Throughout most of her life, Ellie has been better about responding to Bethany during those times when she's upset. Regardless of how kind or calm I am, it's more likely that any of my attempts to calm her results in large amounts of screaming, crying, or door slamming. It certainly hasn't been easy. However, courtesy of Ethan, Bethany is finally experiencing what it's like when an upset child won't allow you to calm them.
Flashback to last Friday. The kids and I were spending some much needed time outside together while waiting for Bethany to come home. Our activities were nothing too out of the ordinary: bikes, water guns, and the like. When Bethany got home, I decided to head inside to get a batch of tacos made up while she continued playing outside with the kids. At some point, I needed to talk to her about something real quick and stuck my head out the front door to find that she and the kids were missing. Figuring they went on a short walk, I thought nothing of it and returned to my tacos.
A few minutes later, my phone rang with Bethany on the other end. I answered only to find an exasperated Bethany on the other end declaring, "I need your help! Ethan's laying in the grass next to North Oak screaming and I can't get him and the bike home." It just so happened that between a screaming Ethan, his bike, the water bottle she was carrying, and her phone, Bethany had run out of hands. Not to mention the fact that her shorts didn't have pockets. Inconvenient, right? Therefore, I turned off the stove, took my taco meat off the burner, and ran down to North Oak to help.
When I reached North Oak, the first thing I found was Ellie's bike laying on its side in the middle of the sidewalk. There was no one in sight though so after moving her bike into the grass, I continued on my way. After turning the corner from 103rd St. onto North Oak, I discovered Ellie running down the sidewalk towards Bethany and Ethan. As I got a little closer, I saw that Ethan had moved from the grass right next to the street to the safer patch of grass on the inside of the sidewalk. However, somewhere in the process of the move, he had lost his pants. Yes, you read that correctly. Ethan was pantsless. He was still sporting his diaper but the pants were laying in a pile by themselves on the sidewalk.
Upon my arrival, Bethany basically said you're in charge of Ethan, took Ellie, and headed home. As I looked at my son laying on the grass and crying his eyes out, I wondered how to fix the situation. Lucky for me, the first thing I did solved everything. I asked him if he wanted to go home and eat tacos. While Ethan responded with a joyful "yes", he also made it clear that he didn't want to wear his pants. While that wasn't an ideal set of circumstances, I decided not to fight it.
That being said, he did have to do one thing before we could go home. He had to pick up his pants and hand them to me. This was part of his "punishment". Lucky for me, he did that pretty quick. So therefore, that's the story of how Ethan and I walked home from North Oak with only one of us wearing pants. It's a good story, filled with wit and charm, but lacking in one crucial department; PANTS! #DaddyWrite
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