Daddy’s View

Eric was invited to his first birthday party for kids!  We got the invitation for Daniel’s birthday party at Monkey Joe’s.  Monkey Joe’s is a giant indoor inflatable playground.  We arrived just before 11:30am, just in time.  Eric has been sick this week, so he was not too excited, yet.  After everyone arrived and gathered in the party room, we were all set free for an hour to play on all of the inflatables.

Eric and I went straight for the biggest slide in the place.  It was at least 20 feet high!  Eric had trouble climbing, so I carried him up to the top.  We sat at the top with Eric between my legs.  Mommy, Brock, and Lua were waiting at the bottom.  We scooted forward into position.  We both counted together, “one, two, three, weeee!”.  And I pushed off.  We flew down the slide all the way to the bottom.  It was fast!  Mommy told me later that Eric’s eyes were wide as we came down the slide.  He jumped up and ran to the end of the slide where Mommy picked him up and out.  When I climbed out, Eric was ready to go again.  I could see that this was going to be a long day.  I picked him up and climbed back to the top again.  We sat with Eric in front of me and counted, “one, two, three, weeee!”.  I pushed off again and down we went.  “Again!”  Up we climbed.  We sat again.  We counted.  Then I let Eric go by himself.  He did great for the first half of the drop.  Then he turned sideways and tumbled the rest of the way down.  Oh well.  At least he tried.

We decided to move on to other play areas for a while.  We found an area set up just for kids under 2 years old.  Eric played in here for a while.  It had a small slide that he could climb by himself.  He went down several times.  He is not feeling well due to the cold he has been fighting.  Soon, he wanted up to be carried around a little.  We walked over to another slide.  This one was only 5 or 6 feet high.  Eric and I climbed inside and I lifted Eric up to the top of the slide.  We started counting, and I realized Mommy was not waiting at the bottom.  I looked around and did not see her.  (She had gone back to the party room to get more tissues for Eric’s nose.)  Another parent was at the bottom and motioned that she would catch him.  We were all ready to go, so I went ahead and pushed off.  Eric went down by himself, and again he turned sideways and tumbled down.  This was not going well.  He stood up and walked around where I could help him climb back up.  When I lifted him up to the slide, he was clinging with his arms around my neck in a death grip.  He was not going down the slide by himself again…period.  I climbed on and we both went down together.  This slide was not really built for adults, but we made it down okay.

Enough slides.  We found another play area to climb around.  Eric and I crawled around and played hide and seek for a while until he was done.  He was getting pretty tired by now, as it approached nap time.  We started to make our way back to the party room when we found a giant bounce room.  We climbed in and jumped and ran around for a while.  Eric had a blast!

Back to the party room.  It is time for pizza and cake!  On the way, we climbed the giant slide and went down once more together.

Eric ate a little pizza, but was not interested in the cake.  It was well past nap time by now.  We watched while Daniel opened his gifts.  He got a lot of Hot Wheels stuff.  He is really excited about Hot Wheels!

Mommy and I took Eric to Grandma and Grandpa Gray’s house.  Eric and Tyler both spent the night.  They all had fun.  Eric was fussy and wanted Mommy and Daddy this morning.  Mommy went after breakfast to pick him up.

Eric got up from his nap today just in time to watch the Colts football game.  I was finishing up a project involving the bedroom window, while Mommy and Eric watched the first half of the football game.  I finished my project and Eric and Mommy and I played in the living room through the second half.  Eric was cheering, “Go Colts!” and “touchdown!”

After dinner, we called Grandma and Grandpa Deakin on the webcam.  It was a brief call, as we had some difficulties with the internet connection and dropped calls.  Grandma and Grandpa are planning to visit next weekend to play cards.

Another weekend gone, but next weekend should be just as fun!

Eric has been going to Music Playhouse on Tuesday nights this year, instead of Monday mornings.  This decision was made, so I could go to some of his classes (if I could get out of work early).  This is one of those weeks!  I was able to leave work at 5:00pm, instead of the usual 5:30-6:30pm.  Music Playhouse starts at 5:45pm.  This left me enough time to stop and gas up the car on the way to class.

