So Benjamin and I have spent some quality time together. He's done really well for the most part. Still, there have been, shall we say, some teachable moments for me the past 36 hours.
1. When you "meet halfway" to pick up the child and you discover his two current movies of choice were left at the grandparents' house, you travel the rest of the way and get them. Especially when it's 20 miles away. That or you suck it up and head to wal-mart for a spare.
2. When the grandmother sends home the remnants of a bag of hostess powdered donuts, hide them from the child's view. He'll find them and be covered in white powder while you stop at Lowes, convincing other shoppers that his father must have had a drywall incident at some point in the recent past.
3. It's good to take the time to stop and smell the roses. Just remember that when you take the time to stop and sit on a riding lawnmower at the hardware store, you better have the time to sit on the other sixty that are lined up...that's just the way it is.
4. One will receive far less in the way of wayward glances from the morning crowd at shipley donuts if they will only choose to do a load of laundry rather than sending the child to bed in reindeer pajamas a week before Easter.
5. When playing the role of single parent, multiple doses of morning coffee are advisable.
6. Not all outdoor water features are designed with minimal overspray in mind. Case in point, Pleasant Ridge Town Center immediately outside Hallmark. Wet clothes on a very blustery day for a happy child do not make.
7. Purchasing Easter Cards for extended family members should always be done in the grocery store, no matter how overpriced and ill-worded they may be. A two year-old in a Hallmark store filled with bunnies, eggs, and other treats of the Resurrection Holiday variety makes for quite the spectacle.
8. Beware of imminent tantrums when in a retail department store. Not only is their carpet thin, but there is minimal, if any padding underneath. The backward head slam is apparently much more painful than at home.
9. When olive-skinned, dark-haired men walk out of a department store with a small, redheaded, Cullen-like child who is red-faced and screaming Momma Momma Momma Momma, multiple glances asking "is this an abduction?" will inevitably follow.
10. No matter how much you love the mommy, never tell her that you will gladly take child in search of items to complete his Easter Sunday ensemble a week before said holiday.
11. John Mayer playing in the kitchen makes scrubbing curdled milk from a sippy cup almost tolerable.
12. Our dogs have a great life.
4 comments:
i laughed mutiple times at the lessons learned. i was right there with you as my 18 month old seems very similar to your benjamin... :)
Thanks, Todd, for letting Jenny come! ; ) You're a great dad.
Oh my. This brought me back to the time that Mike had training and I "single parented" Kendra for 12 days, and she was sick for 8 of them. You are so kind to let Jenny go away to spend time with friends! I think I am going to make it my goal to spend a long weekend with just Mike or friends before Baby #2 gets here. :)
CRACKING up! Although, the abduction one worried me a little bit. I made sure I'd downed 2 cans of diet coke before I showed up for Toddler Sunday School (I'm too lazy to make coffee in the morning when I need it, so if J is gone I have diet coke). I don't know WHAT the toddlers had to drink beforehand though! =) But, poor Benjamin. You know it's bad when he wants ME to hold him.
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