A Typical Dad Day

(I’ve never read this book, but I may have to …)

Sam worked last night, so it was my day with the kids. What does a typical day with dad look like?

The day starts with Andrew up first. We take the baby monitor out into the living room so we can see when Ella wakes up. I make him a bottle and take care of diaper change number one. Within 5 minutes of finishing the bottle diaper change number 2 is in order, because he poops like clockwork.

We usually go to get Ella together when she wakes up. He thinks its funny to push open her door. I then have to grab whatever Ella wants to bring with her out of the crib. This usually consists of a nana blanket, maybe a book, maybe a stuffed animal, maybe a pillow, or maybe all of the above.

She gets a diaper change and it is time for breakfast. Somedays we eat eggs, others waffles, another day pancakes, and sometimes a smorgasbord of fruits and other things. Sam usually arrives home around breakfast time. Today she brought donuts for them. Ella loves pink dipped donuts, not that she ever eats the donut. She loves the frosting, though.

Depending on the day, we either read books, turn on the TV or play with her toys. This is when I usually make myself and Sam something to eat. I made us scrambled eggs and had to make extra because the kids were eating all of Sam’s!

Sam almost always brings out an outfit for the kids to wear. We ventured out on our morning walk and looked for our puppy friends. She now knows just about every dog in the neighborhood’s name!

When we returned home, she began to read books. Most of the time they are books off her shelf.

After reading one of her favorites, she told me to sit down so she could read me a book. The book? The Weight Watcher’s Cookbook!

She kept calling the sandwich in the book (shown above) a cheeseburger!

While she is reading to be, my daredevil son continues to find ways to hurt himself. He’s been climbing, so Sam thought it was time to bring the swing/slide thing we got for Ella a few years ago back upstairs. Well he can climb it, he just hasn’t really figured out how to slide down yet. So he gets up there and starts shaking the one wall of it and eventually steps on the slide and falls off.

He truly has no fear. Today alone, he busted open his lip three times. None of those were from falling off the slide! He just tripped over stuff and fell on his face. I swear if we have to go to urgent care again, they will have to put in a window just for him.

Comedy continues to ensue with Ella. Today she grabbed her winter coat and winter hat and asked to wear them. She had me help zip up the coat and said, “I’m already for winter and then asked to watch Frozen.

We watched it like 7 times today. I will be singing “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” and “Let it Go” in my sleep tonight!

Lunchtime this week has brought the same answer to question, “What would you like for lunch today?” “Grilled cheese and crackers!” That answer has also been offered up to “What would you like for dinner?” and “What would you like for breakfast?” I’m glad that Andrew isn’t able to answer that question yet. When they both start asking for different meals, it’s gonna drive me crazy!

After lunch, it is nap time. Today, thanks to the neighborhood dogs and open windows, the nap was cut short. Shortly after wake ups, Sam woke up for work. She said some packages she ordered were on the porch and Ella went with her to get them.

They were the Halloween costumes they are wearing this year. I won’t say what they are here, but hers involves a dress. She wanted to wear it. Sam told her she had to wait until Halloween. This was not what she wanted to hear, so Sam offered up another dress for her. My friend from work gifted us some dresses that her daughter has grown out of. They are going to be perfect for holidays or family photos. Anyway, she spent the rest of the evening wearing one of those dresses.

Earlier I had thrown some chicken in the crock pot for dinner. Sam cooked up some buttered noodles to go with it for the kids. I took the chicken out and started cutting it up. I tried a piece to make sure it had cooled down enough and it tasted funny. I can’t even really descibe what it tasted like – but you know how they always say, “it tastes like chicken?” This didn’t. I wound up throwing it away.

After Sam left for work, Ella said she wanted a snack. So she handed me one of those applesauce pouches. Andrew got one, too. They both had like three of them! Ella kept asking for more and when I got her one, he wanted one, as well.

After playing with toys for awhile, more diaper changes were needed and it was pajama time. I was lucky enough to be able to get pajamas on her tonight. I really thought that she was going to want to wear the dress to bed! I’m sure I would have let her…

She took a book to bed with her, we said prayers and I closed her door. I brought Andrew with me and tried to rock him and sing him to sleep. He had the funniest case of the giggles and it took him forever to fall asleep. Once he was asleep, I put him in his crib and took a shower.

