Day 959 - "I'm Barbara Walters, and this WAS 2020".

Last year at about this time, I sat down and opened a blog with the lame joke, "I'm Barbara Walters, and this is 2020". It's crazy now to think I could approach a year such as this past one with such levity, such flippancy, such lack of importance. Actually, for those that know me well, it's really not all that shocking.

What is shocking though is/was the year that we all just lived through. I don't need to go into that much detail; everyone remembers it well. Instead, I'd rather relive the past year by spending a little time remembering the New Year's resolutions that Ellie, Ethan, and I strove to fulfill.

If you understand the point of the pineapple, be sure to comment.

First, let's take a look back at Ellie. Her list of New Year's resolutions were as follows.

1. Learn to read
2. Spend more time outside
3. Improve at riding her bike
4. Be kind to her friends and family
5. Continue memorizing her memory verses
6. Eat less junk food and more healthy snacks

As I look at that list of goals, I realize that Ellie did a great job following through on her resolutions despite the fact that she knew nothing of them. First of all, I feel that #2 and #3 are forever linked as she spent much of the summer and fall outside riding her bike up and down the street with nary a hint of fear. Second, it was great to watch her love for not only Ethan, Bethany, and me grow, but to see her develop quite a few great friendships. #5 and #6 are ongoing goals that will continue to be worked on over the next year.

I do want to take a second and highlight goal #1 for Ellie. While she doesn't necessarily know how to read like a pro yet, she is taking huge strides in that direction. In fact, just tonight, she sat on my lap and read through two beginning reader books with little to no help from me. I don't think I could have been any more proud of her if I tried.

Ethan also found a pineapple in 2020.

 

Now, I think it's time to take a look at Ethan's year in review.

1. Master walking
2. Learn to feed himself with utensils
3. Begin to speak
4. Learn to self-soothe
5. Sleep through the night

I can say with the utmost certainty that Ethan had successfully achieved the first three goals on his list. Numbers #4 and #5 leave a little something to be desired. While he can self-soothe at times, it's not uncommon for me to spend stints in his room laying on the floor next to his bed. Also, it goes without saying that me laying on the floor next to his bed wouldn't be necessary if he was sleeping through the night.

That being said, Ethan deserves special props for the way that he surprises Bethany and me each day. It might be due to his rapidly expanding vocabulary some days. Other days it's due to the remarkable intelligence he shows in learning new tasks and skills. It might also be due to the fact that he's just an unbelievably funny little boy that constantly makes us laugh and smile.

No photographic evidence of me holding a pineapple exists so this will have to do.

There was one more person who had New Year's resolutions to live up to in 2020 and that person was me. In case you need a refresher, my goals were as follows.

1. Spend more time outdoors
2. Read more books, including my Bible
3. Pray more often
4. Show more patience with my wife and kids
5. Better enjoy all of the time I have with Ellie and Ethan
6. Exercise

If I'm looking at my resolutions with an honest perspective, I have to say that I didn't do as well with them as I wished. Now, #1, #2, #4, and #5 were actually pretty good in my opinion. We definitely spent a ton of time outside this year since there really was nothing else to do. I also read plenty of books. While #4 and #5 were a struggle at times (since they are pretty linked), I really do feel like I did a better job staying intentional about following through with both of them.

Now, I probably should reflect a little on #3 and #6. Let's face it. Going to the gym wasn't really in the cards for me throughout most of this year. I still found time to go through the spring and summer. However, with the uptick in Covid cases and the more strict mask ordinances, it's been harder to make myself go. Of course, you can also blame Ethan's 5:00 am wake-up calls a little bit too.

As for praying, it's not that I intentionally don't do it. It's just one of those things that slips my mind and I neglect to pursue. I will say that since my discipleship group went on our men's retreat in October, I've been more apt to pray and reflect on God than I was prior. However, there's still definitely room for improvement so #3 should probably be marked as an incomplete.