Mommy and I had not told Eric that I would be there this week.  For some reason, on the drive over, Mommy and Eric were talking and when Mommy mentioned Music Playhouse, Eric says, “Daddy!”  How he knew I would be there, we don’t know, except that I called the house when I left the office.  Eric knows that when I call, I will soon be home.  Eric knows when I call, because our phone has a special ring when either Mommy or I call from our cell phones.  Eric knows this sound when I call every evening on my way home.  The phone plays a special melody and the caller ID speaks, “Daddy!”.  Mommy tells me that he gets very excited when he hears this.

Anyway, I have only been to Music Playhouse once before – last summer when it was on Monday morning.  This class had different kids and obviously different parents.  There was one other Dad in the class; the rest were Moms and Grandmas.  Eric was especially wound up this week.  He was running around in circles, playing and laughing.  He participated pretty well in the activities.  I had fun!  It is always a joy to see Eric having so much fun, no matter what it is that he is doing.  He plays well with the other kids (mostly) and hams it up for the other parents.  He especially likes to flirt with one particular mom – she is very pretty.

At the end of class, Miss Diane has an ink stamp that most of the kids line up to get stamped…on their hand, arm, belly, etc.  Miss Diane is the teacher in the class.  Eric usually gets one or both hands, and sometimes his belly stamped!  After the stamps were done, Mommy and I asked Eric to give Miss Diane a hug.  Eric ran straight over and gave her a great big hug!  He is such a sweet little boy!

I hope I can get out of work early every week!  We shall see…

I love the weekends!  After 12 straight days at work following my 11 days off, I was ready for a break.  Eric was, too.  Saturday, I slept in while Mommy was fixing breakfast.  Eric eventually woke up and played in the kitchen while Mommy continued with breakfast.

Alas, Mommy is missing an ingredient for her infamous apple dumpling something or other that she occasionally makes for breakfast.  So, she brings Eric into our bedroom and sets him down in bed with me.  This is no problem, except I am really tired and would like to sleep a little longer.  Mommy assures me that if she turns on a Barney video, Eric will let me sleep while she goes to the grocery.  I am skeptical, but I agree.  Sure enough, before Mommy gets out the front door, Eric is asking for his cup.  Mommy retrieves this, but now he is restless and will not climb back into bed.  I crawl out of bed and mope to the living room to watch Barney on the big TV.  Eric is content to sit quietly and watch.

Mommy is back!  Eric and I play in the living room until breakfast is ready.  We wrestle and tickle and laugh.  We play a while rolling his football back and forth.  All in all, it is a pleasant morning.  I am now waking up.

We played after breakfast until it was time for Eric’s nap.  While Eric napped, I spent some time playing with my laptop.  It is still relatively new and I have a few things left to figure out.

Eric and I spent most of Saturday afternoon singing and dancing and playing in the office.  I had ripped all of his CDs onto the computer, and we were playing a random shuffle of them all.  He has three CDs from Music Playhouse, two VeggieTales CDs, and a three-CD set of kids songs from Christmas.  The latter came from Granny Malone, cousin Michael’s and Michelle’s granny.  I set the computer to show cool colors and lines and shapes on the screen that changed and moved with the music.  Eric was mesmerized by this.  He stared at the screen for long periods while listening to the music.  We had much fun!

Sunday morning.  Today it is my turn to fix breakfast.  That means…Pancakes!  Or “cancakes” as Eric likes to say.  I made the usual Mickey Mouse shape for Eric’s pancake.  He easily recognizes it as Mickey.  While I was cooking the pancakes, Eric wanted “up”, so I picked him up and held while we watched the pancakes cook.  Time to flip!  I asked Eric how many pancakes I was cooking.  We counted out loud together, “one, two, three”, then I stopped saying the numbers and continued pointing at the pancakes.  Eric counted by himself, “four, five”!

After breakfast, we decided to go to Costco.  Mommy wanted to get more ink for the printer.  It was important that she be able to print something today.  After the shopping trip, Eric was ready for a nap.

