Day 1,275 - The Fort to End All Forts

When I was growing up, I often wondered what it would have been like to have had a sibling. That's not to say my childhood was bad. On the contrary, there were definitely a lot of good things about being an only child. However, there were definitely times a playmate would have been nice. Also, it's fun to hear stories from Bethany and her siblings about their many adventures from childhood (both good and bad).

Taking all of those things into account, it's understandable why Bethany and I decided early on that we didn't want Ellie to be an only child. In fact, we wanted her to have a sibling so that she might always have a constant companion. We also hoped that Ellie and her future sibling would be best friends. Lucky for us, that has certainly been the case for Ellie and Ethan up to this point. While there are certainly the occasional squabbles, the two really do seem to be each other's best friend and they genuinely love being together. 

As Ethan has gotten older, it's become more and more common for the two siblings to engage in playtime by themselves. What's also cool is that those playtimes often end up being pretty creative and imaginative due in no small part to Ellie. She's always coming up with activities that the two of them can engage in together. Ethan, more often than not, is more than willing to go alone with what Ellie's grand idea of the moment is.

Late last week, the grand idea of the moment happened to be fort building. While Ellie and Ethan have been known to rearrange our kitchen chairs and/or living room furniture on occasion to make a fort, she certainly raised the bar with her fort-related adventures last week. Instead of repurposing our living areas, she instead decided to turn their bunk beds into a fort.

Ellie, started up on the top bunk with a couple of blankets and meticulously started tying them together before attaching them to the railing of her bed. Then, Ethan helped out by bringing some more blankets up the ladder for Ellie to use. Once the blankets were properly attached, Ellie began tossing them over the railing, effectively creating an enclosure around Ethan's bottom bunk. Then, with the fort properly constructed, the two could start the next stage of their adventures.

The next stage of their adventure consisted of several phases. In phase one, the two worked together to load Ethan's bed with every stuffed animal in the room. Then, they added any and all blankets and pillows left in the room. Finally, the two managed to find room to snuggle together in Ethan's bunk while Ellie read books aloud to Ethan. In case you're wondering, this entire activity took place after Ellie got home from school one evening and lasted until dinner time.

While the fort didn't last long that night, it didn't take long for it to return the next morning. In fact, Ellie took great strides to ensure that the fort was bigger and better than before. Ethan, for his part, was again more than willing to serve as the Troy to Ellie's Abed (That's a Community reference for those in the know). Now, I can't guarantee how long he'll be happy in that subservient role. However, the current phase that the two are currently engaged in is pretty fun to watch. Here's hoping it doesn't pass too fast! #DaddyWrite

Troy and Abed in a fort!!!

Day 1,258 - Ethan Runs Away. Then He Runs Away Some More. After That, He Runs Away Some More. In Between All of That Running Away, We Enjoy the Zoo

Ethan is three years old. That is a statement of fact. Another statement of fact is that he is an extremely independent child and as such definitely has a mind of his own. In other words, it would not be a farfetched statement to say that Ethan is a handful. That is extremely evident these days whenever I take him to a public place like the grocery store or Walmart or in the case of yesterday, the Zoo!

Not sure I've ever actually referenced "The Jersey Shore" before...

Ethan's independent streak was pretty evident early on in our zoo trip. In fact, it technically hadn't even begun yet as I was waiting in the zoo office for our new membership card. The second that the worker handed me my new card, Ethan was out the door and sprinting through the lobby of the building towards the zoo entrances. In my haste to catch him, I never even scanned my card for admittance to the Zoo yesterday. So, I guess we were not technically supposed to be inside the Zoo yesterday but please, no one tell the Zoo.

Once I finally caught up to the little man, we wandered to the Polar Bear enclosure and then headed toward the Chimpanzee exhibit. On that little stretch of walkway was where Ethan's independent streak again manifested itself as he was much more interested in watching big construction equipment work on some new exhibits rather than continuing our walk to the Chimpanzees. Once I finally convinced him it was ok to start walking again, he was off like a rocket, leaving me with no alternative other than to run after him again.

