Daddy’s View

Saturday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and I reminded Eric that we were going to Grandma and Grandpa D’s house.  Eric was very excited! He could not wait to leave.

 Maybe we should get dressed first, Eric.

Eric was very impatient for the entire trip.  We got an early start, so we did not hurry.  We stopped in Lafayette for lunch.  Eric was upset when we stopped, because we were not going to Grandma and Grandpa D’s house.  I assured him that we would be on our way as soon as we finished with lunch.  He was equally impatient at each of our potty stops along the way.  Each stop, I had to reassure him that we were going to Grandma and Grandpa D’s house.  When we arrived in Merrillville, Mommy wanted to stop at Kohl’s to use a coupon that expired that same day.  Eric was growing ever more impatient.  When would we ever get to Grandma and Grandpa D’s house?  He told everyone we met that he was going to Grandma and Grandpa D’s house.

We finally arrived!  Aunt Cindy came over for dinner.  Aunt Cindy and Grandma each had an Easter basket for Eric.  Eric got his hands on the candy right away.  He was also fascinated with the toys, especially the noisy ones.

Aunt Cindy, Grandma, Mommy, and me all helped Eric color Easter eggs.  It had been a long day, and Eric was very tired.  We were not sure if he would make through all of the eggs.

 “Can I go to bed now?”

Sunday morning after church, we had Grandma’s “breakfast cake” for breakfast.  Eric, Grandpa, and I all ate too much.  Later before dinner, we had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard.  Eric had much fun searching for and finding all of the eggs.

All in all, it was a very fun weekend.  Eric enjoyed himself immensely.  He is always happy to see his family.  Most everyone was there: Grandma D, Grandpa D, Aunt Bev, Uncle Mike, Michelle, Michael, Uncle Joe, Aunt Traci, Josh, Jake, Aunt Deborah, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Rob, Mommy, and Daddy.

Today was a good day that started off not so good.  Eric woke this morning from a bad dream and with a small fever.  I comforted him, got him into some dry underwear, and brought him to Mommy wo was still in bed.  Eric lay with Mommy for a while until they both got up and had some breakfast.  Eric had an appointment this afternoon to get his picture taken at the photography studio in the Meijer store.  The photographer was wonderful, and Eric was very cooperative.  We got some excellent photos.  The photographer said that Eric was the best 3-year-old that she ever worked with.  Eric will be 3 next Friday.  I will share some of these photos here next week.

Eric loves playing with his Lincoln Logs.  Cousin Tyler helped him build this…

Eric also loves to crawl through his tunnel…

A couple weeks ago, we opened up our camper to do some cleaning and organizing.  We were not expecting the RV inspector to show up, but he did.  He brought his clip board, a pencil, and a critical eye.

 Something does not look quite right here.  Why is this light not on?

Let’s just step inside for a minute to fill out this citation.  I’ll need your signature right here at the bottom… 

Eric is always a good helper.  He almost always wants to help.  After dinner, he helps me clear off the table.  On Saturday mornings, he sets the table before breakfast (pancakes of course).  Most nights, he can’t wait to get a beer out of the fridge to put in front of my place at the dinner table.  Sometimes Mommy has to put it back in the fridge, so it won’t be warm by the time we actually sit down to dinner.  Any time I have a project to do around the house, he likes to help.  He holds my screwdriver, wrench or hammer; or he holds his clipboard and pretends to take notes for me.  His favorite job is to help me measure.  He even has his own tape measure that Grandpa D. gave him after Christmas.  The tape measure belonged to Eric’s Great-Grandpa D.  It is small – just Eric’s size.

I have been working on our new camper this last week.  It had some maintenance problems that needed attention.  Eric was so excited to be outside while I was working.  On Friday evening, Eric and Mommy came outside to help me.  Eric was in charge of dispensing bolts when requested.  He also helped Mommy hold the light for me, since it got dark before I finished.  I really appreciated all of the help from Eric and Mommy.  It was also raining off and on, so I was grateful to be able to finish sooner with the help.  On Saturday morning, I continued working.  Eric played in the yard and periodically checked on me to see if I needed any help.  He asked lots of questions about what I was doing.  Finally, I was finished, except one last task.  Eric came up to the garage with me to get the necessary tools: screwdriver…check, adjustable wrench…check, another screwdriver…check.  We were going to remove the old license plate from the back of the camper.  Eric’s job was to carry the screwdriver and wrench out to the trailer and hold them until needed.  He did very well.  He learned the difference between a screwdriver and a wrench.  I think Handy Manny had a little to do with this lesson.

After the repairs were complete and the license plate removed, we were ready to open the camper.  This is Eric’s favorite part.  The first time we opened it last weekend, he could hardly wait until it was okay to go inside.  There was no difference this time.  As soon as he got the okay to go inside, he was in there.  He helped me clean out the cabinets.  He was in charge of tossing things in the trash can just outside the door.  He was very disappointed whenever I took something out of the cabinet and decided not to throw it away.  Today, we closed it back up.  Storms are forecast for tonight, and we will not be cleaning it during the week, so we thought it better to close it up.  Besides, we need to get some practice setting up and taking down before we go on our first camping trip.  Eric was sad to see the camper packed down, but we reassured him that it would be up again soon.