Day 1,138 - A Salsa-Making, Salsa-Eating, Potty Training Machine

At first glance, only two of those descriptors seem to actually be related and it's probably the ones referring to salsa. However, it goes without saying that if I can find any possible way to tie seemingly unrelated things together, I'm going to make it happen. 

I'll lead with the somewhat obvious fact that we are currently working on potty training Ethan. A part of me wishes that we had already been able to do so. However, he simply didn't have much interest. This week has been a different story. After Bethany spent time over the weekend working with him, Ethan suddenly had the desire to learn. Therefore, on an otherwise routine Walmart run, we picked up some brand-new underwear for Ethan.

Actually, that Walmart run is a story in itself. While we led with a relatively normal package of no frills underwear, Ethan became enamored by a package of Paw Patrol-themed boxer briefs. The problem was that the Paw Patrol underwear was more than double the price of the no-frills stuff with less pairs to boot. However, given his palpable excitement, Bethany decided to make a deal. We agreed to buy the Paw Patrol underwear in addition to the no-frills stuff with the provision that he couldn't wear the Paw Patrol underwear until he stayed dry for an entire day.

That brings us to current day. While Ethan hasn't yet reached his goal of dry underwear for an entire day, we're making serious progress with the help of the timer on my phone. Every 20 to 30 minutes, the time will blare and Ethan and I will make a beeline for the bathroom. There he'll hop up onto the toilet and let 'er rip. When he's done, he's rewarded with a nice, soft, chewy marshmallow for a job well done. Of course, a marshmallow alone isn't enough to keep potty training moving. No, the real trick is keeping Ethan hydrated. That brings us to the salsa.

Now, I know that salsa really provides no assistance whatsoever when it comes to rehydrating oneself. However, if it has enough spice content, then the water consumed to offset said spice content will do the trick. Lucky for us, that's exactly the case with our current batch of homemade salsa.

Before this week, I can't say that I've ever actually made salsa before. For one thing, I've never actually had any inkling to do so. For another, I didn't have a recipe or an excessive amount of tomatoes. Between the bountiful harvest of our tomato plants and a recipe courtesy of our friend, Amy, those issues were no longer a problem. Therefore, on Tuesday, Ethan and I got to work making some salsa.

For his part, Ethan was pretty much convinced that watching the food processor do its thing was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced. Before we knew it, our concoction of tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, and cilantro had been pulverized into a tasty blend. The thing about our tasty blend though is that it did have a little kick to it. That didn't stop Ethan though as he kept asking for more and more. Along with the salsa though, he needed milk or water to counteract that little kick. Therefore, that definitely aided our cause of keeping potty training going.

I think what all of my previous rambling shows is that there are definitely non-traditional aids that parents can use when potty training their kids and apparently homemade salsa is one of those aids. Who knew? #DaddyWrite

Day 1,128 - "I do not like the cone of shame."

I'm not trying to give myself a big head or anything BUT I have to say that I think I'm fairly decent at being a stay-at-home parent. The kids are fed, clothed, and washed on a semi-regular basis. They only play in the street when I'm watching and it's been at least two months since anyone tried to eat a rock. That being said though, I am not infallible.

There are those times when the most miniscule thing will slip my mind. It can happen to anyone. Well, it just so happens that I recently had a couple of miniscule things slip my mind on back-to-back days. Unfortunately those miniscule things were necessary for Ellie's day at school. It's not like the things I forgot would cause my children to be removed from my care permanently. Instead, it just meant I probably deserved whatever the human version of the "cone of shame" from Up would be.

I'm going to make the argument that the first day of forgetfulness can be explained away due to circumstances being out of the ordinary. What does that mean? Well, it means that the thing I forgot isn't a daily necessity for Ellie to take to school. What is that item? Well, it was Ellie's lunch box, complete with her lunch.

I know on the surface that sounds bad but I assure it's not. The simple fact of the matter is that Ellie's school currently offers free school lunches. As a result, we have been taking advantage of that more often than not. The only reason we packed Ellie's lunch on this day was because she didn't really like the idea of eating Nachos Supreme for lunch. At least I think it was Nachos Supreme. I don't remember and it doesn't really matter. Regardless, the lovingly packed lunch Bethany made for Ellie consisting of a PBJ, carrots, and fruit was left hanging out in the fridge next to our pitcher of water. 

