Day 786 - We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

Happy continued pandemic everyone! Everyone continuing to do ok? I'm fine, thanks for asking.

While there's a lot of bad things about a pandemic (chief among them being the actual disease), one of the worst is that there's just nothing to do! Also, when I say nothing, I mean nothing! The library? Closed. The zoo? Unless you're an animal or a caretaker, no admittance. The grocery store? Come on, like I'm going to take the kids there right now! The playground? Oddly enough, that is off-limits as well. 

As you can see, there really aren't a ton of fun activities left for us to do that are outside of the house. Luckily, we live in a neighborhood full of people that are more creative than me and in all of their awesomeness, provided me with a fun activity that I could use to keep my kids occupied. That fun activity being a bear hunt.

Before people get panicked and begin to envision an escaped bear terrorizing neighborhoods during a pandemic, I need to say that's not an accurate description of this particular bear hunt. Instead, think more along the lines of We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Just so I can practice my old book report skills, the main plot of this book involves five children and their dog going on yes, a bear hunt. Regardless of the terrain, the six explorers bravely continue on until they finally discover the bear. However, they quickly learn that finding a bear is not all it's cracked up to be.

To briefly explain our neighborhood's version of a bear hunt, many houses have placed stuffed teddy bears in their window or around their house allowing families to wander around the neighborhood and count how bears they can find. Just to give an example of what our house has done, I actually placed five bears in our front windows. Three are in our top half-window, serenely looking out over the yard. The other two have found themselves in quite the scary situation as they are "dangling" from our curtain rod. As I like to envision it, one bear lost his balance and fell causing the other bear to leap out to catch him. However, the two find themselves dangerously dangling from a great height like some kind of bear-themed Mission: Impossible film. 

Hold on, bears!!!

Yesterday, with the weather being unbelievably nice, I decided it was time for me to load the kids up in the wagon to bravely venture out on a bear hunt. Actually, my desire had been for Ellie to walk so that Ethan could ride in the wagon alone. Instead, I ended up pulling nearly 60 pounds around the neighborhood in a wagon that just happens to have way too short of a handle for my height. We first made our way up to North Oak before turning around and heading towards our cul-de-sac. The first bears we passed were our own, but fortunately, there were many more to come. 

Ellie did pull her weight for a little while...

First, we stumbled across a panda bear peeking out of his window at the street that lied before him. A couple of houses down the street, we found yet another panda bear staring out a window. The lone difference was that this one was accompanied by her cub. As we looped the cul-de-sac, we stumbled across the "bear cave" to end all "bear caves". There were two bears hanging in a tree, another two taking naps in flower pots, and even one guarding the mailbox! While those were the last bears we would see, I still think that our bear hunt was a rousing success.

One might even say that it was "bear-y" great. Oh wow, that was bad. Really, really bad. Please forgive me. #DaddyWrite

Day 780 - The Pandemic, Your Schedule, and You

I spent two years in college working as a Resident Assistant. While there were plenty of benefits that went along with the job (i.e. free room and board), there were plenty of downfalls as well.

For example, I can't count the number of times someone came to my door in the middle of the night needing me to get their spare key for them. On more occasions than I'd like to admit, I had to call for an ambulance so a freshman could be taken to the hospital to have their stomach pumped. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my unfruitful attempts to figure out with the utmost certainty which dorm room the smell of marijuana was emanating from.

As is the case with any job, I had plenty of training before I stepped into my role as a RA. I learned when and how to call campus security. I learned how to beat on doors with a rubber mallet in the event of a fire. I even learned how to take shelter-in-place during an active shooter alert. True story, that last lesson actually came in handy on the night Bethany and I started dating.

There was one part of training though that I never imagined I would need to know. In fact, I was so confident that would be the case that I spent the entire training session doodling a picture of Flavor Flav on my notes. Why Flavor Flav? I started sketching a clock and then drew a chain and before I knew it, there was a beautifully rendered image of Flavor Flav there on my sheet of scratch paper.

There he is...Flavor Flav

Oh yes, this is where I should mention that training was over what to do in the event of a pandemic. Seems totally appropriate, right? Fast forward approximately 12 years and here we are. Bethany is currently working from home in the not-so-cozy confines of our bedroom  while I try with all of my might to keep Ellie and Ethan away from that very bedroom. That brings to what I like to call "THE QUEST FOR A SCHEDULE!" By the way, that's so much cooler if you imagine I'm speaking in a really, loud, booming voice.

