E is for Elternzeit!

Will is currently on day two of his two week parenting leave (auf Deutsch = Elternzeit). And so far, he has taken it on the chin.

On day one, we decided to go patio furniture shopping. We have a beautiful, 350 square foot balcony that is home to a couple plastic bottles that Billy chews on and a clothes drying rack. Not impressive. So in my vast wisdom (which you could call ill-conceived impulsiveness, if you were a mean person), we headed out to an outdoor furniture store that I found on the internet. After a harrowing journey that took us to the southern most point of our subway line, then on a 4 km walk past strawberry farms, friendly horses and finally into an industrial wasteland, we arrive at a store that is both tiny and almost comically out of our price range. Add to that changing Edie on concrete steps (thank you, anti-microbial memory-foam changing pad), nursing her while walking and at a bus stop, we finally arrived home a frightening five minutes before her bed time. Oh, and somewhere on the way, Will gets stung on the neck by a bee. Yeeowzah.

Only 24 hours into his stay-cation, I think engineering-work is seeming a little less daunting. But this dad is determined to tough it out as a mom for the next two weeks. He will have earned his Fathers Day props.