Jon & Kate Plus 8 - Mr. Mom

Mr. Mom
Jon gets a chance to do things his own way when Kate goes out of town for a few days.

~*~

I am actually really interested in seeing how this episode goes. Kate often appears to not do a whole lot and makes Jon do a lot of the more labor intensive stuff. I wonder how Jon's going to fare.

Kate was in NYC promoting "brown bag" lunches, so Jon was alone with the kids. Since it was raining outside, Jon got the kids to clean up the basement and then they started to make a fort. They got all of the blankets out and draped them over everything. The kids had fun running in and out and climbing over everything.

Jon started on lunch preparation but it didn't seem like a big lunch. An apple slice, a piece of cheese, and a cracker with peanut butter. Somehow I feel like the kids would want to eat more than that. Kate did leave specific instructions and Jon was smart to take a picture of each thing for every day.

The kids got sent upstairs for naptime so Jon could have a break from the kids. I do kind of see that if you were alone with the kids for days at a time, a break would be nice.

It was successful because there was only 1 bloody incident while Kate was gone. Alexis cut her eye. Jon patched her up and sent her back out to play. After nap, Jon started to get dinner ready. Kate interjects that she did miss them and wondered how they were doing. She did think Jon was competent, but was wondering what they were doing. I'm glad that she thinks her own husband was competent.

Dinner seemed like business as usual. The kids weren't allowed dessert unless they finished their dinner. Hannah started to get upset because she couldn't have dessert. But Jon never wavered. Good job!

The kids spent the rest of the evening playing with Dad outside. They ended up throwing balls back and forth at each other like dodge ball. Everyone seemed happy running around but then it was bathtime.

By the end of the night, Jon looked exhausted. After taking care of all those kids for the day, I would be too! But it was nice to see that after all the previous conversations, Alexis rejoined her sisters in their room.

The next day, Jon got Mady and Cara off to school and started to work on a project with the kids. Each little kid got some paper and made it into their book, where they would draw pictures of what they were doing when Mommy was one. He also gave each of the kids the video camera so they could video each other. Some of the footage was super funny as the kids were pint sized. The kids made a video for Kate and told her how much they missed her and love her. It was cute and she seemed touched that they made it for her.

After lunch and the art project, the kids headed to school. Jon and Kate explained the reward system at their school. Green means good day, yellow means okay day, and red is an awful day. So each day as they head to school, they hope for green.

Jon tells us that the next day was September 11, so he gave the kids some flags to stick in the yard by the driveway. I think that's such a great thing for the family to do together and as a remembrance, too. Some of the kids didn't understand what they were doing, so Jon explained it to them, too.

When Kate got back home, she said she was glad to be home but was glad that the kids documented their few days. Jon was glad to see Kate come home as he realized it's a *lot* of work. A lot.

SassySarah's Review: Jon did a good job as a single dad for a few days. One thumb up for Jon.