After catching him this time, there was finally a brief moment of Zoo-time fun as we got to come face-to-face with a baby Chimpanzee. Actually, there was glass between us but that was pretty much it. One awesome selfie later and Ethan was on his way once again. Therefore, I proceeded to hurry after him all the way to the Tiger enclosure where he finally stopped, wanting to be lifted up to sneak a peek at the sleeping tigers within. After that, you guessed it; he ran up the path with me following suit until he finally saw fit to stop at the snake house.

After our visit to the snake house, I decided it was time to have a very clear conversation with my son making it known that if he ran away again, I was prepared to leave the zoo immediately. Ethan, for his part, took those words to heart for at least a little bit. We even made it all the way through the Australia exhibit before he ran away again. At least the next time he ran away was due to him spotting the playground. Therefore, I let him play for about 15 minutes while I chilled for a bit before Ethan suddenly declared that he needed to go potty. Lucky for us, the closest potty was just a short walk away in the Discovery Barn.

After voiding his bladder, Ethan was ready to explore the Discovery Barn. He was especially ready to explore the two-story slide that inhabits the Discovery Barn. His first couple of trips down it went ok but on subsequent trips, he started trying to run out the downstairs exit doors. Now, I don't know if he was confused or actually running away again. Regardless, it was time to bid adieu to the Discovery Barn and spend some time exploring Sting Ray Bay and the Penguin Plaza. 

After enjoying our lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I knew that our time at the Zoo was coming to an end. However, there was one last thing Ethan wanted to do before leaving and that was to ride the carousel. As we stood in line, Ethan took the opportunity to pick out the exact animal he wanted to ride: a lion. When we got to the lion though, Ethan was overjoyed to find a Royals logo emblazoned on the side of the lion. After our ride had ended, we began to exit the carousel. However, Ethan's independent streak took hold once again as he saw a painted horse with the Chiefs logo all over its saddle. Well, if you were Ethan, you'd understand that you can't ride the Royals animal and not ride the Chiefs animal. With that in mind, he started trying to climb onto the horse. I grabbed him pretty quickly and responded that we had to wait in line for our turn before he could get on the horse. However, after a short wait in line, Ethan sat astride Warpaint with glee as the carousel spun around and around.

After that, the time had come for us to exit the Zoo and head for home. Ethan, for his part, was exhausted after a day of running away from me and forcing me to seek him over and over again. That was evident by the fact that he had passed out within five minutes of being in the car. While I was definitely tired after trying to keep track of him, I couldn't sleep; I still had to drive home!

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,253 - Tasty Donuts, Kindergarten Blues, and Grumpy Little Brothers

It can be hard to be a little brother. I can't confirm that myself because of the whole only child thing. However, from what I've observed over the years, it can be rather difficult. I mean, Bethany's younger brother is 32 years old and the family still refers to him as "The Boy" (although there was a slight push recently to start calling him "The Fellow"). For Ethan, the reminder that he's the younger brother can come at any time and when it does, well, he might just become grumpy!

For Ethan, his most recent bout of little brother, FOMO-induced grumpiness occurred last Friday as we headed to Ellie's school for Breakfast with Buddies. In addition to the obvious breakfast of a donut and milk, Breakfast with Buddies essentially serves as a student-led parent-teacher conference. For Ellie, Breakfast with Buddies was especially exciting as Bethany was actually able to be in attendance due to a day off work!

When the four of us arrived at Fox Hill, the first thing we did was head to Ellie's classroom. The second we got there, Ellie began to excitedly show us around her classroom. The first thing we got to see was her table. There, Ellie shared her self-assessment with us. It was actually pretty interesting because Ellie was able to pick and choose what she wanted to improve at moving forward. She included being able to write 1-20 perfectly, improving at addition and subtraction, and writing better sentences. While it seems like she's doing just fine at all of those things, I was definitely proud of her for highlighting things she wants to do better (literally and figuratively). 

