As Ellie grows, she is continuing to become more acutely aware of her
surroundings. Specifically, she distinctly understands the difference between
indoors and out. Yes, outdoors is significantly more green which is probably
the first thing she noticed. It also is a lot brighter, occasionally much
colder or warmer, and home to a multitude of allergens. Even more than that,
she flat out knows outside is a place she wants to be. Anytime curtains are
pulled or blinds are raised in our house, Ellie will immediately find her way
over to the window and stare intensely at the world beyond the glass. Taking
that into account, I try to get her outside at least once a day for a few
minutes to get some fresh air and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors.
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| "Well, I'm outside. I'm kind of trapped though..." |
Of course, there are times now and then when Bethany or I
have to be outside for a particular reason and Ellie is unable to join. One
example of this is yard work. Let's be real; there's probably no safe way to
operate a push mower with one hand while holding a ten-month-old with the
other. Even if I could finagle a way to make that happen, I don't believe I
could ever pull the cord and hold the emergency stopping bar at the same time
to get the mower running. Truth be told, there are days that our mower doesn't
even want to start under normal circumstances.
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| I believe in you plaid-shirted, bearded man! |
On Monday evening after Bethany arrived home from work, I
promptly changed into some old clothes, officially passed Ellie off to her mother,
and headed outside to mow the grass. Since it had been at least a few weeks
since I'd had the chance to mow, our lawn was looking pretty pitiful. Between
the abundance of dandelions and tall grass above your ankles in some places, we
had temporarily become the blight of the neighborhood. As I got the mower
running and began making my laps around the front yard, I looked up and saw
tiny stands of blonde hair and bright blue eyes just over the window sill.
That's right, Ellie was watching me intently to see what I was doing.
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| "Dad, I can see you!" |
Now, I personally assumed that Ellie would lose interest in
watching me mow quickly. After all, there's not much excitement in doing so. At
least there isn't yet. We're getting ever closer to some network producing The World Lawn-Mowing Championships. It's
likely going to be on FS1, HGTV, or something like Spike TV (Spike TV is still a
thing, right?). As I continued to make laps around the yard, I continually saw
Ellie's blue eyes peering through the glass following me intently. Once I
finally finished the front yard and headed around back, it didn't take long for
a set of blinds in our basement to go up so that Ellie could continue watching
me go in circles.
I absolutely love the fact that Ellie enjoyed watching me
take part in such a mundane task. It means one of two things. Either she really does love me or she was really interested by me walking in circles mowing. If it's the second one, then I can't wait to introduce her to NASCAR. If she likes it as much as
watching me mow, then I know how we'll be spending a lot of our Sundays to
Bethany's possible chagrin. #DaddyWrite
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| I immediately regret not purchasing this onesie for Ellie... |
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