Day 993 - Home Schooled Holts

When you're a kid, there's nothing that can be more frustrating than a change in plans. It's true that some changes are ok like an impromptu trip to the zoo or an ice cream date. However, others can be painstakingly demoralizing. For Ellie, the latter was true on Tuesday and Wednesday when she found out that school was cancelled due to bad weather.

I realize that as Ellie gets older, she'll probably learn to love snow days, especially if it results in a test being postponed. I'm clearly not speaking from experience there or anything. For now though, Ellie absolutely detests snow days. She loves her teachers and friends and has an unyielding desire to learn more about the world. Therefore, any interruption in that routine is devastating to her, probably more so due to the fact that she only attends school three days a week.

While it's true that Ellie couldn't go to school this week, Bethany and I figured there was no reason why we couldn't bring school to Ellie. Therefore, we mapped out a "lesson plan" for the mornings of Tuesday and Wednesday that would allow us to best replicate Ellie's day at school.

On both Tuesday and Wednesday, we started our day by diving into a Preschool workbook we purchased for Ellie over the summer. We specifically targeted the numbers of 11 through 15 per her teachers, i.e. how to write them and understand them. Ellie honestly has a good handle on numbers so the idea of correctly identifying 15 objects is, dare I say, child's play. She also had the opportunity to spell out the words that correspond with Eleven through Fifteen. 

After spending some time working with numbers and writing, we then entered our art and music time. For music time, Ellie listens (and dances along) to the Months of the Year Macarena. What's fun about this is that Ethan is actually able to join in on the fun and the two spend a few minutes dancing and grooving to the music. Our art time, which follows music, consisted of painting a book of Zoo-themed pictures that Ellie has been working on. It's actually been really fun to watch her progress in her painting as time has gone on. Earlier this year, her painting could essentially be referred to as scribbling whereas now she takes great care to paint in the lines.

After music and art time, Ellie will start her center time which gives her another chance to play with Ethan. For center time, I've been having Ellie work with her magnet tiles because I know that it encourages creativity. Not only that, but after Ethan received a set for his birthday, it provides the two with a good opportunity to play together.

One last activity that needs to be mentioned is that on Tuesday, we worked a special "Baking Tuesday" into the curriculum which allowed Ellie to practice the areas of mathematics and science. At least that's what I told myself. If nothing else, we gained some yummy muffins that we didn't previously have as a result of our "studies".

I know that Ellie was definitely disappointed that she didn't get to go to school all three days this week. However, the fact that we got to have school at home and that we even dressed according to the daily themes of this week's spirit week at school have to count for something, right? If nothing else, I definitely earned my keep this week or at least I think I did. Ellie's probably the only one who can answer that question. #DaddyWrite

Day 991 - Run and Have Fun at the Fun Run a.k.a. The One Where Ethan Turns Two

It's absolutely unbelievable how fast two years can fly by. As of Friday morning around 7:00 am, Ethan is two years old! As I look back at photos of his birth, it really doesn't feel like it should be that long ago. However, when I look at Ethan running around the house, trying to keep up with his big sister while getting into all kinds of mischief, I know that it really has been two years! 

Since turning two years old is quite the achievement, I decided that for Ethan's birthday, it was only prudent to take him somewhere to run around while he could try to keep up with his big sister and that would allow him to get into all kinds of mischief. I'm talking about Fun Run.

For the unenlightened, Fun Run is a basically an indoor playground for kids. It comes complete with multiple bounce houses, a giant jungle gym/obstacle course, and oddly enough, an old-fashioned Wild West town. While we hadn't actually been to Fun Run before, I had heard plenty of first-hand testimonials from those that had been and knew Ellie and Ethan would love it.

After a busy morning of playing at home, I loaded up both kids in the Traverse and headed towards Fun Run a little before it opened at ten. When we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find that we were the second people to arrive. That meant that not only did we get a decent parking place but it also meant that Ellie and Ethan would pretty much have the run of the place. While the first thing would continue to be true, it wasn't long before Fun Run was absolutely hopping with kids. Ellie and Ethan certainly didn't mind though.