All things told, I think Ethan, Ellie, and I did a fairly good job keeping our New Year's resolutions this past year. Believe me when I tell you that doing so is a fairly difficult task for a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old. That's especially true when one thinks about the fact that the two really didn't even know they had New Year's resolutions to keep.

For now though, it's time for me to stop writing and instead begin thinking about what New Year's resolutions the three of us want to pursue over the next year. Until next time, "I'm Barbara Walters, and this was 2020". #DaddyWrite

Day 948 - "Pretty!"

I'm certain that many who read these words either have kids or have found themselves around them at one time or another. Therefore, it probably comes as no shocker to learn that kids sometimes repeat themselves. That's especially prevalent when they're extremely excited or when they are very young. In the case of Ethan, both are extremely applicable.

While I don't intend to shortchange Ethan's vocabulary seeing as how it expands by the day, the fact remains that he sometimes can turn into somewhat of a broken record. Case in point, the word "Pretty!". 

Now, everyone knows that "Pretty" can be used in a variety of ways. There's the most obvious form which refers to a person, normally a female. You can also describe a sunset or a nature landscape as being "Pretty". Inanimate objects like decorations can also be described as pretty. In fact, it's that last one that Ethan seems to be referring to when using "Pretty" in a sentence.

Ever since he first laid eyes on Christmas lights this holiday season, Ethan has been completely mesmerized by the sight of twinkling lights. The first thing he wants to do every morning upon getting out of bed is run to our Christmas tree and continually point to it while exclaiming some combination "Pretty", "Tree", "Lights", and "Please". Once we plug it in, he'll start making the rounds to the other Christmas lights in our house until everything is illuminated. 

It doesn't just stop there though. Ethan will make approximately 97 trips to the window each day and will sadly look outside at our landscaping and that of our neighbors while he patiently waits for nightfall so the outdoor Christmas lights can be fired up. You can hear and see the disappointment flowing throughout his little body as he eagerly awaits the lights turning on.

Keeping Ethan's total love of all things Christmas in mind, this evening we set out on a little adventure to check out each and every one of the houses participating in the Gladstone Christmas decorating contest. Now, I have to say that this adventure required us to do some serious traversing (in our Traverse, of course) of Gladstone. There were 24 homes spread out throughout the community in all different directions with nary a clear path to see all. So, with that being said, special props go out to Bethany for her mad Google Maps skills enabling us to get to each house as quickly as possible.

While Ellie was understandably excited to see all of the Christmas lights, Ethan took the excitement to another level. Each lighted home that we drove by would result in excited cries of "Pretty!" or "Oooh". My favorite had to be whenever the little man saw a house with any kind of bear on display. At that moment, Ethan would automatically begin yelling "Bear!" at the top of his lungs over and over until we finally acknowledged his findings.

For the record, after exploring the neighborhood to its fullest degree, we have decided that house #8 is our personal favorite when it comes to the Gladstone Christmas decorating contest. Congrats go out to you, whoever you are, if you won and happen to be reading this. If you're not reading this, then I guess my congratulatory wishes mean approximately diddly-squat. Oh well. #DaddyWrite

 

Day 946 - The Monkey Bar Maestro

You know what they say about a car wreck, where it’s so awful you can’t look away? Well, the good news is that on this occasion, I'm not referring to an actual car wreck. The bad news is that the metaphorical car wreck in this instance refers to a certain event from this afternoon involving Ellie and Ethan. I'll get there soon enough though.

First things first. Today was an absolutely beautiful day. Seriously. If you live in the Kansas City metropolitan area and didn't get outside, then you missed an amazing 65 degree afternoon. By the way, it IS still December. I double checked a calendar just to make sure. Anyway, for myself and the kids, we chose to spend this afternoon at Barry Platte Park soaking up the warm weather on what could be the final park trip of 2020. That's actually a thought that is both sobering and exciting at the same time. After all, I'm pretty sure everyone (except maybe Patrick Mahomes) wants 2020 to end as soon as humanly possible.

