Day 913 - Name or No?

When a child reaches adolescence, I hear there are a couple of things that are really important for them to know. Number one is that you need to know who your real friends are. Don't get caught trying to fit in with the popular crowd and lose the important people to you in the process. Number two is knowing when to say no. Lucky for Bethany and me, Ethan is already working hard on figuring out both of these things.

Ethan has reached that stage of life where he is rapidly learning new things each and every day. Nowhere is that more evident than in the case of his vocabulary. Not a day goes by where he doesn't learn a new word. Some recent new words for Ethan include favorites such as "cookie", "block", and "baby". However, rather than focusing exclusively on new words all of the time, Ethan still takes time to remind himself who his true friends are. For an example, look no further than our times around the dinner table as a family.

Imagine the four of us, if you will, sitting around our dinner table together. It may be lunch time but I would prefer if you would think of it as dinner time. Also, can you imagine us eating fajitas too? I think that will help. Anyway, one of the first things that happens each night when we sit down for dinner is that Ethan will begin looking from one side of the table to the other. Then, he will begin to point at each of us individually and excitedly proclaim our name.

**point** "Ellie!"  

**point** "Mommy!"

**point** "Daddy!"

Of course, that's not the only time Ethan does that little trick during the day. It happens at random intervals throughout the day. My favorite though has to be at bedtime. As I'm tucking in, he'll inevitably spring up in bed saying "Mama?", "Ellie?", or "Baby". In case you're confused why he's saying "Baby", it's a fun story. You see, Ethan has decided that Ellie's baby doll is in fact a real member of our family. As a result, if he doesn't tell it good night, then he gets pretty upset and displays his unhappiness through a increasingly louder "No!".  It's both cute and a little insane.

Speaking of that "No!", it doesn't just come out at nights. It is now a constant part of our lives. Any moment when Bethany or I might ask Ethan to do something is generally met by a resounding "No!". It first will begin as a sad/depressed little "No." From there, it will grow in intensity until he is actually screaming it at the top of his lungs. Don't worry though, it really never reaches that point unless it is bedtime.

So, as you can see, it's just like I said in my cold open. Despite his young age, Ethan is in fact striving to remember who his friends are each and every day. Not only that, but he is already learning to say "No" to what he believes is the appropriate time. Truthfully though, I'm not entirely certain it is the appropriate time. However, that's probably a discussion for another time. #DaddyWrite

 

Day 908 - The One Where Ethan Had No Shoes 2: The One Where Ethan Had Shoes!

 "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

I know that everyone recognizes that old saying but I would wager that very few actually know where the saying originates from. I'll give you a hint: it's not Ben Franklin. It's also not Thomas Edison. Believe it or not, it's not even Matthew McConaughey. It was first coined by an educator named Thomas Palmer in his book, 'Teacher's Manual'.

Interesting, huh? Actually, it's really not all that fascinating but it gave me a nice cold open for this blog. It's also applicable for the subject matter at hand which is about Ethan's and my second attempt at a trip to Crown Center this week. Let's flash back to Thursday.

After dropping Ellie off at preschool, just as we did on Tuesday, Ethan and I pointed the Traverse south towards Crown Center and drove towards downtown Kansas City. However, there was one distinct difference between Tuesday and Thursday: Ethan had shoes! **insert "Hallelujah" chorus here**

 

Now, there were several other things that I learned after our fruitless trip on Tuesday. This time, I knew for a fact that Crown Center Customer Service would not open until right at 11:00 am. Never fear though as the presence of Ethan's shoes meant that a trip to Union Station to see the model train display was in the cards. First though, there was one more unforeseen hurdle the two of us would have to overcome.

As we wandered through Crown Center, I was feeling pretty good about our chances for a good morning. Those happy feelings persisted as I watched Ethan happily gaze upon the waterfall located in the hotel that adjoins Crown Center. As we walked toward The Link which would connect us to Union Station, I knew nothing could stop us. Well, nothing except a big sign stating that The Link was closed as a result of COVID. What, seriously? Come on, now! 

With our preferred route closed, we instead had to wind back through the hotel until we could locate a set of stairs. From there, we had to head down that set of stairs, through the lobby, and out the big, spinning doors until we found ourselves outside. From there, Union Station was a mere two traffic lights/pedestrian crossings away. That doesn't seem all that bad but just know that it feels a little worse than it probably is when one has a twenty--three pound toddler in their arms with the temperatures in the high 70s.

After arriving at Union Station, we slowly made our way through the Great Hall until we entered the model train display. Though Ethan was a little cautious at first, it didn't take long before he was running from train to train, happily yelling in excitement. The best part though was when he happened to find a model train with an adjoining stockyards full of cattle. It was all I could do to pull him away from that display and we even had to make multiple trips back.

