Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Day 749 - Which Comes First? Love for Daddy or an Ice Cream Date?


They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. What about just being in constant proximity? Does that make the heart grow fonder? One has to wonder if that might be true or at least true for Ellie. 


Over the past week or so, that little girl has been growing increasingly more fond of me. It's such a weird experience seeing as how for most of her life, Bethany has been the constant object of her affection. Oddly enough, that is now changing. 

Some of this information comes secondhand, but I feel like there's still plenty of truth to it. For example, according to Bethany, Ellie has gotten into the habit of asking where I am as soon as she wakes up in the morning (or the middle of the night). If I happen to be at the gym, that will result in a brief crying session coupled with continually questioning why I have to go to the gym. 

If I happen to be snuggling in bed with Ethan in his room, then Ellie will not rest until she sees me. Apparently this morning, she finally talked Bethany into letting her open the bedroom door so that she could just confirm that I was still there. To her credit though, she let me continue sleeping despite Ethan waking up. In case you're wondering, I was unbelievably confused when I woke up and Ethan was missing as Bethany had already come to claim him.

Oddly enough, Ellie wanting to be with me isn't an isolated experience. For example, Bethany happened to be off work early today due to an eye appointment. One would automatically assume that meant Ellie wouldn't let her mother out of her sight. That was not the case as the promise of an afternoon daddy-daughter date completely swayed Ellie's opinion on the matter. On this particular daddy-daughter date, there would be three stops: Target, the library, and Dairy Queen. 


For our trip to Target, our shopping list was relatively simple. All we needed was a new box of diapers for Ethan and a couple of cans of pineapple chunks. Neither of those things are particularly interesting to Ellie. Our next two stops were more about her though.

As one could probably guess, the library is one of Ellie's favorite places in the world. Between the overwhelming stacks of books, movies, and music coupled with the coloring tables, educational computers, and random toys, there's plenty to keep Ellie satisfied. On this day, unfortunately for Ellie, the computers happened to be broken. It's ok though as we still got to have fun playing with these weird interlocking blocks followed by coloring together. Honestly, there's not much I like better than coloring with Ellie. Not only is it super relaxing but it's an easy activity for us to share in together. Plus, it fosters all kinds of conversation even if it's about something as simple as "Daddy, why are you making a purple rabbit?". For the record, we had a very limited array of colors to choose from and the purple was relatively sharp.


Once we left the library, it was time for us to head to our final destination (accompanied by the 'Moana' soundtrack I had gotten for Ellie at the library), Dairy Queen. Trips to DQ aren't really a super common thing in the Holt household. Today was cause for celebration though. You see, Ellie had attained her fifth sticker meaning she had earned an ice cream date with one of her parents. You're probably a little confused by the sticker thing. Let me explain.

Bethany and I have been attempting to potty train Ellie during her naps in recent weeks. While she's been potty-trained for quite some time, Ellie still struggles with wetting her pants during both naps and overnight. Therefore, we instituted a sticker chart where every five stickers gains her an ice cream date. She can received one sticker for keeping her diaper dry at naptime and two stickers if she can go all night. Thus far, she's definitely racked up these ice cream dates much faster than anticipated.

Since Ellie enjoyed an ice cream cone on her last ice cream date, I decided we should broaden her horizons a little on this one and lovingly guided her towards the Dilly Bar section. Imagine my delight when I saw her settle on a Cherry-flavored Dilly Bar. As she savored every morsel of her treat, I was encouraged by the fact that she continued to engage me in conversation despite there being a tasty treat in her mouth most of the time. I guess she really is getting attached to me. So much so that she asked me multiple times when our next daddy-daughter date would be.

Contrary to how this picture may look, Ellie was pretty stoked about her Dilly Bar.

In case additional confirmation of her attachment to me is necessary, look no further than the fact that the very last person she wants to see before bed is me. For at least this brief window in our daughter's life, I'm #1. Take that, Bethany! :) #DaddyWrite

See, the baby got to participate in couch-time snuggles too!

No comments:

Post a Comment