Not going to lie, I felt pretty bad once I saw this.

Ellie, for her part, didn't notice that her lunch was missing until lunchtime. Once she noticed though, the sadness kicked in. Ellie's teacher stepped in though and reminded Ellie that in addition to the hot meal options, she could also get the cold meal consisting of a PBJ with vegetable and fruit. While it wasn't lovingly packed by Bethany, at least Ellie was able to enjoy a similar meal to what she had expected. That's something, right?

On day two, I probably can't make as good of a case for the item I forgot to send with her. That's because the thing I forgot to send was a mask. You know, the very thing we have to wear on our faces anytime we go in public right now. Good work, me! The really sad thing about forgetting Ellie's mask was that Bethany sent me a checklist reminding me of everything I needed to make sure Ellie had for school that day which definitely included "mask". Fortunately, the school stepped in again and provided Ellie with a disposable mask she could wear for the day. Although, I do feel the urge to state that Ellie did have an emergency cloth mask in her backpack so maybe that mistake is a little less egregious considering that info.

I'm proud to say though that since those rough days last week, I have been successful in remembering everything that Ellie needed for her day at school each day. Now, will that continue to be the case? Unlikely. After all, I'm only human...and a dad. #DaddyWrite

 

Day 1,121 - My very own shadow

For what seems like most of the past five years, I found myself feeling a little jealous of Bethany. Not because she goes to work and gets paid or because she gets a daily break from child rearing. No, I'm a little jealous of the special bond she and Ellie share.

I'm guessing this is probably pretty normal for mothers and daughters but Ellie wants to be exactly like Bethany. She wants to dress like her, talk like her, and just do whatever she is doing at any given moment. While there's no problem with Ellie loving her mommy, there are those occasional moments where I get a little upset about it. For example, on nights and weekends, I am not allowed to do anything for Ellie. That edict comes straight FROM Ellie so you know there's no disputing it.

It's definitely not easy having a child that seemingly doesn't want to include you as part of her life. However, it's getting much easier seeing as how I recently realized how I'm gaining my own little shadow and his name happens to be Ethan.

This revelation has been a long time coming. For quite a while, Ethan has wanted to be wherever I am and to do exactly what I'm doing. However, I didn't realize just how true that statement is until a couple of days ago and then again today. Flashback to Wednesday with me for a moment. I had been putting off mowing the lawn for nearly two weeks due to the combination of heat and precipitation. However, things finally got so bad that I knew it was time. Therefore, I begrudgingly dragged the mower out of the garage and began making laps.

It didn't take long for Ethan to join in on the fun, pushing his toy mower around the lawn while staying right in my footprints. That's fairly normal though so I didn't think anything of it until he suddenly disappeared. When he reappeared, he did so with his Royals hat firmly planted on his head. According to Bethany, Ethan had come inside the house and informed her that since I was wearing an old trucker hat to mow, he needed his Royals hat on while he "mowed" so that he could be just like Daddy.

Fast forward to today. With me going out of town on a guys' trip this weekend, I decided to clean the house so that Bethany and the kids would have a nice, clean house to relax in. That includes vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning the bathrooms. I had already finished some of those tasks throughout the week but had left vacuuming for today.

When it was time to begin, I headed to our living room closet, took out the vacuum, and plugged it in. Before I could start vacuuming though, Ethan ran to the kitchen and grabbed our dust buster off its charger and brought it into the living room alongside me. When I looked down and asked him what was going on, he responded with "Daddy is big man so he needs big vacuum. I little man so I need little vacuum." With that, Ethan proceeded to follow me all over the house with his dust buster, being sure to get anything I might have missed.

I must say that it's been kind of nice having a little shadow over the past few weeks. I've always been a little jealous of Ellie wanting to be exactly like Bethany and now I'm excited to experience that with Ethan. While it might become a little exhausting at some point, I'm going to do my best to enjoy this phase of life with a son for as long as I can! #DaddyWrite