Day 1,220 - Happy Birthday, Ethan!

I constantly find myself amazed at the passage of time. February marks "Birthday season" in House Holt with Bethany (2-13), Ethan (2-12), and myself (2-1) all having birthdays in a two-week span. While I personally don't find myself feeling any older, the rapid growth of Ethan is very evident especially when one compares a picture from his second birthday to one from his third birthday. Of course, a birthday isn't just for obsessively thinking about what's changed. It's also for celebrating and having fun and that's exactly what we did for Ethan's birthday!

Since Ethan was undeniably aware of his birthday this year, Bethany and I really wanted to make it special for the little man. His day started around 6:30 with a fairly typical breakfast of Honey Bunches of Oats. However, as soon as he was done with breakfast, the fun began as he was allowed to open his birthday gift from us.

For the past couple of years, Ethan has had a gray Royals hat that has been a consistent part of his wardrobe. However, the day finally came for him to outgrow it this year. That didn't stop him from still attempting to wear said hat but it did cause him to look absolutely ludicrous in doing so. Therefore, we decided that the time had come to buy him a new Royals hat. For the record, I found it incredibly difficult to decide on the perfect hat for Ethan since I knew it would be worn so frequently. We ultimately decided on another gray cap with the "KC" logo in blue underneath a golden crown logo. Ethan loved it and immediately put it on his head where it would remain for most of the day to come.

Of course, a little boy deserves more than a new cap for his special day. He also deserves his favorite meal of fried rice with an ice cream sundae bar for dessert. Yes, I know that cake is the traditional birthday dessert of choice. However, Ethan really, really, really likes ice cream so we went that route instead. It also helped that we got to partake in some awesome Spider-Man-themed cupcakes the day before while celebrating with my parents and grandma.

Ethan enjoying some ice cream with Papa Fred!

After lunch, it was time for Ethan to take a short nap before the main event of his birthday, a trip to the circus! Neither Bethany or myself had actually been to a circus since we were kids. In fact, we weren't even 100% certain that there still were circuses. Enter the Carden Circus. I first heard about the Carden Circus via a coupon giveaway on our local Buy Nothing page. Once we realized that the circus would actually take place on Ethan's birthday, we knew that we definitely wanted to attend!

In case you're wondering, the Carden Circus is actually a legitimate three-ring circus of old. There were animal acts including horses, camels, dogs, cats, and elephants (and inexplicable men in bear costumes). There were also danger acts including tightrope walkers, aerialist displays, a human cannonball, and motorcycle acts. While it took Ethan a bit to settle down due to the excitement he was feeling, once he did so, he was absolutely engrossed in everything there was to see. In fact, two days later, he's still talking about the motorcycles and "dancing girls". For the record, "dancing girls" is referring to the aerialists; I know how that sounds.

 

Even though Ethan is growing up super fast, I love the fact that our family is continuing to build memories together that will hopefully last for years to come. In fact, Ethan's personality has really flourished over the past year between his affinity for all things Kansas City Chiefs to his continued love for cows and farming and his undeniable friendship with Ellie. I'm excited to see what the next year will bring when the time comes to snap another picture in the big brown chair in a little under 12 months from now.

Day 1,210 - "This is the best day of my whole life!"

What's the best day of your life?

Everyone has a different answer to that question. Some would say the day they got married. Others would point to the birth of their children. There's even some in the world who would point to their favorite sports team winning a championship (not me!). If you're asking Ellie, what she would refer to as the best day of her life happened just ten days ago at Great Wolf Lodge right here in Kansas City.

As part of the kids' Christmas gift from my parents, they decided to pay for a night's stay at Great Wolf Lodge. Now, I realize a hotel stay may not seem like the most exciting thing in the world. However, when that hotel stay is coupled with an indoor water park, it certainly becomes a lot more exciting for a five-year-old and a two-year-old. For the dates of our stay, we chose to take advantage of the long weekend provided by Martin Luther King Day and spent the night on Sunday night, leaving on Monday.