Over the past three years, I've largely ignored all concept of a schedule. The lone exception to that rule is lunch time, nap time, and "Bethany gets home" time. The rest of the day has been pretty much all left up to fate. Well, part of having a pandemic is that is becomes much harder to leave things up to fate. Therefore, taking a cue from an article written by a former roommate's wife, I decided it was time to really start a schedule and hey, maybe it'll even help prepare Ellie for preschool a little better.

First things first, I sat down at our kitchen table with a sheet of paper and divided the day out into 30-minute or 1-hour increments, scheduling different activities for each block. For example, in the morning during Ethan's nap, we have clean-up time where Ellie and I make her bed, brush her teeth, and wash the previous day's dishes. Then, we spend some time reading library books, working on her phonics skills, and stimulating her mind with puzzles and games or an iPad learning app. 

Once Ethan awakes from his nap around 10, that's our free time where Ellie can play with Ethan and do whatever activity she wants to for an hour. Although, if it's nice out during that time, the goal is to head outside and play. If we're stuck indoors, then I will sometimes choose to gently direct her towards art time with Play-Doh or paints/colors. After that, it's generally time for lunch which is followed by naps for both Ellie and Ethan.

Once they wake up in the afternoon, there's more free time initially which is followed by the hope of outdoor time from 3:00 to 4:00. Once 4:00 rolls around, it's time for Ellie and I to work on prepping dinner for the evening. A bonus part of dinner prep is that Ellie also (hopefully) spends that time practicing her bible memory verses. Finally, at 4:30, Bethany emerges from the confines of the bedroom and takes over leaving me to finally exhale for the first time in eight-plus hours.

While I'd love to say the schedule is working perfectly thus far, the reality is that there is still some kinks to work out. For one thing, I'm having to consistently shift activities around based upon the flow of the day. There's also some times when my three-year-old simply does not want to do one activity and would rather do something different. That being said, the schedule isn't really for her; it's for me. 

You see, despite my dislike of routine and scheduling, having a plan for the day enables me to be intentional about my time with Ellie and Ethan. It allows me to make sure that all of the important stuff is occurring in Ellie's day but that we also have built-in time for fun. As I said earlier, I also truly believe that kind of having a schedule now will only help Ellie adjust when it comes time for her to go to preschool in the fall. At least I hope she goes to preschool in the fall. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

'Cause, in case you didn't hear, there's kind of a pandemic going on out there. #DaddyWrite

Nope, I don't mean the board game.

Day 775 - "Splash"down

Spring is coming...or it's actually here.  I can never tell initially. It's especially confusing when there are torrential downpours one day followed by 70 degree temperatures two days later. It's actually pretty wild. 

Of course, a big part of spring is to actually enjoy our newfound beautiful weather by spending as much time outdoors as possible. During an absolutely beautiful day like today, that's not as difficult. However, on one of those days with the aforementioned torrential downpours (not so much) like Monday, it's a little more difficult. One thing that can make it slightly easier is embracing a childlike mindset for the day.

Ethan's having a little trouble figuring out the proper headgear this Spring...

For example, when I looked out the window on Monday, my reaction was one of "Oh man, look at that rain. This is going to be a long day." For Ellie, her response was more along the lines of "Look at the rain! That's awesome! I want to play in it." Of course, like the total scrub of a dad that I am, my initial response to her statement was to shrug it off and go about our day. Meanwhile, Ellie's initial response to my shrugging off was to temporarily push her request to the back of her mind so that it could return to the forefront at a time to be determined. 

If you're one of those readers wondering exactly how long it took for the idea of playing in the rain to return to Ellie's mind, it really wasn't long at all. In fact, it pretty much reemerged when we decided to make a quick sojourn to Chick-Fil-A to grab a free sandwich. Therefore, as soon as we returned home, I decided we needed to have a really early lunch so that Ellie could play outside in her cherished rain.

Once Ellie was all bundled up in her snow boots and winter coat, I walked out to the garage with Ethan in my arms and opened the door, freeing Ellie to go play in the rain until her little heart's content. You may be surprised to learn that Ellie's heart was initially content after less than five minutes. She had seemingly overestimated the amount of fun she could have running through the rain. Really, though, all she required was the proper coaching on how to have fun. 

With that in mind, I directed her attention to a large puddle forming on the sidewalk between our house and our neighbor, Juan's. Once Ellie made note of that discovery, she basically did everything short of diving headfirst into that puddle. She kicked. She stomped. She splashed. She even ran through it over and over again.

