This morning, it looked like my wife was finally going to be able to break through the airport deadlock after Snowpocalypse NYC, so we (on vacation all, here in Florida) had to separate her from the kids. As I mentioned before, my kids barely spoke to me during the five days she was here, so great is their mama-need. So I was anticipating high drama when me and the kids got dropped off at NOAA’s (rather awesome, and totally free) Eco Discovery Center. The wife was headed straight to the airport after that, so I imagined a lot of gnashing of baby teeth and rending of toddler garments.

Instead, what I got was a few “bye, mom”s and a queen’s wave from the kids, who then turned to go eco-discover.

And then, something far more dramatic happened. Perhaps sensing that now, he was truly on his own in the world, my two-year-old son said that he had to go to the bathroom, and for the first time in his life, actually used an adult-sized restroom. Big poop, he said afterwards.

Big poop, indeed. Congratulations, son: keep on staying one step ahead of life’s little changes and things will turn out just fine.