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

Day 930 - My Son the Octogenarian

 

If I was to mention Golden Corral, I'm guessing the first thing people would think of is endless supplies of barely edible cuisine that is overpriced. Now, if I was to mention Golden Corral at 4:00 pm, I'm guessing people would have close to the same thought as before. However, there is one slight difference: the early bird special.

Ah yes, the early bird special. Known as that special time when seniors can head to Golden Corral for a discounted rate AND not have to wait at the buffet line. I bring up this concept of the early bird special because whenever I look at my son, I know that we are raising someone who would fit in perfectly at the Golden Corral's early bird special.

Bethany and I didn't come to this realization quickly. In fact, as I watched Ethan dance around the kitchen this evening in his overalls, it really hit me for the first time: our son is one going on 80. There are multiple reasons for us to feel this way which I'll share.

One of the first, and most obvious, reasons why Ethan is an old man at heart is due to his schedule. As soon as 5:00 rolls around each night, Ethan finds himself wanting dinner immediately. If it doesn't happen, he will get a little cranky. He also wants to be in bed by no later than 7:00 every night so that his 5:30 wake-up time is not compromised in the least. After all, if one isn't up before the sun, is there any reason to even get out of bed? Not if you're Ethan!

The next reason as to why Ethan is an old man at heart lies squarely with his attire. His two favorite pieces of apparel in the entire world are his gray Royals cap and Ellie's purple cowboy boots. Since we purchased that Royals cap back in the spring, Ethan has latched onto it like no other. Anywhere we go, it's a near certainty that Ethan will have his cap sitting square on his head. As for the cowboy boots, even though we don't let him wear them out of the house, it doesn't stop him from putting them on and parading around approximately sixteen times a day. When you add the cap and boots to the overalls Ethan frequently sports, it's easy to see why we refer to our son as a little old man at heart.

There is one more trait that Ethan shares with many an old man. That would be his love of the local news. I'm not sure how it started or why but whenever a television is turned on in Ethan's presence, he immediately begins pointing at the screen and chanting "News!" over and over again. I kid you not, the chants will not cease until we finally change the channel to a newscast. At that point, Ethan will happily crawl up on the couch next to me, sit down and happily take in all of the day's events.

Actually I lied. There is yet another trait Ethan shares with many an old man. That being his love of watching people mow. He will seriously stand at the window and watch someone have their lawn mowed for as long as possible. He's even been known to point at grass when he thinks it's becoming too long and simply say "Mow." Now if an interest in the lawn care of one's neighborhood isn't a trait many old men share, then I don't know what is.

 

Given Ethan's propensity for acting like a senior citizen, I have to say that I can't wait until he decides to schedule his (high school) senior photos outside the Golden Corral during the Early Bird Special. Maybe we can even find a photographer who'll snap shots for food although that might not be much cheaper the more I think about it. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess. #DaddyWrite

Day 924 - Ethan Goes Shopping!

It's been a little bit since I've blogged. There wasn't a ton of stuff that was missed though. If I remember correctly, there was a trip to my parents' house, a men's retreat, something I thought was a concussion that wasn't really a concussion, a trip to Bethany's parents in Nebraska, and a Presidential election. I'm guessing that no one really wants to talk about that last thing regardless of your rooting interests though. Therefore, I'm instead going to tell the exploits of Ethan's and my shopping trip today.

First of all, a simple thing like grocery shopping really shouldn't be that difficult. However, when the two people going are Ethan and myself, life finds a way. Side note, did you like that little 'Jurassic Park' quote? I know I did. Anyway, as soon as we dropped Ellie off at preschool this morning, it was off to Aldi for a little grocery shopping. Actually, scratch that. First, we had to return home to grab the shopping list that I had forgotten in our rush to get out the door. **sigh**

 

On our way to Aldi, I decided to take a little detour and run into The Home Depot. Our mission was relatively simple. We needed 10 more leaf bags so that we could continue raking and bagging the overwhelming amount of leaves that have fallen in our backyard. After rousing Ethan from his car seat nap, we headed inside to fulfill our quest.

This was actually a "new" experience for Ethan as we can actually count the number of times that he has been in a store since quarantine on one hand. In case you're wondering, that was a mid-summer trip to Sam's Club to buy some frozen chicken.

As you can expect, today's trip to The Home Depot did bring about some feelings of trepidation in Ethan. First of all, on our walk through the store, Ethan refused to let go of my hand for even a brief second. Even when we reached the checkout, Ethan refused to wave or acknowledge our fellow shoppers when they spoke to him. That being said, there was something special about aimlessly wandering the aisles of The Home Depot desperately trying to find leaf bag all while holding my son's tiny hand. It was actually a really sweet experience.

After finishing up at The Home Depot, it was time to head to Aldi. For his part though, Ethan didn't find this experience to be nearly as intimidating. It was probably due in part to his comfortable perch riding in the front of the shopping cart. As we headed through the store, Ethan definitely did his part as my co-shopper to ensure our success. For one thing, he held our shopping list like a champ, handing it to me whenever I requested. He also carried on a pretty stellar "conversation" with me as we discussed each of our groceries as I placed them in my cart. 

All in all, I'd call the morning that Ethan and I shared together a success. Compared to when Ellie was his age, Ethan really has missed out on a lot of those shared experiences that Ellie and I had together. While grocery shopping is a pretty minute thing, I'm glad that he seemed to enjoy himself. I find myself looking forward to more shopping trips with my little guy in the future if for no other reason than I look less crazy talking to him than I would talking to myself. #DaddyWrite