 

After we spent about an hour at Union Station, which included multiple trips to the model train display and a trip outside to the elevated bridge over the train yards, it was time for us to return to Crown Center. Therefore, we wandered back along our route until we were back outside Customer Service only to find that they were not yet open. You see, 11:00 means 11:00, not 10:45. Lucky for me, Ethan had his own ideas of how to kill 15 minutes. 

First, he wandered to Chip's Chocolate Factory where he peered through the windows, watching as a man (maybe Chip?) monotonously stirred chocolate in an enormous pot. It didn't take long for him to burn out on that. It was then, though, that Ethan noticed the escalator.

He happily ran to it before pausing when he noticed the stairs were moving. With that, Ethan reached up and grasped my hand, holding on tight as we stepped onto the escalator and rode from the second floor up to the third floor. Upon arriving on the third floor, he sprinted to the down escalator, grabbed my hand again and headed back down to the second floor. After we arrived on the second floor, it wasn't long until he was back at the escalator. All together, we probably rode the escalator about seven times each way.

Finally, mercifully, our trip on the escalator could end as I looked over and saw that Customer Service had finally opened. We wandered over the window and received the art supplies that we had been waiting for since Tuesday. Then, I grabbed Ethan up in my arms (so we could avoid the escalator) and headed out in the parking garage for our trip home.

Oh, one more thing that constitutes a win on this trip. I GOT MY PARKING VALIDATED. Dare I say, it made me feel so...validated. Sorry, that was absolute horrible. #DaddyWrite

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Ethan's discovery of this enormous ice cream cone. Alas it was pretty depressing for me to have to break the news to him that it wasn't real.

Day 906 - The One Where Ethan Had No Shoes

Today was one of those great "Dad Fail" days in a long sad history of "Dad Fails". However, I did learn a few important lessons as a result of my complete ineptitude. So there's that...

 

With Ellie heading back to school today after four fun-filled days off, I decided that Ethan and I should go have a little adventure. Also, by four fun-filled days off, I mean FOUR fun-filled days. She jam-packed a trip to the Red Barn Farm on Friday, Family pictures and a grocery shopping excursion on Saturday, church and a "date" with Mommy on Sunday, and a trip to the Weston Orchard with her cousins on Monday into those four days. Crazy busy, right? Anyway, I think she was probably more than happy to get back into the routine of school today after that weekend of hers.

Somewhat ironically, Ethan's and my morning out revolved somewhat around Ellie. After dropping her off, we continued on south towards downtown KC and Crown Center. Our mission? To obtain a free bag of craft supplies from Crown Center Customer Service for Ellie so that she could craft to her little heart's desire. It wasn't all about Ellie though as I had grand plans to take Ethan to Union Station. After all, I figured the little man would love to see some model trains. Our first stop though would be the Customer Service office.

Upon our arrival at Crown Center, the first thing I had to do was rouse poor Ethan from his cozy slumber in his car seat. Lately, we've been striving hard to eliminate his morning nap at all costs. Even a short thirty minute nap can have disastrous effects on his sleep that night. Fortunately, his car nap was only about ten minutes in length, if that. After waking Ethan, I stumbled across my first issue: his shoes were nowhere to be found!

 

While I grabbed Ethan's diaper bag before leaving home today, I somehow missing bringing his shoes along for the trip. I think there were several reasons for that error though. The main being that getting Ellie out the door for school with Ethan in tow can sometimes be difficult as I'm focused on other things. Since I didn't see Ethan's shoes before leaving, I simply assumed they were still in the car from our trip to Weston Orchard yesterday. WRONG!

Unfortunately, that mistake had consequences as it meant our trip to Union Station was off. After all, there's no way Ethan would allow me to carry him around all morning (nor would I want to). Also, him running around in just his socks may be frowned upon so we had to call that part of the trip a bust. It's ok though because we had crafts to get. Or so I thought...

As we headed into Crown Center, the first thing we had to do was find a map of the mall since I had no idea where Customer Service was. After locating our destination, we headed up the escalator and turned the corner only to find a still-closed office. With no hours listed, I had to resort to a quick online search to find out when it opened only to find "Customer Service opens when stores open for business for the day." Ok, that's clear, right? The next question was when do other stores open for the day. Believe it or not, this was a relatively difficult question to answer.

In an attempt to answer our quandary, I, with Ethan still in my arms, set out on a stroll around Crown Center to find either a store that was open or one that at least placed their hours of business on display in the window. At first glance, the chocolate store and Function Junction failed to provide the answers we sought. Therefore, we headed up the escalator to the Halls floor to see what we could find. There, we were met by a series of gates denying us entry to the store but unaccompanied by hours of business. We headed back downstairs and finally by a children's clothing shop that cared enough to list their hours of business which began at 11. With Ethan lacking shoes however, it was unlikely that we could find a way to kill an hour. So with that, we loaded up in the Traverse and headed home, sad and defeated.

