Day 497 - Baby's First Service Appointment

When one become an adult, there are certain responsibilities that require attention every now and then. When one is a child, the parents has certain responsibilities that require attention every now and then that the child is forced to play a part in. This is the story of those responsibilities and how they affect both Ellie and I. 

Last December, Bethany and I purchased a new (used) RAV4 after mine was totaled when someone smashed into the back of us on Highway 152. If I'm being completely honest, it really didn't end up being a bad thing in the long run. After all, I found a newer car with fewer miles and more amenities than my previous RAV4 could ever dream of. 

Whenever one gets a new car, there are plenty of things to learn about it. For example, the fact that newer models of RAV4s use synthetic oil and only need to be serviced once every 10,000 miles. Of course, as I was too lazy to fully read the owner's manual, that was something I only learned when calling the dealership to schedule my initial oil change after 5,000 miles. Obviously, I went ahead and skipped that one, instead waiting for 10,000 to hit.

Flash forward a few months ahead to Monday when those last 5,000 miles rolled over on the odometer and it was finally time for our first oil change. I generally like to take care of stuff like that on a weekend when Bethany can be at home with Ellie. However, that was not going to work out on this occasion. Therefore, the day had come for Ellie to tackle a new adventure: waiting at the car dealership.

The first part of the journey for Ellie was definitely wrought not with peril, but with sheer boredom. She simply had to stand on the ground behind while I confirmed the details of our service with our service associate. Finally the time had come for us to wander into the waiting area and find a place to hang out. While we initially checked out the new and improved waiting area, we found that it was very lacking in things for a very busy little girl to do for an hour and half. Instead, we wandered down the hall until we discovered a special waiting area for people with kids and headed inside.

Lucky for us, this room featured amenities for each of us. For Ellie, there were boxes and boxes of new toys. Well, at least new to her. It didn't even matter to her that they were worn and slightly gross. For me, I was overjoyed to find a television that actually got NBCSN meaning that I would be able to watch the NASCAR race while waiting for our service to be completed.

As a former cubicle dweller, I can attest that people can only spend so much time in a small, enclosed space before succumbing to madness. After approximately 30 minutes of waiting, I made the executive decision that it was time to seek additional opportunities for adventure. Taking Ellie's fascination with cars and colors into account, I decided a car dealership was the perfect place to accommodate both of those loves.

Ellie and I wandered out of the building into the parking lot, serpentining our way through row after row of cars. With each car we walked by, Ellie would stop and pat the bumper, saying what she believed the color was. With that I would either affirm or correct her guess. 

As is the case with any Ellie-based adventure, the road can be wrought with peril. For us, there were two obstacles to overcome. The first being the continuous interruptions by car salesmen trying to interest me in a brand new Toyota for Ellie. You would think it obvious we weren't in the market but that wasn't the case. Instead I had to break it to each salesman individually before being forced into awkward conversation with them about the weather.

The second obstacle to which I referred proved to be much more of an attractive nuisance to Ellie. At the north edge of the parking lot, we happened upon two paths leading up a hill to a fountain with a car on it. Given Ellie's love for water, it should be no surprise that I had to continually direct her away from the path and distract her with other things. While I definitely didn't want her in the water under normal circumstance, that went double on this day as the water was dyed red in honor of the Kansas City Chiefs and 'Red Friday'. 

It's A Red Sea...

Finally, the time came for us to head back inside, reclaim our automobile, and head for home. That's right. We had successfully survived Ellie's first trip to the car dealership. Now, that being said, I'm still not ready to make this a normal thing to do with Ellie. After all, can you blame me for not wanting to be accosted by any more car salesmen anytime soon? #DaddyWrite

Day 492 - Inadequate Internet Usage Equals Life Lessons Learned

The internet can be a very handy tool if used correctly. Proper usage includes repeated viewings of cat videos on YouTube, attaining new recipes for dinner, and frantically pressing F5 to refresh any and all news regarding to the closure of Furniture Row Racing. And yes, I am still very bummed about that last one. 

Of course, there are certain things one should not do on the internet. For example, when wanting to virtually peruse Dick's Sporting Goods, always make sure to type the full store name. Or when writing a very important term paper, don't use Wikipedia as your primary source. 

All of that being said, the internet is only as good as its user. If you don't use it correctly (or at all), then it's not going to help you. That was a hard-learned lesson learned yesterday morning when Ellie and I set out on our adventure for the day.