Now, all the work we were supposed to do on Saturday could wait no longer.  The weekend is almost over.  We decide to finish packing up the Christmas decorations.  I head outside to unplug and pack up all the lights, Homer, Frosty, etc.  Inside, we had most of the decorations down a couple weeks ago, but they were not all put away, but scattered around here and there.  Eric was up from his nap by now, so Mommy kept him entertained in the living room while I packed everything up.  Eric found the singing reindeer (“Grandma got run over by a reindeer…”) and played for a while with that, pushing the button over and over to hear the song.

with everything packed up, I headed back out to the garage.  Time to move all the cars out, so I can get into the attic.  We took down the last safety gate in the living room right after Christmas.  I decided to pack this up, too.  Out with the cars, down with the steps, up with the decorations, back in with the cars, and done!  When I got back into the house, Eric was running around fussing and playing.  He has been moody lately, having little fits and such several times during the day.  It seems like normal stuff for an almost-two-year-old.

Mommy already had dinner in the oven.  Tonight…PIZZA!  eric ate only two pieces of pizza this time, but he ate ranch dressing off of his celery stick for quite a while.  the whole time, he kept saying, “yumm…yumm”.  We were planning to call Grandma and Grandpa Deakin on the computer after dinner.  the time was about right, 7:00pm, same as every Sunday.  however, after all the pizza and ranch dressing, we decided that Eric needed his bath before the video call instead of after, as originally planned.  I called Grandpa to let him know we would call a little later, since Eric needed a bath.

Bath time!  Covered from ear to ear and chin to hair with pizza sauce and ranch dressing, Eric was definitely ready for a bath.  Mommy filled the tub while Eric finished his dinner.  Warm water, bubbles, soap, toys, splashing, rinsing!  “Mommy, we’re ready for the towels!”  Mommy always puts Eric’s towels in the dryer while he is in the bath.  This way when he gets out, his towels are nice and warm.  I wonder if Eric realizes how spoiled he is?  Rub down with baby oil, dry the hair, new diaper, clean pajamas and socks.  Now, we are ready for Grandma and Grandpa!

Eric is especially animated this week during the video call.  With my new laptop, we are able to sit and play in the living room.  Eric decides that he wants to play with his building blocks, so we dump them out and I proceed to build tall towers that Eric can knock down.  He loves to knock over anything Daddybuilds.  He laughs the whole time.  Mommy gave a shot at building a tower.  Eric knocked this down, too.  Grandma and Grandma seemed to enjoy watching him play.  Of course, Grandpa was encouraging Eric the whole time to knock over my towers, as if he needed any encouragement 🙂

After the video call, we sang and danced and laughed in the office with his music playing on the computer again.  Time for “night night”!  Eric is plenty tired after today.  he lays down quietly and talks to his animals and pillow for a while before falling asleep.

Another weekend gone.  I can’t wait for next weekend!

Daddy’s home!!!  Eric was very excited to see me…and vice versa.  I was in Canada for business this week.  Eric and I had not seen each other since Monday night.  We talked a little on the phone, but Eric is not much of a phone talker.  A few words and then he gets distracted by a toy or TV or something.

Eric and I danced and sang around the pool table while Mommy finished making our dinner.  We danced and chased each other, tickling and laughing.  After dinner, we sat in bed and watched a Barney video together.  Just Eric and me relaxing together.

It sure is good to be home!

I have been working late every night this week since I returned after the holidays.  Such is as it is when business is busy.  As a result, I eat dinner by myself, usually reheated.  Wednesday night, Mommy made pizza for dinner – Tombstone frozen pizza.  I called on my way home, and Mommy told me that Eric had eaten two whole pieces and started on a third.  By the time I got home, Eric had eaten three pieces of pizza.  Mommy went to the grocery store while I sat down to eat my pizza.  Mommy warmed up a second pizza, so I could eat.  Eric was still hungry.  He kept asking for more pizza, so I gave him a bite of my pizza.  He ate a whole piece!  An entire half of a pizza for dinner!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We had a great time at Aunt Eileen’s and Uncle Geof’s party.  We missed Mommy, though.  She had to stay home, since she was not feeling well and running a fever.  (She is feeling much better, now.)  I woke Eric up early from his nap, so we could leave on time.  We had a fun drive.  I was singing along to songs on the radio, and Eric was singing with me.  He is very good at picking up the last words of the song lines.  He laughs sometimes when the lyrics sound funny.