Basically as soon at Ethan woke up from his nap on Sunday around 1:00, the four of us loaded up in the car and drove the 30 minutes over to Great Wolf Lodge. Even though our official check-in time wasn't until 4:00 pm, we could still arrive early and enjoy the water park until our room was ready. Conveniently enough, our room was already ready so we could do a full check-in. Once we were all changed into our swimsuits, it was time to head to the water park.

The first thing that drew Ellie's attention upon entering the water park was the giant "Treehouse" taking up residence in the middle of the water park. It didn't take long for Ellie to start weaving her way through the falling water and various cargo nets in an attempt to reach the twin water slides at the top of the structure. From there, she laid down on the slide and off she went! As the afternoon went on, she probably rode those slides more than ten times.

Of course, the "Treehouse" wasn't the only attraction in the Water Park. For Ethan, he was undeniably drawn to the Lazy River first and foremost. With his life jacket safely buckled, he happily bobbed through the Lazy River, making lap after lap after lap. While the Lazy River is definitely relaxing and an enjoyable way to spend the day, it didn't take me long to start looking up at the three giant slides four stories above my head.

Once my parents, who were spending the night at Great Wolf Lodge with us, arrived, I finally convinced Bethany to ride one of the big slides with me. We took our places upon an inner tube at the top of the structure and launched ourselves off only to quickly fall into three series of funnels where we spun around and got repeatedly pelted by gallons of water. Our tube actually turned completely backward and we had to complete the slide looking at where we had come from rather than where we were going.

While I definitely wasn't going to find anyone willing to ride that particular slide with me again, there were two more giant slides to be ridden. For the record, those two giant slides didn't just appeal to me; they also appealed to Ellie and Ethan as well. From the first time they hopped on a raft to head down "the blue slide", they were completely enamored with their trip. In fact, they were so enamored that on some occasions, we were making trips back up the four flights of stairs as soon as we landed.

Ellie somehow convinced my mom to ride the blue slide with her!

While Ellie loved "the blue slide" due to its open air concept and fast speeds, Ethan preferred "the yellow one". That slide had the fast speeds that are a hallmark of all water slides. However, the majority of the slide took place in pitch black conditions. While Ellie was understandably terrified by those very conditions, Ethan loved every second of it. His screams of delight definitely confirmed that.

Of course, the water park wasn't the only exciting thing about our stay at Great Wolf Lodge. The kids also got the opportunity to sleep in their own special "log cabin" complete with bunk beds inside our room. Actually, "sleep" is a bit of a misnomer as they were awake until after 10 due to a Chiefs game but that's ok. They also got the opportunity to meet the Great Wolf Lodge mascots and participate in both an Arts and Crafts time and a Story Time! All of us even got furry wolf ears to take home with us to boot!

Pajama party at the clock tower!!!

When you take all of the fun that we had over two days into account, it's no wonder that Ellie referred to her time at Great Wolf Lodge as being the greatest day of her life! She even has already asked on multiple occasions when we can go back again. I suppose that's pretty good marketing for Great Wolf Lodge so if they want to offer us a free night's stay for mentioning them, I'd be ok with it. I'm not holding my breath though! #DaddyWrite

I'm a wolf.

Day 1,199 - The One With All the Goodbyes

Hey there, it's been a bit since we last corresponded. I'm sure you'll forgive me though as it's been a pretty busy season for us. Between three different family Christmas celebrations, three or four trips to look at Christmas lights, finally getting to see Spider-Man: No Way Home, and fighting off a possible case of Covid, it's actually been a really busy month. No worries though as it's all in the rearview mirror now. 

Actually, on second thought, there were a couple more moments in December and January that were definitely firsts for our kids. Unfortunately they were not good firsts. Instead, they were pretty sad firsts for Bethany and I to witness. For the first (and second) time that I can remember, Ellie and Ethan had to say goodbye to friends for the final time as they moved away.

For myself, I personally still remember when my best friend moved away. It was actually really heartwrenching for me. I bought him a Chiefs hat as a going away present and everything. Even though we were only 30 minutes apart from each other, it didn't take long for us to drift apart. We reconnected briefly in college but it really didn't last. Therefore, I definitely identified with what Ellie especially has gone through with saying goodbye to friends over the past month.