Actually, as I ruminate on the experience for a brief moment, I realize it wasn't all bad. After all, we weren't in the Crown Center complex long enough to be charged for parking even though I couldn't find a soul to validate. I guess I can consider that a win, right? #DaddyWrite 

Day 904 - One Day in Omaha (OK, maybe just a little more than that)

 

Whenever a family goes on a trip, there is but one important rule. Thy must consume tasty tacos. Actually, that's not the one rule (even though it is very important). The one rule is that it needs to be fun for the kids. Fortunately for Ellie and Ethan, our quick little family vacation to Omaha last week was just that.

As most could guess, the pandemic has made vacation travel a little more difficult than in years past. The last thing anyone wants to do right now is get on an airplane to travel to a jam-packed tourist destination. Why do that when you can instead travel a couple of hours north on I-29 to Omaha, NE and check out the Henry Doorly Zoo (which has over 2 million visitors every year).

While we could definitely do a trip to Omaha and back in one day, we decided to make it more of a special experience. For one thing, our friend, Emily, would be joining us for this trip. We met her a couple of years ago while leading our college life group. Since then, she and Bethany have been close friends. For the record, Ellie also completely adores her! Rather than stay in a hotel on this trip, we instead found an awesome Airbnb with two bedrooms less than five minutes away from the zoo.

We left around for Omaha last Thursday around 12:30 when Emily got off work and made it to Omaha around 3:00. While it was a fairly uneventful drive, there was one thing of note. You see, like any one-year-old ever, Ethan tends to get really bored whenever he's locked into his car seat for long periods of time. When he gets bored, it's only a matter of time until he gets upset. When he gets upset, there's only one thing that can calm him down: listening to Cocomelon's version of "Wheels on the Bus" over and over and over again. As you can probably guess, that's exactly what we had to do. It sends a shudder down my spine all over again just thinking about hearing that song over and over and over.

After checking into our Airbnb, the five of us took some time to relax before heading to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. Bob the Bridge as it likes to be called (not kidding) stretches across the Missouri River connecting Nebraska and Iowa. It's actually a pretty cool experience to walk across it since at one particular point, you can find yourself straddling the line between Nebraska and Iowa. After finishing our walk across the bridge, we headed back to our Airbnb for the night, stopping to pick up some authentic street tacos from a food truck along the way. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about them.

The next day, after waking up around 7:00, I wandered a block over to a local bakery to buy donuts for our breakfast. When I returned "home", I found Ellie and Emily in the midst of their own little spa day as Emily was painting an excited Ellie's toenails bright blue. After consuming our donuts and preparing our lunches for the day, we loaded up around 9:00 and headed to the zoo.

 

After arriving, the very first thing we did was head to check out the giraffes and elephants followed shortly thereafter by heading into the African Grasslands exhibit. There wasn't a ton of excitement there within until we reached the brand new lion exhibit. That's where Ethan began to get really excited. From his comfy perch in a hiking carrier on my back, he began pointing at the lions while enthusiastically saying "Cat!".

From there, we wandered through the Asian Highlands exhibits (home to another "Cat" sighting in a tiger) and into the Gorilla Valley. The Gorilla Valley was pretty cool. That was especially true due to the presence of a baby gorilla that made its home there. In fact, both Ellie and Ethan were absolutely transfixed as they watched the baby alternate between snuggling with its mother and playing with anything and everything.

Our next stop was honestly the highlight of the zoo trip for me as we headed to the new Sea Lion Pavilion. While I've seen sea lions at the zoo before, I've never seen them like this. For starters, the entire attraction is made to resemble a sea lion's home environment. The most impressive part was when we wandered into an underwater viewing area and watched as the sea lions deftly flew through the water next to the glass time and time again. As for the kids, Ellie absolutely loved it which was proven by the fact that we could barely pull her away from the glass. Ethan probably would have loved it but unfortunately he had fallen asleep in his carrier on my back.

After a quick lunch break, we then headed to the Desert Dome, Aquarium, and the Jungle before calling it a day five hours after we began. After loading up in the car, we made a quick sojourn to a nearby ice cream place for some frozen treats before resuming our trip home and bringing an end to a great little vacation.

There is one thing that needs to be said though. I'm already craving some more of those authentic street tacos. I've already broached the topic with my wife of making a trip to Omaha for some more this weekend. Sadly, she is not in favor of that idea. #DaddyWrite