One week in...

"Can I watch yer kids fer awhile?"

So at 5 p.m. on Friday (two days ago, that is), my first week-long shift officially ended, although I did still end up watching Connor a little that evening while Stacey cooked dinner. (It's not enough that I watched him, like, ALL week? I've gotta watch him while she cooks MY meal? Huh?)

Monday went smoothly enough — two naps, each about two hours and few tantrums. Tuesday, though, is when my real initiation started. Connor slept for somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour THE ENTIRE DAY. Grumpy? Uh, yeah. Just a little. So, on Wednesday, I decided it was time to get out of the house and find some playgrounds. When looking for a playground, where is the first place you look? Churches, obvoiusly. But, apparently nobody told the folks 'round these parts that playgrounds are a helpful tool for restless children — idle hands are the devil's plaything, after all. We couldn't find a single one near the house and Connor was not happy about it. So, on our way home, I pulled into a state recreation area and stopped at the guard station. I rolled my window down and asked the guard if there were any playgrounds around. He looked at me with a really suspicious look on his face and gave me a little attitude. I had forgotten that I was driving Stacey's mom's car, which has tinted windows and that the guard couldn't see Connor in the back. Oh, and of course there's the super-sweet handlebar mustache I was rocking. The full sleeve of tattoos might not have helped either. Apparently dudes with mustaches, sunglasses and tattoos asking where little kids hang out raises some alarms. (This is going to be fun.)

He warmed up a little after I explained that we had just moved to town and was looking for a place for my son to play. I think he was still a little suspicious, especially since Connor didn't make a peep the whole time, despite crying for most of the rest of the excursion, but he was helpful, giving me a map of all the area parks with a listing of which ones had playgrounds. Too bad none of them are very close. Guess Mr. Connor is going to get used to the car seat pretty quickly.