 

While Ellie was excitedly conducting her student-led conference with Bethany, I tried to keep up with Ethan who was happily pinballing around the room. At one point, he found himself in the classroom library where he set out to find any book that he recognized from home. For the record, he did a great job doing just that. We really enjoyed the excitement he showed upon finding one of his favorite books, "Last Stop on Market Street". Ethan also spent time practicing identifying his ABCs (to the relative amazement of Ellie's teacher) and working as a seat-tester by sitting in every seat he could find in the classroom.

When the time came for us to leave, Ethan became slightly agitated as he wanted to know where his seat in the classroom was. You see, at some point during the morning, Ethan became convinced that he was starting Kindergarten on this day. While he didn't fight our declaration that it was time to leave, he was certain to spend the rest of the morning informing us that he was grumpy. He even proudly proclaimed it to the lady working in the Recorder of Deeds office in the Clay County courthouse. That's clearly something that she needed to know, right?

Lucky for us, once we got home, Ethan seemed to forget about his grumpiness and instead gave himself over to the healing powers of Paw Patrol. Convenient since Marshall was wearing his paramedic gear instead of his fireman's suit in the episode.  

Oh wow, that was a really bad joke. Please don't judge me too harshly for that.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,247 - Spring Break, Part II!!!

As I said in my last blog post, our Spring Break wasn't all about staying at home in Kansas City. After all, that wouldn't have been all that exciting after the first day or two. Instead, we found ourselves wandering south towards Tulsa, OK for a Spring Break adventure!

Now, I know that when people think of hot Spring Break destinations, they're normally thinking Florida or perhaps some other tropical destination. Rarely does Tulsa come up as the destination of choice. Not that there's anything wrong with Tulsa; it's just hardly seen as a tourist destination. However, it just so happens that there is one thing in particular there that really appeals to families: the Gathering Place.

The Gathering Place is a 66.5 acre park along the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Ok. And yes, I did steal that description directly from Wikipedia. However, this park isn't just any park. It's an awesome park! The highlight, and the main reason for us going, had to be the Adventure Playground. In fact, our trip to The Gathering Place was so anticipated that it was actually the very first thing we chose to do once we arrived in Tulsa (not including stopping by our VRBO and McCallister's Deli for a quick lunch).

Once we arrived, I was immediately taken aback by the size of the structures Ellie and Ethan set out to conquer. I can only describe it as a series of tree houses/forts connected by rope bridges and cargo nets leading from one structure to another. Actually, that's a fairly apt description of what I was looking at. While Bethany and I expected Ethan to be the one deterred by the somewhat insane height of everything, instead it was Ellie. Although, for the record, I think she was just slightly overwhelmed by the mass of humanity closing in on her. Ethan made it his personal goal to conquer the cargo nets. In fact, he spent probably ten minutes traversing a set of three cargo nets that were probably a good twenty five feet in the air.

It didn't take long for Ellie's and Ethan's cousins and grandparents to join us at the Adventure Playground for some, dare I say, adventure. In fact, the four of them spent practically the entire afternoon climbing and clambering over every structure they could find. For the record, my favorite thing there had to be the slides built into the sides of some hills. I even made a few trips down those myself! After we finished up our afternoon at The Gathering Place, we retired back to our VRBO for a dinner of BBQ meats and sides.

The next day was a little unfortunate due to the fact that most of our original plans had been throttled due to nasty weather. We had been planning all along on spending Friday at the Gathering Place as well. However, high winds and freezing temperatures don't really make for a fun day of outdoor play. Instead, we changed gears and  headed to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. It honestly made for a super fun morning. Not only were there plenty of interactive exhibits to play with but it was also cool to learn all about the history of aviation. There were actually planes that spanned basically the entire history of aeronautics! There was also a ton of cool stuff about space exploration including an area where we could watch a video of an actual NASA rocket launch!