Upon our arrival at the park, I let Ellie go on ahead and scamper up the hill to the playground while I extracted Ethan from his car seat. By the time the two of us made it up the hill, I was just in time to watch Ellie attempt to make it across the monkey bars on her first attempt of the day. Unfortunately, that attempt was not to be. Instead, she let go of the bars and dropped a good four feet to the ground. While you might think that would stop her, that was not to be the case as Ellie was right back up on the bars for her second attempt. The second went much the same which resulted in her taking a short break to enjoy the swings.

After 10 minutes of enjoying the array of swings Barry Platte Park has to offer, Ellie gave into her minor obsession and decided to try the monkey bars again. Standing with her toes right at the edge of the platform, Ellie took a deep breath and grasped the first bar. Then, she swung herself off of the platform and began to dangle in mid-air. With that, one rung at a time, she began to move across the bars. As she reached the next-to-last bar, it looked like she was about to give out. However, she instead used every ounce of strength left to propel herself to the ladder leading to the ground. Once she climbed down, she immediately ran to me and wrapped her little arms around me as tightly as she could. I'm guessing she just wanted me to share in her joy and success.

Oh yes, I almost forgot; I need to share the story of the metaphorical car wreck. On what was probably Ellie's seventh trip across the monkey bars, Ethan decided to run underneath her as she was traversing the bars. Unfortunately for the little man, he took a errant kick to the head from Ellie on his way. While I was busying myself with calming Ethan, Ellie lost her grip on the monkey bars. While she had landed on the ground a few times already, this time she managed to fall forwards in the air, ultimately landing on her face. Fortunately for Ellie, nothing was hurt but her pride, although there were definitely tears streaming down her face.

In case you're wondering how I handled this situation, i.e. standing in a park with two screaming children, it was easy. I simply loaded both up and headed for home. After all, Bethany was on her way home from the office and I figured she could calm them if they were still angry when we got home. Spoiler alert: they were not. #DaddyWrite

Day 942 - The One Where Ellie and Ethan Finally Share a Room

Big moment incoming! 

 

I don't mean to alarm anyone but we are in the midst of unpecedented times here at #DaddyWrite headquarters. It's official; Ethan and Ellie now share a room. This has long been a part of our plan but we struggled with bringing it to fruition until last week. Fortunately for us, that time is over and the kids share a room for at least the time being.

We had several reasons for wanting Ethan and Ellie to share a room but the most pressing was that we really needed the use of our guest room over Thanksgiving. Keeping that in mind, we made the decision on Sunday the 22nd to move Ethan into Ellie's room for the night. Now, this was kind of a soft launch. Rather than completely deconstructing Ethan's crib and moving it (since it won't fit through the door), we instead just cleared out a space in the corner of Ellie's room and tossed Ethan's mattress on the floor. We had tried the exact same thing back in September or October but we had a trump card to work in our favor on this occasion: "This Old Man".

Last month, we made the decision to purchase a CD player for Ethan's room with the hope that it would help the little man to fall asleep much easier at night. At that point, I was spending nearly 30 minutes each night trying to get Ethan to fall asleep. It generally ended in frustration for me and tears for Ethan. Not fun at all. For some reason though, once a constant stream of music (starting with "This Old Man") was thrown into the mix, Ethan would fall asleep and stay asleep. Miraculous. And to think, it only took us close to two years to think of it.

In spite of our trump card, I still had my doubts about whether or not Ethan and Ellie would be able to successfully share a room. The reasons for me doubting Ethan are relatively obvious. Ellie, however, is another story. While she was initially excited to share a room with her brother, I couldn't help but remember what happened the last time we attempted this. In case anyone is wondering, on that occasion, Ellie burst forth from her room screaming and crying on night 2 that Ethan wouldn't let her sleep. Needless to say, we separated them on that night.

This time though, things couldn't have worked any better. Ellie, for her part, made a big sacrifice and gave up her bedtime routine of falling asleep while listening to the Moana soundtrack. Ethan, for his part, adjusted marvelously to his new surroundings and continues to do well a week and a half later. In fact, on Monday, we made the move official by finally taking apart Ethan's crib and relocating it to Ellie's bedroom.

