A Couple Dad Stories

Weekend in the Dollhouse?

When people ask me if I watch certain shows on television, I have to remind them that I have toddlers at home. The shows I watch are the ones the kids watch: Bluey, Miss Rachel, Work It Out Wombats, Fireman Sam, and my daughter’s favorite, Gabby’s Dollhouse.

On the show, the main character is played by a gal named Laila Lockhart Kraner. She wears some magic ears on her head that allows her to shrink down and interact with the various cats in her dollhouse.

My wife sent me a thing last week that said that Laila is coming to some furniture store near us. You could sign up to win VIP meet and greets, which I did. I also reserved a spot to go to the event this Sunday. I know there will be games, snacks, face painting and “Gabby” herself. When I told Ella about it, she was SO excited! She keeps asking how many more “sleeps” till we meet her.

My co-worker asked me tonight if I had plans for the weekend. I wish I could describe the look on his face when I told him I was going to meet Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse! LOL! All I know is that I hope my daughter has a great time!

“He is into everything!”

My youngest son, Andrew, is someone that you need to watch every second of the day. He is just so fast. The other day, I was loading the dishwasher. He walked up to me and wanted to help. When I looked at him, I asked him what was in his hair. It looked like maybe he poured water on it. Nope. In the 5 minutes I turned my back, he got into my wife’s shampoo and kept putting it in his hair. He had enough shampoo in his hair to wash his, Ella’s, the dog, and you!

Tonight, while Sam was loading the dishwasher, he went into the laundry room and opened up the washer. It had completed its cycle and our sheets were waiting in there to be put in the dryer. What did Andrew do? He saw our container of Oxiclean.

He sees us add this to certain loads of laundry BEFORE we wash them. So, he felt that it was totally ok to add some (i.e. A LOT) to the sheets that were in there. Sam had to rewash the sheets and hope that too much Oxiclean was not going to be a problem.

Recently, my father-in-law was over and he needed a saw to cut something. I went and got mine out of the garage. Because it was raining, I set it up on the shelf by the washer and dryer. I figured it would be out of the way and I would put it back when I got a second. Well, guess who found it and tried it on his finger? Yep. Andrew!

But wait! There’s more!

Sam took the dog outside to go to the bathroom. In the 3-4 minutes that she was outside, Andrew was at it again. When she walked in, she saw him on a kitchen chair pushed up to the counter. On the counter, he had taken the piece that holds a coffee filter out and put a filter in it. He then scooped a tremendous amount of coffee into the filter. He had actually turned the pot on to brew. Thankfully, there was no water in it, so he didn’t brew any. Of course, we will be sweeping up coffee grounds from the counter, the floor, and a few other places for the next week!

(That’s NOT Andrew, but you get the idea!)

Highlight of the Week

Despite the snow we got this week, the temperatures have been on the mild side. It was nice for all of us to get out and walk the neighborhood. We still bundled up as it was breezy, but it was great to get out and show Daisy the neighborhood.

Morning Miscellaneous

The anecdotes in the blog today are a hodge podge of things that really wouldn’t work as a complete blog, so I thought I would just throw them together here in one. Please forgive the randomness …

Missed Milestone

Somewhere over the last couple weeks, I neglected to mark a milestone. I would have never guessed that I would post over 900 blogs when I started this site, but I have! Many of you have been here from the start and I thank you for reading. Thank you for reading about everything from diaper changes to my favorite movies and music. Thank you for listening to my many rants. Thank you for supporting the many changes my life has gone through and for your wonderful encouragement.

Maybe I have enough written to compile that book I have been meaning to write?

No More High Chair

Andrew has officially outgrown the high chair. I admit, it was nice to be able to put him in there and know that he would stay in one spot while he ate, however, it was time. So Sam and I brought out Ella’s table and now they can eat together. The above picture is in the middle of the living room temporarily while we rearranged the room.

We Got a Tonie

A funny thing happened this week. My wife was telling me, “I think I wanna get one of those Tonie Boxes.” I had no idea what she was talking about. She told me that it was like an Alexa for kids. You place this “Tonie” on the top and it reads books or plays stories. I had no idea what it looked like, but I pictured a small speaker with like a flash drive on it or something.

That same day – not 2 hours later – a box was out on the porch. My friend Margaret had sent the kids a birthday/Christmas present. I opened the box and I saw what looked like a package you might find a set of books in. Nope, it was a Tonie! My wife and I looked at each other in disbelief.

When I called Margaret so the kids could say thank you, I told her the story of our conversation and the arrival of her box. She couldn’t believe it. She told me that she saw it while walking through Meijer. She had no idea if the kids would even like it, and made sure to include the gift receipt in case we wanted to take it back. She included a few extra Tonie characters in the box and they kids love it!!

There are many Tonie characters you can get that tell stories and play music. You can even create your own content. If you have a little one, it is worth it!

Family Comedian

My daughter, Ella, is a constant source of laughter. Many times that comes at my expense. The following conversation took place this week:

Ella (with a hairbrush): Daddy, can I brush your hair?

Me: Baby, I don’t have any hair to brush

Ella: Yes you do!

I posted this picture on my Facebook and a friend commented, “Throw that brush away! She doesn’t want to catch the BALD!”

Parental Funny

I saw this posted on one of the Instagram pages I follow and got a good chuckle. ALL parents can relate to this!

Have a great weekend!

Nice Day For A Birthday and a Half

Monday is usually my day for getting stuff done. I do laundry. I fold laundry. I load the dishwasher and run it. I pick up the living room and vacuum. I clean up the kitchen and clear the counters. None of that got done today.

My day started with getting Andrew out of bed, fixing him a bottle, and putting his helmet on. Ella was up shortly after and mom brought her home pancakes from McDonald’s for breakfast.

It is Andrew’s 1/2 birthday (he is six months old today). We measured him, weighed him, and put him in his special onesie and took our Milestone pictures. We decided to take his pictures in his helmet so we’d remember it.

Today, my oldest son turns 20. He spent the day with his friends bowling and then playing games at his house. He is usually a late sleeper, so I waited until about 11 to call him. I used video chat and when he answered he had his mask on and was obviously in class at college! I felt bad that I interrupted and told him I would call him later!

The temperature outside was about 60, so I decided to take the kids on our first walk through the neighborhood. It’s a bit different with the double stroller, but it was just perfect. We got to see neighbors outside with their kids, raking up leftover fall leaves, and just relaxing on their porches.

It felt good to walk. I know that walking really helped me drop some weight last year, and I hope it will again this year. I just hope Ella will allow me to push her in the stroller. She loves being able to just walk.

Andrew seemed to really enjoy being outside. I bundled him up in a sweatshirt and covered him in a blanket and he cooed through most of the walk. He started to doze at one point, but he made it through the walk taking in all the sites.

When we were walking up the driveway, my oldest called me back on the video chat. He was excited to be out of class and was going to check out the video game store. He got to see his brother and sister and couldn’t believe when Ella said, “Happy birthday, brother.”

After lunch, the kiddos napped – Ella in her crib and Andrew in my arms. Tonight is the first night he has to sleep with his helmet, so I’m anticipating a rough night. He has been doing well with it, so I hope I am wrong.

My favorite moment of the day was captured by the camera. Ella wanted to get her picture taken, too, when we were getting Andrew’s taken. So we put her in the crib next to him and I caught this magical moment….

Precious!