Dad Life – The Toddler Zone!

In the past two weeks, I’ve almost been injured seriously twice – one time with the baby in my arms. In all honesty, both instances were partially my fault. I need to pay better attention to where I am going.

Our living room has morphed into “The Toddler Zone.” The floor is only visible after the kids are in bed and mom or dad have cleaned up. Otherwise, it has countless toys, blankets, clothes, crumbs, crayons, and a few other kid oriented things all over it.

While they were not involved in the “almost injury,” Mega Bloks are often a source of pain. They are not Legos, but they are Legos. What I mean is, these are king size Legos for toddlers. They come in a huge bag which Ella has to dump out all the way to play with them. There has been many times where I have stepped on one of these and yelled out in pain!

The first instance of “almost” injury came because of Little People. Remember Little People? They used to have wood bodies and plastic heads? Now, they actually look like people.

Ella has a LOT of these Little People. She got more for Christmas. She’s been fairly good at putting stuff away, but I happened to find the one thing that she didn’t the other night. It was Sam’s first night back to work, and my first night home with both kids. Naturally, there was anxiety for her and me. I was walking from the kitchen to the living room (toddler zone) with Andrew in my arms, and my foot found Ella’s Little People police car.

I wasn’t paying attention and my foot stepped on the car. All I know is that I started to fall forward. My first instinct was to hold the baby up. The couch was too my left as I fell forward and I figured I might be able to get him there before I hit the ground. Rest assured he is safe. He never hit the floor. I, however, came down on my knee and pulled something in my back/neck.

It was one of those things I DIDN’T want to tell my wife. I knew she’d freak out. We were both ok and the baby never even touched the couch. He was in my arms the whole time. When she video called us to say good night, I told her I fell with him and her eyes became as big as dinner plates! I assured her he was ok, and I made sure to check on him and give her updates that he was fine throughout the night.

Fast forward to this afternoon. It was lunch time and I had to get Ella something to eat. Again, I wasn’t paying attention as I walked into the kitchen and my foot stepped on one of Ella’s tutus! That thing just slid across the floor … and so did I! I was able to catch myself on the kitchen counter, so I did NOT fall down. I’m glad I didn’t. Sam was asleep in the next room and I am sure a fall would have woke her and scared the heck out of her.

Sliding on this thing is just as bad as sliding on a dryer sheet. It was crazy!

What did I learn from these two mishaps? 1. I need to pay closer attention to where I am walking and 2. I am bound to break a hip sometime in the future!

All Joking Aside …

My kids make me smile so much! Andrew is officially 3 months old already!

It’s funny to compare him with Ella. Ella wasn’t 25 inches long until she was almost a year old! He’s a big boy!

He is smiling and cooing so much. Sam said we should bring up the bouncer for him, so I did. When Ella was 3 months old, we had to put a pillow or a box under her so her feet would touch. AJ can touch the ground now! He absolutely loves being in the bouncer now – and when he really figures out out to get bouncing, I’m sure he will love it even more.

Ella treasures the time we can get down on the floor and play. We can do this more now that AJ will play in the bouncer or sit in his floor seat. Yesterday, she brought over her winter hats. She said, “Daddy hat. Daddy hat.” I knew what that meant. I did the best I could to get it to stay on without stretching it out. She had her hat from Nana on and we snapped a selfie.

These are the little moments that I live for! I love these special moments and long to celebrate more of them. Being a toddler dad is a blast! I just gotta watch where I am walking ….