Honestly, I have to say that I'm pretty excited for the next couple of years now that Ellie and Ethan are sharing a room. Obviously, as a boy and a girl, we know there is a small window where it is socially acceptable for them to share said room. That being said, I think the two are really going to build a cool bond as a result of this experiment. Either that or they'll end up growing to hate one another for years to come.

For the record, I'm rooting for option #1. #DaddyWrite

Day 935 - PARKOUR!

I've always been intrigued by people who can do parkour. It may have something to do with the climbing of anything and everything. I'm serious. To those who parkour, the entire world is a playground. The ability to flip at will is pretty cool as well. While I have cool dreams of being able to parkour like a superhero, the fact of the matter is that I'll always end up looking like Michael, Dwight, and Andy in that scene from 'The Office'. However, even if it's (likely) too late for me, it's good to know that my kids still have a chance to be skilled parkour masters.

 

As (I'm guessing) is the case with any parkour master, it's important to start small. Once again, allow me to emphasize that most of my knowledge of parkour is limited to 'American Ninja Warrior', that scene from the 'The Office', and random YouTube videos. For Ethan, his journey into parkour starts simply enough. It starts with a somersault.

Since the first time he saw Bethany, Ellie, and me all having a somersault "competition", Ethan has been overcome by the desire to pull off the perfect somersault all by himself. Whenever the urge arises, Ethan will stand up nice and tall. Then he'll bend at the waist while placing his head on the floor in front of him. Then, it's only a matter of seconds until one of two things happens: either he uses the slightest little jump to propel himself over in a flip OR Ellie comes and simply flips him over. Once the flip is complete, he stands up again and with a big smile on his face, proceeds to somersault all over again.

For Ellie, her quest towards being a parkour master has advanced past the simple flips of her brother and have escalated to...THE MONKEY BARS! 

For the record, these pictures are from Hodge Park, NOT Macken Park.

Now, I realize that the monkey bars might not be such a big deal to most people. However, they are to me. As a kid, I was never able to successfully navigate the monkey bars. I don't know if it was due to me not being physically able or if I didn't try hard enough. However, the fact remains that the monkey bars are a metaphorical white whale of mine. Even today, I have dreams of successfully completing a set from start to finish. For Ellie though, those dreams are already a thing of the past seeing as how she's already successfully crossed the monkey bars in the past. That being said, her accomplishment yesterday deserves to be remembered.

Due to the beautiful November weather we are currently experiencing, the kids and I spent yesterday afternoon at Macken Park in North Kansas City. After about 40 minutes of playing, Ellie noticed the park's set of monkey bars and was immediately drawn to them. 

Now, I should add that these aren't normal monkey bars. This set is so tall that I can walk underneath them without having to duck or avoid banging my head. Obviously, there was no way for Ellie to reach that high up so she needed a little bit of help to get started. Like any good dad, I went ahead and helped her and then stepped back and watched nervously.

Well, as it turned out, my nervous feelings were all in vain. Swinging her little body back and forth like a champ, Ellie successfully navigated her way across the set of monkey bars for the most part. She only released her grip and dropped to the ground once she was on the fifth of six handholds. While most kids would be happy with their achievement, Ellie isn't most kids. She wanted to be lifted back up for a second go at it. Somewhat unfortunately for Ellie, her grip gave out after only making it halfway across the bars on her second try.

Regardless of Ellie's lack of success on the second attempt, I was overjoyed to see the excitement bursting across her little face due to her achievement. In fact, she just kept mentioning over and over again that she was just so impressed with herself. In my opinion, she should be. After all, it's not everyday that a four-year-old little girl is well on her way to becoming a parkour master.

Moments after snapping this pic, Ellie had a nice little parkour-style jump off of this ledge and I had to run in and grab Ethan before he followed suit.

For the record, I haven't completely given up on my dream of being a parkour master as well. I'll have you know that I actually made it 3/4 of the way across the monkey bars as well. Yeah, I didn't complete the course but I'll take that result over nothing. #DaddyWrite