After we finished up at the Air and Space Museum, we headed back to our VRBO for afternoon naps and quiet times before grilling out for dinner that night. That was honestly a bit of an adventure as I had never actually grilled on charcoal before. It was also a bit of adventure finding a place that sold lighter fluid. No worries though as I finally found some at the sketchy gas station with bars on the windows and a Plexiglas box around the cashier who nearly had her face pierced shut. She was super nice though!

The next morning went pretty quick. While the kids spent time playing outside (Ellie and her cousin, Elbert, went on a "nature" hike with Bethany's mom while Ethan played in the garage and driveway with Bethany's dad and his cousin, Edmund), I mostly helped get all of our things packed and ready to go for the trip home. There was one additional stop we had to make before we could head home though: THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE!

While I know it sounds impressive to say we were at the Center of the Universe, it's not actually the literal center of the universe. Instead, it's this really cool area in downtown Tulsa where you stand and anything you say is amplified back to you at a louder volume. While Ethan was probably a little underwhelmed, Ellie, Bethany, and I found it to be pretty cool! Ellie and I even made one additional trip back to the circle after getting in the car.

Actually, did I say that was the last stop? Well, I lied. Our last stop of the trip was arguably the most important thing we could ever hope to see. That's right folks, after a short detour down Route 66, we found ourselves at the majestic Blue Whale of Catoosa! Of course, we had to get out and take a short walk through the whale. I even got my picture taken in front of it! Clearly the most important part of our trip, right?

Ok, wow, I wrote a lot about a short three day vacation. However, there was a lot crammed into those three days. No worries though. Now anyone who reads this can feel like they visited Tulsa (not to mention the majestic Blue Whale of Catoosa!).

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,242 - Spring Break!!!

Last week was Spring Break. Therefore, last week was fun. There's not really any other way to put it. Leading up to Spring Break though, I probably wouldn't have had that same sentiment. After all, Ellie and I tend to butt heads a little bit when we spend too much time around each other these days and multiple days of me being alone with both kids just sounds like a recipe for failure. However, I think the difference is that I'm trying (key word there is trying) to be more understanding of her emotions and feelings as well as being cognizant of my own. Part of that is knowing when I need to walk away and take a break or maybe even scream into a pillow for old times' sake. 

Of course, Spring Break isn't all about sitting around the house and trying not to get frustrated at my children. It's about having adventures AND fun! Early on in our Spring Break, that was mostly accomplished through time playing outside. In fact, it was during one of those outside times when I found myself being really impressed by Ellie's growth and maturation. While she normally just goes along with the flow of whatever we're doing when playing outside, on Sunday, she took real initiative. She asked if it would be alright if she asked her friend from school, Nathaly, who lives right down the street, to play with her. I told Ellie that I would walk down to Nathaly's house with her but that I would like Ellie to march up the steps and ring the doorbell herself. To my great surprise, that's exactly what Ellie did and the two spent the entire afternoon playing outside together. Nathaly even came over to our house and helped Ellie make a personal pizza for dinner!

On Monday, our adventure required a little bit more effort as we had to hop in a car and drive to St. Joseph to play at Fun Run. While the kids understandably got a little antsy during the drive, it was pretty much worth it to them once we got to Fun Run and Ellie and Ethan spent over two hours exploring every single inch of the jungle gyms and bounce houses contained within. One of my favorite moments though was watching Ellie put her gymnastics training to good use on the air bag. She accomplished this by flipping down the length of the airbag, landing on her back each time. It was actually quite a feat to behold. Ethan, for his part, wasn't going to be left out of the gymnastics routine and responded by nailing a series of picture-perfect somersaults. 

On Tuesday, there wasn't really much excitement to be had. There was a library trip in the morning and some time playing outside in the afternoon but really nothing to write home about. Wednesday was another story though. In the morning, we all (including Bethany) had dentist visits (Yay, no cavities!) followed by a short sojourn to the Zona Rosa park. After that, we returned home for lunch and quiet times before making a park trip in the afternoon. What was cool about our park trip is that Ethan rode his bike over a mile and a half round trip on our journey without issue! Once we got home, we settled in for some family play time in the driveway when who should come calling but Nathaly. As a result, Ellie and Nathaly spent most of the afternoon playing together again and just enjoying being kids.