It started in December as we bid farewell to our friends, the Blackwells. After knowing them for at least four years and being in their bible study for three, it was definitely hard to say goodbye. Fortunately, Bethany and I had mentally prepared ourselves for such a thing for a while. Therefore, even though we were undoubtedly sad, we had definitely shielded ourselves from some of the hurt. The second one really stung though as we had to say goodbye to our friends, the Lindholts.

Now, Bethany and I have actually known the Lindholts for the better part of a decade. We both arrived at Northland around the same time and became fast friends. During that time, we've both had multiple kids that happened to be around the same age so it was only fitting that they would become close friends. Ellie and Lydia have been especially close during the last several years. In fact, they've arguably been each other's best friend during that time. The same rings true for Ethan and Miles as they've grown up playing together in the nursery at church.

Not sure why Ellie is half-asleep in this photo.

The formal goodbye party for the Lindholts on Sunday actually was where the real pain came from. Bethany and I watched on as Ellie and Lydia spent the entire evening playing together until the time finally came for us to leave. When we told Ellie it was time to say goodbye, she and Lydia grabbed each other in a tight embrace and didn't let go for quite some time. Just to add to the cuteness/hurt factor, Ethan and Miles did the exact same thing. When the time finally came to leave, Lydia gave Ellie a glow stick to remember her by. Even if it will undoubtedly stop glowing within the week, the gesture was incredibly sweet.

While Bethany and I were definitely saddened to say goodbye to our friends, seeing the way it affected our kids made it even harder. Lucky for us, there's things like Facetime and Marco Polo to allow our kids to stay in touch with their friends for as long as they would like to. In fact, to tell the truth, the kids will likely be better at staying in touch that the adults. After all, it seems like that's the way things go except in rare situations.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,183 - The One Where Jesus Checks the Cows

I abhor pressure changes. While the warm weather that they occasionally can bring in those cold winter months can be nice, overall, they're just not that enjoyable. My main reason for saying so has got to be the intense headaches I get as a result of those very changes. The worst thing about them (besides the blinding amounts of pain) has to be just how hard is it to think. I find myself experiencing pretty epic amounts of brain fade. However, I can at least take solace in the fact that I'm not the only one who experiences brain fade in this house.

For the past five years, one routine in our home has been largely the same. Before our kids head to bed at night, Bethany or I will read them a bible story. Some nights it's together as a family. Other nights it's one on one. Monday night was one of those one on one nights where Bethany and Ellie read in the big rocking chair in the kids' room while Ethan and I curled up in Bethany's and my bed to read. Our story for the night was the story of the three wise men traveling to visit Jesus. Since it wasn't a very long story, once we were done, I read Ethan a couple of short "Paw Patrol" stories from a library book. As soon as he heard that Bethany and Ellie were done reading, he scampered into the kids' room to see what they were up to. 

Once Ethan made it to the bedroom, Bethany engaged in another of our routines where we ask the kids questions about their bible story from the night. This is where things got really entertaining. Keep in mind that I'm paraphrasing slightly but the gist of the story remains the same.

 

Bethany: "Hey, buddy. Did you read the bible with Daddy?"
Ethan: "Yes!"
Bethany: "What did you read about?'
Ethan: "The Wise Men."
Bethany: "Oh, what were the three wise men doing?"
Ethan: "They were going to see somebody."
Bethany: "Who were they going to see?"
Ethan: "Jesus."
Bethany: "Oh, what was Jesus doing?"
Ethan: "Checking the cows."
Bethany: "No, buddy. Jesus was not feeding the cows. Think about what holiday is coming up. Who was born on Christmas?"
Ethan: "Santa?"
Bethany: "No, not Santa. Who was born on Christmas? Who were we just talking about?"
Ethan: "Jesus?"
Bethany: "Yes, that's right! They were going to see Jesus. Do you know what they were taking Jesus?"
Ethan: "Popcorn!"
Bethany: "No, not popcorn."