With Ellie and I having spent a majority of the past week suffering from and unable to defeat a nasty cold, the two of us finally being "healthy" was cause for celebration. For Ellie, that meant one thing and one thing alone was in order: a trip to the zoo. Therefore, shortly after Bethany left for work, Ellie and I set out on our quest for zoo-based fun.

Obviously, zoo-based fun is something that everyone loves and adores. However, there is one prerequisite to zoo-based fun that rises above all others. That being that the zoo must actually be open. During the summer, Ellie and I became accustomed to hitting the zoo right as it opened at 8 am. However, as I learned yesterday, those hours of operation change to 9:30 for the remainder of the year beginning Labor Day weekend. Information that clearly could have been made known to me with just a simple Google glance.  

The proof is out there...

Under normal circumstances, Ellie and I would have found a playground or taken a nap in the car to pass the time. However, recent events in Ellie's life require her to stick to a rigorous and dedicated routine. I know you're wondering what kind of rigorous and dedicated routine a toddler would need to follow. The answer is simple: the bathroom schedule.

Bethany and I have placed Ellie on a pretty strict schedule of going no longer than 45 minutes in between bathroom breaks. Unfortunately for us, that's pretty much the amount of time that had passed during our commute. It was imperative that we seek out a restroom even though the zoo was scheduled to open in a paltry 30 minutes. As Ellie was still in her car seat, I fired up the motor and we headed out of the zoo parking lot in search of a public restroom.

As I ran down the list of possible options with Bethany via phone call, the first place to come to mind was a Wendy's somewhat near the zoo. While it might not have had the cleanest bathroom imaginable and I would surely be tempted by food, it was all we could think of initially. As I drove out of the zoo, my eye was drawn to a large building a block over. It was then that I remembered that Swope Park is home to a community center. Even though I couldn't be certain it was open, I figured it was worth a shot.

As we pulled into the lot, I was overcome by the urge to cross my fingers and hope for good luck. Unfortunately for me, I lack the ability to cross my fingers. Fortunately for us though, it wasn't necessary as the community center was open and had public restrooms waiting for little Ellie. About five minutes later, we were back in the car and returning to the zoo for our long-awaited, zoo-based fun. 

Even though the rest of the day went off without a hitch, the moral of the story is that the internet can be a good thing. All you have to do is use it correctly, or in my case, double check before loading up a toddler in a car with the promise of zoo-based fun. #DaddyWrite

Day 486 - An Independent Study of Child Bribing (a.k.a. The Attainment of Toddler Delicates)

As a guy, there are certain things that you're supposed to be uncomfortable with. For me, one such thing has always been wandering through a women's clothing department. It doesn't matter if Bethany is accompanying me or not. It just feels as if I'm breaking some kind of unwritten rule and it's only a matter of time until the proper authorities, or I guess, loss prevention agents, are called to deal with me in harsh fashion.

Of course, the women's clothing department isn't the only place I feel like I don't belong. As I learned this past Friday, the little girls' department also makes me results in creeper-esque feelings. Also, for the wordsmiths out there, can someone confirm that creeper-esque is a real (or real enough) word?

With Ellie deep in the throes of potty training, Bethany and I have been promising incentive after incentive to Ellie upon her success. Chocolate chips, blueberries, grapes, screen time, the great outdoors. All have been used to some degree of success. However, there was one thing we promised that really got Ellie excited for potty training: the promise of owning her very own underwear.

While we had every intention of buying Ellie her very own underwear, we expected it to be further on down the road in our potty training adventures. However, nothing changes a timeline like the Friday morning discovery that we only had three diapers left. Therefore, as soon as Target opened for the day, Ellie and I set out to stock up, not on diapers, but on training pants and Ellie's long-awaited underwear.

For the record, typing 'underwear' into Giphy is an unsafe proposition. Therefore, feel free to enjoy Baby Groot dancing.

The first stop inside Target was the baby department to find a box of training pants for Ellie to try. If I'm being completely transparent, the purchase of diapers always makes me a little uncomfortable as well. Yes, they're not for me or anything. However, it's just easier to not admit that the human body has a way of producing waste. For the record, I am more than willing to concede that yes, I am completely bizarre.

After picking up the box of training pants, Ellie and I set out on a grand quest to find underwear for her. Starting in the little girls' department, I was first overwhelmed by just how many varieties there are. Approximately 15 different princesses had their images gracing the front and back of underwear. In addition, there were also Star Wars and superhero-branded garments as well. Hardly what I expected to find in the girls' department. Despite all of the varieties offered, there was not a single one to be found in Ellie's size. With that, we wandered back to the baby and toddler section to search further.