While all of this was going on, Ethan was having a much different experience than his sister. First of all, I made the ignorant assumption that Ethan would be content just wandering around the garage while Ellie played outside in the rain. Second, I decided he would be just fine being held in my arms while watching his sister splash about. The longer Ellie played though, the more Ethan made his dissatisfaction known. 

Once Ellie had been playing for about twenty minutes, I decided it was time for Ethan to get a little time in the rain. With my son still held securely in my arms, I cautiously stepped out of the garage into the rain. Then, uncertain how he would react, I inched further and further out the door until our entire bodies were exposed to the elements. While my first reaction was to stare at Ethan, his was much different as he raised his arms to the sky and began laughing victoriously.

Once five minutes had elapsed, I decided both Ethan and Ellie had played in the rain enough. Of course, that decision was not met with immediate acceptance from either child. Ellie tried to bargain for additional minutes whereas Ethan just decided to scream in my face. Regardless, I wouldn't be doing a good job as their dad if I let them spend the entire day getting soaked in the rain. Half a day probably wouldn't be too bad but the entire day is just a bit too much. Don't you think? #DaddyWrite

Day 770 and 771 - "Second" Helpings

It's been a busy two days in the Holt household full of "seconds" for both Ellie and Ethan. 

For the record, I realize that "seconds" are hardly a big deal in anyone's life. Whereas "firsts" are getting documented in the baby books and are remembered for years to come, no one cares about someone's second steps or second tooth. I'd argue though that in some cases, "seconds" are slightly more memorable than the first time around. That's definitely the case when referring to Ellie's second trip to the dentist and (what I believe is) Ethan's second trip to DFA.

While Ellie has in fact been to the dentist with me previously and even sat in the big chair and opened up her mouth wide for them to count her teeth, she had not yet had an official appointment until this week. However, with her turning four this summer, Bethany and I decided it was time for Ellie to have a real dentist appointment. After leaving Ethan to be watched by our friend, Sara, for a couple of hours, Ellie and I loaded up and headed to Zona Rosa Dental.

With this being Ellie's first "real" visit, obviously I had plenty of paperwork to fill out prior to the appointment. For Ellie, her only real responsibilities were to stand still so the receptionist could take Ellie's picture for her patient chart. Once that was finished, Ellie spent the rest of our time waiting happily staring at the fish tank mounted on the north wall. Finally, our names were called and it was time to begin our exam.

While I was technically scheduled to be the first one up, Sierra the dental hygienist gave Ellie the right to choose whether she wanted to go first or second. Without even verbally answering the question, Ellie bravely bounded up into the chair providing all the answer Sierra needed. With that, Ellie had her shirt covered by the "dentist bib" and was given a pair of star-shaped glasses to protect her eyes. 

As the seat began to recline, Ellie's bravery wavered for just a moment. She instinctively began to sit up and reach for me. Taking Ellie by the hand, I helped convince her it was ok for her to lay back down so the hygienist could begin to clean her teeth. I was actually incredibly impressed by Ellie's bravery. Despite that one little hiccup and the fact that she needed to hold my hand throughout the cleaning, she ultimately did an amazing job. By the time it was all said and done, she had a mouth full of shiny, white teeth and was the owner of a brand-new Cinderella Oral-B toothbrush.

Note the hand holding at the bottom of the pic.

As I stated earlier though, Ellie wasn't the only one having a "second" first experience this week as Ethan got to travel to DFA with Ellie and I to have lunch with Bethany for what I believe is the second time. For the record, it wasn't quite as eventful as Ellie's trip to the dentist but it still had some noteworthy moments.

Upon our arrival and Bethany meeting us at our car, Ethan was glued to his mommy's side. It wasn't that he was scared though; he just wanted to spend time with her. Throughout lunch with all of Bethany's co-workers, he was more than willing to smile and wave whenever someone would talk to him. Of course, knowing my son, that could have all been a ruse so that he could attempt to trick them out of food.

By the time lunch was over, Ethan felt the urge to work off some pounds. Either that or he was just feeling adventurous. Regardless of the reason, Ethan hopped down from Bethany's lap and began parading around the lunch table over and over again. It's unbelievable just how fearless he is as he is not even remotely shaken by making contact with people he doesn't know. For example, when Ellie was that age, she would cling to Bethany whenever anyone would make contact. That's not the case for Ethan though as the more new friends he can make, the better.

In conclusion, if the kids' "seconds" were so eventful for them, I can't wait to see what "thirds" or "fourths" entail. Although, if we're being honest, at some point the law of diminishing returns will come into play. Then we'll just be stuck waiting around for a milestone anniversary like the tenth dentist trip and is that really worth celebrating? I doubt it. #DaddyWrite