 

If there's any consolation in the fact that Ethan failed to answer most of Bethany's bible-related questions, it's that he's still young and there's time for him to figure it out. Otherwise, he'll be really disappointed someday when he tries to find the story of the wise men giving Jesus popcorn in the real Bible. Side note: does anyone know if popcorn was a thing in Biblical times? I'm guessing not but I could be wrong. #DaddyWrite

Day 1,180 - You're the best! No, you're the best!

Disagreements are nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to family. It can be over something as big as money or something as small as what to watch on television that night. For the record, old episodes of 'Home Improvement' on those TV stations that show really, really old programs is always the answer. Ethan and I are currently in the midst of one of those big disagreements that probably won't be resolved anytime soon. This disagreement is over trying to figure out just who is the best!

If you're asking Ethan, apparently I am the best! Believe it or not, I actually recorded his exact words in a Marco Polo message to Bethany immediately after he said it so that my wife would forever know that her son feels like I am the best! The reason for him thinking this was pretty simple and cute though. During one of the seemingly dozens of potty breaks we take each day, I was helping Ethan pull up his pants when he suddenly began patting me on the head. When I asked him why he was patting me, his answer was simple. Ethan's reply was "Because you're the best!". Hard to argue with that kind of logic, right?

As for why I find myself thinking Ethan is best, the answer is both more complicated and simple at the same time. I think he's the best due to his childlike wonder and exuberance for all things Christmas right now.

We've been slowly decorating for Christmas since last Monday when we put up the Christmas tree. From the moment we put the first branches on, Ethan has been mesmerized by it. In fact, he's already drained the battery on one of our musical Christmas ornaments by pushing the button so many times. I can't I blame him though since it is pretty awesome! He's even figured out how to change the LED lights on our tree to whatever makes him happy in that moment. He also has discovered where we keep the remote control for our outdoor lights which means we have to check on them multiple times a day to ensure that Ethan hasn't left them on.

Today marked another opportunity for Ethan to put his childlike sense of wonder to use as I finally got around to decorating our family room for Christmas. It started out simple enough as I cleaned some room on our fireplace mantel for some garland wrapped in Christmas lights. When I plugged them in, Ethan was definitely excited to see the lights shining for all to see. However, it's the next decoration that got him really excited.

When I was young, I received a two-foot-tall animatronic Mickey Mouse one year for Christmas from my parents. This isn't just any old Mickey though. He's actually wearing a full Santa suit and holding an enormous candy cane. It goes without saying that since then, Mickey has been an integral part of the Christmas decorations in every place I've lived. When the time came for me to take him down from the shelf in our basement today, Ethan was downstairs riding a tricycle around the basement. However, the second he saw me pull Mickey out of the box, all activity stopped. Instead, Ethan screamed "Mickey" at the top of his lungs and ran over to see his new pal. 

Now, it's true that our decorating is slowing down and Ethan is adjusting to the sudden onslaught of all things Christmas in our home. However, it doesn't feel like that has lessened the joy he receives from seeing Christmas lights, decorations, or packages under the tree. That very joy is, in my opinion, what makes Ethan the best. Couldn't we all use some child-like enthusiasm in our hearts this Christmas season?

Day 1,168 - All Alone a.k.a. Mulching Mania

As a parent, I find that I'm rarely afraid of being alone. With my extraverted nature, it used to feel like pure torture. After being a stay-at-home dad and having tiny humans begging for my time around the clock, I now take great solace in my alone time. It really doesn't matter if I'm reading a book, playing a video game, or watching TV. Those rare moments alone are pretty stellar as far as I'm concerned. For Ethan though, being unexpectedly alone is one of the scariest things in the world.

For the record, Ethan actually doesn't mind being alone under normal circumstances. At least once a day, he will disappear to his room to read books or solve puzzles on his own before reappearing up to 30 minutes later. He's also really good about entertaining himself while I'm making dinner most nights. This stands out because for all her good qualities, Ellie never excelled at entertaining herself. In fact, outside of her quiet times, that's still a relatively difficult task for her. The moral of the story here is that while Ethan doesn't mind being by himself, he doesn't enjoy it when it's completely unexpected.

It's important for me to mention that I would never intentionally leave Ethan at home alone. Most days I don't even go outside while Ethan is napping. This week is kind of an exception though because we have lots and lots of leaves. I mean LOTS OF LEAVES. Taking that into account, I felt like mulching leaves in the backyard was a pretty good use of Ethan's naptime and headed outside to do just that.