It didn't take long for us to find exactly what we were looking for. With that, I released Ellie from the cart and set her down in front of the rack. My expectation was that Ellie would peruse the rack until she finally found that special underwear that would stand out to her above all others. To my chagrin, that's not what Ellie had in mind. 

Starting with a non-descript package of princess underwear, Ellie proceeded to enthusiastically toss package after package of underwear into the cart. It took a little time to convince her to stop but once I finally did, there was a choice to be had.

From my point of view, I found it unlikely Ellie needed to purchase approximately 42 pairs of underwear. Therefore, I helped her whittle down her choices until one remained: a 10-piece package consisting of different colors and designs. Lucky for me, there was not a single princess to be found in said packaging.

Now that it is three days after the fact, I can assure you that save for one very special pair of underwear, we are still relatively unsuccessful in our potty training venture. However, if that one pair can get us over the metaphorical hump, then we'll wash that pair each and every night. I guess all that's left to say is Long Live the Fox Underwear! #DaddyWrite

Day 483 - Four Simple Words

Do you ever just sit back and think about how complex the English language is?

Even though it's acknowledged as one of the easier languages in the world to learn, there are still a lot of intricacies to it. The whole past-present tense tends to trip up even the most seasoned English speaker from time-to-time. Also of note is plural versus singular; I vs. we and other things along those lines. Then, of course, we can't forget about verbs, pronouns, adjectives, etc. 

Confession, even as a 32-year-old adult, I still get tripped up anytime someone asks me to differentiate between the aforementioned three. Despite my shortcomings in that area, I still have the ability to speak and write well (or at least, I think I do).  

I've been thinking about this topic more often due to the fact that Ellie is becoming more and more fluent with her speech. In fact, I feel like she's been taking broad leaps just over the past week or so.

Ever since she first started speaking in sentences, Ellie has gravitated towards speaking in the third person. 

"Ellie eat apple."

"Ellie drink water."

"Ellie sleep stuffed animals."

"Ellie play Legos."

The examples could go on and on and on. For the past couple of months especially, it's felt like I've been trying to have a conversation with the Incredible Hulk while conversing with my daughter. However, despite any shortcomings, it's still much easier it is to figure out what Ellie wants since she started developing her conversational skills. 

However, this isn't a broad, overarching story about her conversational skills. Instead, it's a story about one sentence, uttered from her lips that served to warm my heart to the nth degree.

Aww.

After a morning of playing at the park, Ellie and I returned home to eat lunch together before I sentenced her to a nap. I say 'sentenced' because to her, a nap sometimes feels like an actual prison sentence instead of the good thing that it is.

First of all, I gave Ellie the option of choosing what her lunch would be. I had always planned on leftover sloppy joes for myself with Ellie getting to finish off our leftover pasta. Ellie would have none of that, though. In her little mind, it's not fair for us to be eating different things. I'm not sure if it's because she feels like she's getting slighted or feels like I'm getting slighted. Regardless, the end result was both of us eating pasta.

I heated Ellie's pasta up first, allowing her to sit down and eat while I heated up my own. It's a good thing I did as by the time I had sat down, Ellie had already polished off her plate of pasta and was asking for more. With little alternative, I shoveled a couple of scoops of my pasta onto her plate. It quickly disappeared too.

While conventional wisdom would make you think Ellie would be full after polishing off both plates of pasta, that was not to be. With my daughter still requesting more food, I opened our increasingly bare refrigerator to look around before settling on a lonely apple in the crisper drawer. After slicing the apple up, I brought the slices back to our table to share with Ellie. 

Shortly after I finished eating my four slices of apple, Ellie again noticed a discrepancy in our food supply. Therefore, she proceeded to rectify the situation by loving feeding me bites of her apple. When I asked her why she would do such a thing, her response was heartwarming. "I like my daddy." 

**Stock photo**

It's nuts how four little words can mean so much. First of all, it's just really cool to see my daughter speaking in complete sentences and getting all word usage correct. Second, and much more importantly, I've always felt like Ellie values me less than she values Bethany. Given the option, she will always choose to hang out with her mommy over me. Therefore, to hear her say that she actually does like me means an awful lot.

Now, I think I'm just curious to see what she says next. After all, it's not a far stretch for her to go from saying "I like my daddy" to "I appreciate my father", or more likely, "I can't stand you, Dad!" #DaddyWrite 

I'm too cool for the likes of you, Dad.