Big things are happening in the Holt household. Or at least
in Ethan's mouth and stomach. Yesterday marked a huge day for Ethan as he took
his first bites of "solid" food. He even kept it down and everything.
However, I don't want to get ahead of myself, so one thing at a time.
Yesterday was noteworthy in more ways than one. One reason
being that Bethany actually took the day off work to spend the entire day with
us. For the record, her main reason for doing so was so she could watch the
kids while I went to the dentist. However, that appointment was cancelled (by
the dentist, not me) leaving us with an entire day to fill. So with that in
mind, what does one do with that time? For us, there's no better answer than to
go to the zoo!
Now I know we've been to the zoo dozens of times. Plus this
was a day with Bethany at home meaning it technically shouldn't noteworthy per
the infallible bylaws of #DaddyWrite. However, the fact that there were 12 kids
and seven adults in our party definitely makes it noteworthy. I know you're
thinking, "Wait, that math doesn't add up." It'll make sense in a
minute, I promise.
In a quest to make her day off work special for Ellie,
Bethany came up with the idea of seeing if anyone would like to join us at the
zoo for a day of fun. Fortunately, after a quick Facebook post on Monday
evening by yours truly, we discovered there were plenty of people who would be
excited for just that. With that, Bethany took the lead in plotting a time
leading to us finding ourselves at the zoo at 9:00 am sharp.
It goes without saying that with so many people involved,
there was no way we would all show up at the same time. Therefore, after
waiting outside the zoo for a few minutes, the four of us decided to head
inside and just meet up with the rest of our party later. Seriously, we had to!
You try keeping an active toddler preoccupied while standing outside the zoo.
It's akin to dangling a juicy piece of prime rib in front of a hungry dog.
After a few minutes, we made contact with the first part of
our group, Danelle and Callahan. Ellie and Callahan became pretty tight during
our Thursday night LifeGroup last semester. Therefore, they were more than
stoked to hang out. In fact, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility to see
them running, hugging, and even kissing each other during the course of the day
(I may need to have a serious chat about that last one).
Little did Ellie know that Callahan wasn't our only friend
on this zoo trip as we eventually met up with our friends, the Blackwells, the
Marks, and Kari. From there, our little zoo trip began to metamorphosize into
an exercise in co-parenting. For one, Ellie and Callahan were constantly
switching strollers. For another, any time we made a stop, it was all hands on
deck as we all helped keep eyes on each other's kids. For the smaller members
of our party, any set of open arms would do when the time came to gaze over a
fence at animals.
After a fun-filled morning including playtime at the
playground, carousel rides all around, and lunch under the trees, it was time
for our little motley crew to go our separate ways. With that, Ellie and
Callahan bid a heartfelt farewell to one another and we headed for the exits.
Closing thoughts, even though it could be exhausting at
times helping to keep track of 12 kids, it was definitely a fun experience.
Ellie and Bethany would likely say the same. As for Ethan, he's pretty happy
wherever he goes. Oh yes, speaking of Ethan, I realize I promised stories of
him eating. However, I see this blog post has already grown to a somewhat
unwieldy length and I should probably cut it off. Never fear, I'm guessing
there will plenty more opportunities to blog about Ethan's eating skills.
#DaddyWrite
 |
| Mmm... |
No comments:
Post a Comment