While I was a little uncertain how Ethan would fare in some of the larger obstacles, his monkey-like climbing ability quickly put that to shame. He more than held his own in keeping up with Ellie as they explored all that Fun Run had to offer. As for me, that was another story. You see, it's relatively hard to keep tabs on two kids when one is unable to enter the play area. Therefore, I basically had to keep my head on a swivel at all times waiting for one or both kids to pop out of an area in a different place than they entered.

There was one slight misfortune for Ethan in his visit to Fun Run. You see, Ellie has reached an age where it's a little less cool to play with her baby brother when we're in a public place. That's especially true when she's able to find a friend similar in age to her as she did on this occasion. Therefore, that left poor Ethan, on his birthday nonetheless, desperately trying to chase after her in an attempt to play with her. If the distress on his little face wasn't bad enough, his repeated cries of "Ellie, play Ethan, please" certainly upped the ante.

Overall though, our time at Fun Run was a rousing success. By the time we left, both kids pretty much found themselves completely and utterly exhausted. Nowhere was that more present than when Ethan flopped down in the middle of the floor and sadly proclaimed, "Ethan, go bed. Sleep." And you know what? He was completely serious too! Look no further than his three-hour afternoon nap for proof of that. Good times. Good times. #DaddyWrite

 

Day 985 - Adventures and Imaginations (and Don't Say "Run It Back")

Before I start, I need to take care of a little housekeeping. After the events of Sunday night, I never want to hear the words "Run", "It", and "Back" used together in a sentence ever again. Now that that's taken care of, time to start writing.

 

Something that has become extremely evident about my kids is that they love adventures. Now, in our house, adventures don't have to consist of climbing a mountain or something of that ilk. A visit to a park we've never been to can constitute an adventure for our clan. With that being the case, it means it's relatively easy to find new adventures to take part in together. Friday was no exception as the kids and I spent the morning at Union Station enjoying the Chiefs Fan Zone before Super Bowl Sunday (ugh!).

To begin our adventure, the kids and I parked at Crown Center and trekked through the link before finding ourselves at Union Station. Upon our arrival, the first thing we did was head to the very back of Union Station to get our photo taken together at the large, lighted Chiefs sign proudly proclaiming the phrase which shall not be named. From there, we then weaved our way through the Great Hall taking part in every photo opportunity we could find. My favorite though had to be when I was taking a shot of Ethan and Ellie in front of a large Chiefs wordmark and Ethan saw fit to run towards me mid-picture as fast as he could. Talk about your "Run-ning It Back". Ok, it's out of my system now.

 

Of course, the great thing about my kids is that they don't have to leave the house to have an adventure together. That is becoming more and more true the older they get. The biggest reason why that is the case is in no part due to me. Instead, it's all because of Ellie. Specifically, her vivid imagination.

Ellie has reached an age where her imagination really knows no boundaries. That's especially true when she's bored. It's not uncommon for her to spend her days playing teacher, exploring deep dark jungles, or climbing mountains. Today, the adventure of the day revolved around her and Ethan taking a trip to California.

For the record, Ellie has never been to California and I find it extremely unlikely she had any strong awareness of its existence before she and I worked on an America-themed puzzle this afternoon. After completing that puzzle though, Ellie had all of the information needed for Ethan and her to embark on a "cross-country" journey from the safety of our living room couch. My favorite part of the trip happened to be the multiple stops at the beach that she and Ethan made along the way.

On second thought, I'm probably wrong about Ellie never having heard of California before today. In fact, she's well aware of the state due to pictures of Bethany's and my 5th Anniversary trip when we drove down the Big Sur. We have shared those photos with her and explained in great detail what was happening on more than one occasion. It just goes to show that Ellie does listen to what we say from time-to-time. Who knew? #DaddyWrite