Just keep mulching, just keep mulching...

During my mulching escapades, I made sure to take a quick break every time I filled my mulching bag to poke my head inside and listen for Ethan. Four mulching bags in and Ethan was still asleep. However, at some point between four and five, that would change. After five, I poked my head inside and heard the sounds of intense crying. I quickly ran inside and opened the subbasement door only to find Ethan sitting at the top of our kitchen stairs crying. It took a few minutes to calm him down but I finally convinced him to come join me outside as I finished mulching a few more leaves.

As soon as I finished my final batch of leaves for the day, Ethan immediately came and asked if I would push him on the nest swing in the backyard. Of course, I'm never going to complain about getting to push either of my kids on the swing so we did just that. After a while, Ethan had his fill of the nest swing and wanted to move to the traditional bench swing hanging from our deck. The great thing about pushing him on that swing is that he faced me the entire time meaning I could see the big smile on his face as I pushed him over and over. 

Looking back at the day, I realize that it was probably my fault Ethan reacted the way he did to being "alone". I didn't actually tell him where I would be when he woke up. Therefore, he probably did panic when he couldn't find me. However, we did get to have a good talk about how he should never panic in those situations because I'll never be too far away. The challenge is to see if either of us learned anything from this experience or if we'll be doomed to repeat in the future. Time will ultimately answer that question for us. #DaddyWrite

He clearly wasn't too upset with me because I did receive an affectionate head pat.

Day 1,160 - The One Where I Finally Write About Halloween

Happy Halloween!!!

Actually, I know that those well wishes are about three days too late. However, since Bethany used two days of vacation time to start the week, today is actually the first opportunity I have had to wish people a Happy Halloween.

Our Halloween celebration was actually spread out over a couple of days. Ellie got to start the celebration off by getting to go to school in her costume on Friday. What was her costume you may ask? She was Minnie Mouse! The funny thing is that this actually marked the second time she has dressed up as Minnie Mouse. She did so when she was 2 years old and spent Halloween night placing candy bars in trick-or-treaters' baskets while wearing a pair of homemade mouse ears made out of a headband and some old t-shirts. For the record, it was only t-shirts. Nothing else. I definitely wouldn't use a ratty old pair of underwear for something like that.

Truth be told, it was actually really strange to see Ellie reprising her Minnie Mouse costume this year. For one, the two pictures side-by-side really serve to show how much she has grown in the last three years. She certainly looks more like a young woman than a little girl which is crazy because she's still only five years old!

Back to Halloween though. After a fun day at school where Ellie got to go a bunch of Halloween-themed activities which included pumpkin carving, slime-making, and of course, snack-eating, on Friday night, we would return to school for trunk-or-treating. What was great about trunk-or-treating is that Ethan got to join in the fun as well. Who was Ethan on this (early) All Hallows Eve? Easy, he was Buzz Lightyear of Star Command! 

Surprisingly enough, even though we got to school less than 15 minutes after trunk-or-treating began, we still had to wait close to 20 minutes to even get to the first car. Once inside though, Ellie and I happily made our way from car to car on a relatively brisk evening. I say Ellie and I because Ethan gave out after approximately 10 minutes of actually trunk-or-treating. No worries though. The only negative part of the evening was that both kids were slightly afraid of the extremely creepy clowns in line directly behind us. No one attacked though so it was just fine.

Fast forward to Sunday and the actual day of Halloween. After a fun afternoon at home, Ellie and Ethan got dressed in their costumes around 6:00 pm and we hit the neighborhood for some quick trick-or-treating before passing out candy for the rest of the evening. While trick-or-treating with the kids was definitely fun, it ultimately didn't take long before Ellie and Ethan were both complaining of being cold and were ready to go home. Once we got home, Ellie was excited and ready to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Unfortunately, we didn't have a single person show up before the kids went to bed for the night.

On the flip side though, we now have more than enough candy to last us until next Halloween. At least I assume it'll last that long. Who actually knows? #DaddyWrite