stop by the construction site to watch. He would say "no" every time that I asked if he was done watching, but thankfully after reminding him that the garbage truck still needed to stop by our house, we were on our way.

While waiting for the garbage truck, we ate lunch outside and even did a little bit of lizard/bug hunting. Being a boy mom really is so much fun.

And when the garbage truck got close enough that we could hear it, Jackson drug his chair off the front porch for a front row view.

Naptime was quickly approaching, but I knew that there was no way I'd get him inside before it came by, so we pressed on. Thankfully, it turned down our street just as I was about to call it quits. The driver honked, Jackson waved, and when the truck was finally out of sight, he was off to bed.

A post-nap potty trip.

Even the mink bunny that I got from my Pawpaw Jack when I was a baby was a lucky recipient this week.

That evening, while waiting for Ben to get home, Jackson helped me with dinner...

...squirted Amos with water {thank God for Amos because otherwise it would have been me}...

...helped me bring in the trash cans...

...and worked on his college scholarship.

We were both so excited when Ben finally got home, but honestly, I think Ben was even more excited than we were. Four days is a long time to go without being around this sweet boy -- even when he's being a little toot.