Taking over.

It's that time again. Time to deal with a seriously cranky, teething child and have no one to pass him off to at the end of the day. Time to see battle rattle distributed and then unceremoniously left all over the house. Time for phone calls of complaint from wives who think a 6 week stint in the field is cause for alarm.

Yes, it is time for CPT Dick to leave again. He'll be heading out for a 6-8 week exercise at the end of the week.

In some ways, I have to admit it, I'm kind of ready for him to go. I have some stuff I want to do while he's away, stuff that I would never be able to do while he's here because (a) he's a one-man wrecking ball and (b) he has developed an annoying tendency to spend evenings leaning over my shoulder going, "What you doing? Huh? What you doing?" And he's serious.

So for me, it won't be so bad. But for the Munchkin? I don't know. So far, there has been fairly little repercussion involved with his father's absences. But lately, he definitely prefers his Daddy as he is wild and fun and I no longer offer boobies full of milk. So I'm wondering if this trip will be the first one where my son misses his Daddy and actually realizes it. And then, I'm wondering how I'm going to handle that. Right now I'm guessing it will involve a lot of candy, Elmo and perhaps a shot of whiskey before bed (I'm not saying for who either).

Luckily (for him, not me), my in-laws will be here for a week. I'm sure that will distract him some given that there is no question of them implementing the candy/soda/Elmo/whiskey plan, the lushes.

All I know for sure is that it's all going to get very interesting.