Side note, it's actually really cool that Ellie has a friend in the neighborhood from school that she can enjoy playing with and spending time. However, Ethan is definitely experiencing a slight jealousy streak when it comes to Nathaly. For his entire life, Ethan has pretty much had Ellie's exclusive attention as her best friend and exclusive playmate. Now that she's playing with Nathaly though, he's definitely vocal about missing his sister and wanting to play too. No worries as I know that situation will work itself out at some point.

From Thursday to Saturday, we actually traveled to Tulsa to meet Bethany's family for a Spring Break trip. There's a lot of stuff to write about from that experience though so I'll leave that for another day.

On Sunday though, I may have had my favorite experience with Ellie of her entire Spring Break! What was that experience you may ask? Just a simple trip to the tennis courts at the apartments across the street to practice hitting. While we hadn't actually played tennis in a while (mostly because of the whole winter thing), I was shocked at how well Ellie did. After a relatively short lesson reminding her of the mechanics of swinging her racket, she was smacking balls over the net, one right after the other. Not only that but she was hitting them well AND keeping them in bounds! 

I absolutely love the fact that I'm getting to help Ellie learn how to play a sport that I love and hopefully she'll end up being much better than me at it. Of course though, I'll settle for just having a buddy to play with on a regular basis. That's a pretty good thing too! #DaddyWrite

Day 1,238 - I'm (Kind Of) a "Virtual" Teacher

Well, it's snowing. It's March 10th and it's snowing again. Honestly, I kind of thought that the snow might be done for the year after Monday. Alas, all it takes is a glance out the window to know that I was mistaken. It's not a huge deal though. I just now have the job title of "Teacher" in addition to being a stay-at-home parent. Actually, I'm really not a teacher but I'm definitely experiencing a little bit of what it must be like since Ellie is learning virtually today.

Despite my sarcastic tone, I'm actually quite intrigued by the virtual learning aspect of this week. I say week because we experienced virtual learning on Monday, today, and will likely do so tomorrow. It's really not that bad though. "School" begins for Ellie at 9:00 am any day that virtual learning is required. In case you're wondering, that's the exact same time that her school normally starts.

The first order of business is to hop on a Zoom call with her class so that the teacher can conduct a short lesson for the kids before giving them some assignments for the next hour. There are additional calls at 10:00 and 11:00 before traditional learning time ends at noon. While I don't really have to be around for these calls, I kind of enjoy sitting off camera for two reasons. Number one, it allows me to be familiar with the lesson plan so I can help Ellie with her assignments if need be. Second, I love getting to see her classmates and put a face to the name. For example, on Monday, I got to see one boy from Ellie's class eat a banana extremely slowly. I also got to see a girl stroke her cat much as a Bond villain would so...that's...cool.

 

Ellie's lessons revolve around reading, writing, and math with her having an assignment of some kind to complete after the lesson. After the assignment is done, Ellie's teacher then instructed her students to play various games on their iPad until their next Zoom call. While I had Ellie follow the teacher's instructions to the letter on Monday, I thought those instructions resulted in way too much iPad time for my liking. Therefore, I switched things up a little today. Outside of math time, I had Ellie engage in reading from books with her extra time instead of playing learning games on the iPad. 

Ellie was also assigned a self-portrait for art class. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

I have to say that I've noticed a huge improvement in her behavior as the day has gone on. On Monday afternoon, Ellie was pretty much insane from all of the iPad time. Today, she's her normal sweet self and is significantly more sane. In fact, she's already asking to play a game of Monopoly Junior with me in lieu of spending time on her iPad. I'm mostly OK with that except for the fact that the girl is nigh unbeatable at Monopoly Junior. In fact, I have yet to beat her in all of the rounds we play. Maybe that's a sign that I should pick a different princess. Wait, did I mention that it's the Disney Princess edition of Monopoly Junior? That seems pertinent. 