Reflecting back on the day:

7 outfit changes. 5 poop diapers. An unknown amount of pee diapers. 3 times sweeping the floor. 2 times picking up the same toys and putting the in the toybox. 2 times vacuuming. 7 viewings of Frozen. 3 busted lips. 8 bumps on the head. 12 crying fits. 2 bad pieces of chicken. 3 cheese omelets, 2 grilled cheese sandwiches. 3 video chats. 7,953 times I heard, “Daddy!” 2 sleeping kids.

Add it all up and it equals one amazing day for a very blessed Dad!

The Omelette

Confession: I’m 51 and I love cartoons.

I have blogged about the cartoon Bluey before, and yes, I am blogging about it again. The third season of Bluey is still unavailable for viewing in the United States. There are some ways around that by changing your VPN or some other “tech” stuff I don’t understand.

I happen to belong to a Facebook group that will occasionally post some of the videos. As I held AJ this afternoon, I saw that they posted a cartoon from season 3, so I watched it. I literally laughed out loud throughout the episode, and at one point almost cried. That’s just one of the reasons I love this cartoon.

The episode is called “Omelette.” The cartoon starts with Dad (Bandit) opening his eyes to see his wife and two daughters looking at him. It’s his birthday, and they tell him they are going to make him breakfast in bed. He states he is hungry and mom suggests getting a move on, because when dad is hungry – he gets cranky. I can totally relate to this! Maybe it’s a guy thing?

Anyway, in the kitchen mom starts to make a “fast omelette” and tells Bluey to set up the table (the tray) and Bingo to make a birthday card for dad. As mom turns around, there is 4 year old Bingo. She tells mom that she made a card for dad at school and shows her. She then asks to help make the omelette.

First, she grabs the eggs, and as she walks to the counter, she drops about half of them on the floor. After cleaning it up, they attempt to crack eggs. She is not hitting the bowl hard enough, so mom tells her to try harder – which leads to another mess. After that mess is cleaned up, something happens where Bluey spills juice and that needs to be cleaned up.

Mom’s phone rings and it is dad asking how much longer breakfast will be – because, you know, he’s hungry! This totally cracked me up. I can see myself doing that. She tells him it won’t be long decides that Bingo should let mom just make the omelette. Cut to dad in bed ….. obviously getting more and more hungry (and cranky).

Mom whips up the omelette and is ready to take it to dad. She notices Bingo is pretending to play with two nutcracker salt and pepper shakers. Mom is watching as she basically tells the one salt shaker she’s “not good enough to help” with things. Mom now realizes that Bingo is playing out exactly how she felt when mom told her that she couldn’t help.

Dad now enters the kitchen and is begging for food. Mom tells Bluey to get dad back in bed and keep him there. He sees the omelette and begs to eat it. Mom tells him its not his and Bluey and dad are off to the bedroom. It’s pretty funny to hear Bluey tell dad to “Stay!” – they are dogs after all.

Mom then asks Bingo to help make the omelette, which makes her very happy. There is a montage of messes being made, borrowing more eggs from neighbors, phone calls from dad, more messes, more egg borrowing, and eventually – a pretty nasty looking omelette. They take the omelette to dad who wolfs it down in seconds!

He announces it was the best omelette he has ever had.

I’m not sure why I related so much to this particular episode, but I did. For some reason, I connect with this family and these characters. I also learn from them. Dad (Bandit) is the dad I want to be. He plays with his kids, often times more than any dad I know. I strive to be like him with my kids.

This episode was kind of a slap in the face to me (amidst the times I laughed at Bandit). Let me explain. My wife is all about letting the kids make messes. I’m not sure why, but when she does that, my anxiety levels go through the roof. One time, she gave Ella Jello or pudding and just let her play on her high chair. Jello and pudding was everywhere! What a mess that had to be cleaned up.

Last week, she bought one of those blow up pools. We don’t have a bath tub, so she filled this thing in the middle of our kitchen. There was water everywhere. Ella had a blast, but I could feel myself going crazy with anxiety! “The water is going to go through the floor to the basement!” I thought. “We’re going to ruin the floor!” My mind never stopped racing about those things.

When mom realized that all Bingo wants to do is help, she lets her – no matter how many messes had to be made. I need to step back and read the kids. I need to let them make messes. I need to let them help. The look on Bingo’s face and the excitement she shows when mom asks for her help – that is what it is all about.

Without it being an official New Year’s Resolution (because I don’t believe in them), I think this year, I’ll let the kids break a few eggs …..