Holy Crow, I Have Free Time! When the Toddler is Away, the Parents Need to Play!

Man, am I feeling good right now! I think it may have something to do with some extra sleep and some extra free time I've been getting. You see, Jack's grandparents picked him up on Saturday and we are toddler free until Thanksgiving. I've got free time coming out of my ears! I knew in my brain how much time we put into Jack on a daily basis, but I didn't realize in terms of what I can do with that time until he was gone. 

We've had a few times like this before and we aren't one of those crazy parents that can't let their kid out of their sight for longer than 5 mins. We are OK on that front. We know he's safe, having fun and developing a good bond with his grandparents.So that leaves us with decisions to make on what to do with this new found free time. Here's some things I've found that help.

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!

If you want to do this right you need to plan ahead. Find out as far in advance as possible when your little one will be away and start contacting your friends. Once I knew Jack was going to be gone I started emailing my buddies about a "Boys Afternoon". You ladies seem to have a lot of nights out; I'm always seeing some mom or another posting about ladies night.

While I've heard of a "Boys Night Out", I've never really seen one or been a part of one since I've been married and had a kid. I think it's like Sasquatch, just an urban legend. So in light of that the last time Jack was gone as well as this time I planned an afternoon out with my friends (some dad's some not) drinking beer at a good beer bar. We shoot the breeze, give each other crap, and generally just do what guys do when they get together and have a few beers. Each time has been great, and it's nice to be able to catch up with your friends and get a little more detail other than the latest with the kids.

SPEND TIME WITH YOUR LADY

This will usually happen anyway. You married that lady so I'm sure you want to spend SOME time with her. We celebrated our seven year anniversary (yay!) this last weekend so it was perfect that Jack was with his grandparents. I bought my wife a nice present and we went out to a place in Bellevue.

We both enjoy beer quite a bit (one of the reasons I married her) so we went to a new place for both of us. I think this is key too. Try to do something new and fun together. Even if it's just a new restaurant it gives you something to talk about besides the kid and the house. It helps you reconnect as real people and not Mom and Dad. I find couples often get caught up in their Mom and Dad roles and sometimes it's nice to just go back to being that cool, pre-baby couple. You can go out together after 6 pm! You can stay out late! You can go to bed past 10 pm! Oh the possibilities!

PLAN SOME FREE TIME TO DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO

This may seem obvious, but don't forget to do it. Your wife will probably have things on the honeydo list for you to do, so you need to make sure to plan some time just for yourself to do things you like to do. For me it was "Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword".It came out on Sunday so first thing Sunday morning I went to my local video game store and got it. My wife went shopping so I put in about five hours of gaming that first day. It was glorious. If you like golfing, try to get some golfing in (or at least a bucket of balls), go see a movie, anything, just make sure it's something that you enjoy and don't get to do that often. 

So these are my tips for when you get that rare occasion of more than a couple of hours of free time. In this time of thanks I am truly thankful and lucky to have such great family that's willing to take a toddler for a few days. While it's been great to play video games and such, I can barely wait to get my little buddy back on Thursday.  

What are some tips and tricks you have when you find that you have some free time on your hands?