BTW, in case you're wondering, I pick Mulan each time we play. Maybe this is a mean thing to say but due to her battle-hardened experiences in the Chinese Army, I figure she's the most manly of all the Disney Princesses. Actually, that may have been slightly mean.

#DaddyWrite

Day 1,233 - The One With "Paddington" and a Car Dealership

Whenever I look back on the days of having just one kid, there are certainly things I miss. For one thing, the amount of noise in my house was much lower. For another, I didn't have requests for my attention during every second of every day of every year and so on and so forth. However, one of the things I missed the most was just being able to run and do an errand without it being a massive inconvenience. 

I realize that it is possible to do errands with two kids in tow. However, it's definitely a lot more work and nowhere near as fun as doing so with one kid. Also, it needs to be said that Ethan is now reaching an age where it's much easier to take him along when there are certain things that need to be done. After all, no one wants to take a two-year-old to a doctor's appointment with them. Or the accountant's office. Or the service department of your local Chevrolet dealer. It's actually that last one that I want to talk about.

For the longest time, I've been very stringent about scheduling service visits on our Traverse for Saturday mornings. That way Bethany would be home from work and I wouldn't have a kid along. Also, it would provide me with a nice little quiet time all to myself with that guy who brings his 100 pound Labrador to the dealership with him. If the weather's nice enough, I could even wander to Subway for a breakfast sandwich! For my most recent service visit though, I decided to break from tradition and schedule the appointment for a school day right after dropping Ellie off at school. That means that Ethan would be along for the ride!

Now, as any halfway apt parent would, I packed plenty of things to keep my child busy. Our backpack had about five books in it, a couple of granola bars, and a bottle of water all for Ethan's enjoyment. Honestly, I figured the appointment would take an hour as most and worst-case scenario, I could always tune the television in the waiting area to cartoons. After all, three-year-olds love cartoons!

The first hour went well enough. Ethan started off by looking through all of his books on his own at the kid-sized table in the corner of the waiting room. Then, he snarfed down a granola bar before taking a big swig out of his water bottle. After that, he brought me his stack of books to read to him. Once we finished the books though, I was a little nervous. You see, in a rare experience for the small-town dealership we frequent, the waiting room was absolutely full of people, some of whom were very interested in what the ladies on The View had to say. In order to keep Ethan calm (and myself sane), I knew I had to find something to entertain the little man. Enter Netflix!

Well, that's in Spanish...

After perusing Netflix for a minute or so, I found that one of our kids' favorite movies was now available for streaming. That movie is "Paddington". They seriously cannot get enough of that little bear from Peru...who came to be with me and you (as the song goes). For the most part, Ethan happily watched his movie in silence. However, at about the thirty minute mark, there is a scene where Paddington uses the bathroom at the Brown family's house. This is where things get interesting. You should probably watch the clip if you're unfamiliar with the film.

At the very sight of Paddington shoving toothbrushes in his ears, Ethan erupted in deep belly laughs. The laughs continued throughout the entire scene of Paddington wrecking the Browns' bathroom. Before long, I looked around the waiting room and saw several people hiding their faces as they laughed at Ethan's displays of joy. One woman was laughing so hard at Ethan's relentless laughing that she actually had to get up and leave the waiting area to calm herself. Unfortunately for Ethan, he didn't get to enjoy much more of his movie as the service advisor came to tell us that our car was ready.

Honestly, I probably should have seen Ethan's reaction to "Paddington" coming. For one thing, he's had that reaction every time that he's ever watched the movie. Even I think it's hilarious! For some reason, I just assumed that the little man would be too shy to laugh like that in a public setting. It serves me right though for underestimating his extroverted nature. Regardless, it's a fun memory that I will hold onto for a long time to come! #DaddyWrite

Ethan is Paddington!