Just 30 minutes will do

The husband left for a business trip in the early hours of Sunday morning.

For the first time since Aidan was born, I found myself doing all the parenting. In anticipation of the lack of sleep, I asked to leave work earlier this week. All I needed was between 15 and 30 minutes of extra time off, and my supervisor, being a new mother herself, kindly agreed.

And what a world of difference this extra time has made.

For once, I didn’t feel like I had to hurry to pick up my little man. There was no rush for me to get him, bring him home, feed him dinner, bathe him and then put him to bed. Those precious extra minutes that I had were enough to keep me calm.

And once home, I had the luxury of taking him downstairs for a jaunt after nursing and before dinner. We had time to slowly walk around the path, explore the fitness stations, pick up fallen leaves to throw them into the rubbish bin, exclaim at dogs and be friendly with other kids.

I found myself thinking that all I needed was these extra 30 minutes a day to be a better parent. To spend enough time with him before his bedtime. To do things like pick up pebbles and throw them into drains. To look at cars zooming by in silent awe.

If only I had these extra 30 minutes.

Leaving work early meant I could see the nephew and A playing together at my mother’s.