We arrived at their lake house just after 5:00pm.  Aunt Bev, Uncle Mike, and cousin Michael drove up right behind us.  Michael helped carry some of our stuff into the house.  It is next to impossible to travel light with Eric, but I am used to that.  With my hands full, I let Eric walk up to the house.  He was hesitant at first, and then decided that he did not want to go in.  It was an unfamiliar house, so he turned and started walking away.  I quickly shifted the cooler from my left hand to my right hand, which was already pulling our suitcase with another bag on top.  I scooped Eric up into my left arm, and we went in.  Uncle Geof greeted us at the door.  Eric was sleepy and disoriented in a new place, so he played shy with Uncle Geof.  Grandpa was also at the door to greet us.  Eric gave a kiss, but was clinging to Daddy as if his life depended on it.  Eric finally went to Grandpa’s arms to give a hug, but that lasted only long enough for a hug, then back to Daddy.  I decided that the rest of the stuff could stay in the car for a little while until Eric was acclimated and settled in.  We went upstairs and found Aunt Eileen and Grandma.  Eric was happy to sit with Grandma…as long as Daddy stayed close by.

I finally got the car unloaded and Eric’s diaper changed.  Now, where did I put that cooler with the beer…

Soon, cousins Jennifer and Jim arrived with Mario (5) and Anthony (3).  Eric loved having his cousins there to play with.  Within minutes, they were playing in the kids play room and having a great time.  Aunt Eileen found some toy trucks and robots that Santa had left at the lake house for Eric.

Eric played with his cousins and frequently returned to Daddy just to make sure I was still there.  He sat in my lap for several minutes each time.  Gradually, these checks became farther between until he was comfortable with the new house and didn’t need the constant security of Daddy’s lap.

Cousin Chris was our chef for the day.  He prepared a wonderful meal with salad, filet mignon, lobster tail, and a lemon-raspberry sorbet finish.  Dinner was very good.  Eric was not hungry and only ate some peaches that Aunt Eileen had in the cupboard.

After dinner, Eric continued playing with his cousins until 9:00pm when I started getting him ready for bed.  With a shortened nap earlier today and already past his bedtime, Eric went right to sleep.  I headed downstairs to join the rest of the guys in the poker game.  We played until midnight when we were interrupted by the new year.

Champagne, countdown, music, hugs, kisses, fireworks, more champagne, noise makers, party hats!!!!  Jim, Chris, and Michael took charge of the fireworks and launched many impressive blasts into the sky and across the lake.  Very impressive display.

Amazingly, Eric slept through all the festivities…and we were LOUD!

The guys resumed playing poker until 3:30am.  When I went to bed, I crept in quietly, and crawled into bed.  Aunt Bev and Uncle Mike were sharing our room.  They had already been in for a while.  Of course, soon after I settled in, Eric woke up.  He was frightened in the dark and called my name frantically.  I reassured him that I was there and picked him up.  He was sleeping in a pack-and-play right next to the bed.  He immediately collapsed onto my chest and ended up laying asleep across my throat.  I was not comfortable, but every time I tried to move him away from my throat, Eric snuggled back up under my chin.  That is how we slept until 9am when he woke up.

Eric woke at the same time as Aunt Bev.  Eric said, “ma”, because he heard Grandma talking out in the living room.  Aunt Bev got up and took Eric out to the living room.  He was very happy to see Aunt Bev when he woke up.

Eric ate an entire piece of Grandma’s famous coffee cake for breakfast.  He was very thirsty.  He drank more than 3 cups of apple juice.  Eric played with his cousins for a while again after breakfast.

We got home late in the afternoon.  Mommy was very excited to see us.  We were very excited to see her, too!

Happy New Year!