A Stay At Home Dad

Upon returning home from our grocery store run, I employed the lass in helping to unload the car and put some things away. Her “taking things out of the car” consisted of her taking the bag of cold cuts and cheese in the house. She went the extra mile and opened the rear door of the car for me. Something she was quick to note to get credit for.

After everything was inside, I handed her the bag of potatoes and asked her to put it in the pantry. In the meantime, I staged the milk in front of the basement door so she could put it in the fridge downstairs.

When she finished wrestling with the potatoes, I asked her to put the milk away. Putting the milk away is something I always make them do. Upon completing my request, she immediately slouched forward, both arms going limp. As she did this, she tilted her head back. This is the come-on-how-much-do-I-have-to-do-around-here pose. She then replied:

“Dad, I can’t put the milk away ’cause my arms have no strength left after putting away the ‘tatoes.”

She did, eventually, put the milk away. I’m just surprised she isn’t taking a nap to recover from the effort required. What with trudging up and down the steps with a gallon of milk (well, down the steps with the milk) after having lost all strength from dealing with potatoes, I can’t imagine how she soldiers on…

At his first day of Lego camp, the boy learned how to build cars and build houses. He said they even built a house. Or at least the walls to a house. More specifically, he said they learned how to build the walls. By overlapping the blocks on each new level.

I was stunned.

At precisely 8:01 EST, I read the final words of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone to the kids. Somewhat disappointingly (for me, at least), it had ended the same way as when I’d last finished it. But the experiment was a huge success. Back on June 25th was when we’d started.

It took him a day to recover from the spill. Now, he’s hooking his legs on the monkey bars and hanging upside down from up there. I think he’s slowly working his way to climbing up on top. Although when I asked him directly, he told me “No, I’ll probably fall off.” It was a little upsetting to hear. It sounded to me like a lack of confidence in himself, as opposed to fear. Hopefully it’s only a temporary thing.

The Wife has been complaining for the past several years that every time she takes vacation, the weather get crappy. Well, I don’t think that pattern has been broken this year, but she sure does. Oy. At least the forecast isn’t for 90’s into the weekend anymore.

Anyway, yesterday at the beach where the lass got the “splinter from hell.” I won’t go through a blow-by-blow. But I will say our decision to excise it at the beach yesterday was a mistake. Actually, we didn’t get it out until after we got home because she screamed so much you’d have thought we were operating on her foot with a rusty butter knife using lemon juice as an anaesthetic. Double oy.

More day-trips through the week. Dinosaurs today, science tomorrow, more swimming after that. Then, by this time next week, July is half over.

Unbelievable.

Of course, with the heat “this time next week” seems years away…

At the start of dinner tonight, the lass declared she wouldn’t eat her hamburger. This is kind of like declaring that the Sun shall not rise in the East tomorrow. Actually, I’d believe that before I’d believe the thing about the hamburger.

But she persisted, summoning up tears in the process. Two night of being up late had finally taken it toll. So I decided to be diplomatic. I took her whole plate away.

We’ve had the play gym out back since the boy turned 2, if memory serves. Each year, the two of them get better use out of it. The first year, they (well, he- the lass was still too wee) used the slide and the “treehouse” portion. The second year, the boy mastered the swing. Last year, the boy figured out how to cross the monkey bars. This year, the lass has mastered the swing and they’re both learning the rings.