This morning our students performed this year's musical, Into The Woods, for local senior citizens. Why am I mentioning this? Because I am in charge of the sound reinforcement for the show, and I couldn't find anyone to watch my son in the morning. This was one of our biggest adventures yet.
For the first time in a while, I woke up before my son. I had to be at school by 8 to help the cast with their microphones and perform a soundcheck. I decided to hold off on giving my son breakfast until we got to school, figuring it would buy me some silent time during the show. I brought along his milk, cereal bar, and lots of snacks.
We go to school a minute or two late, and I had to get to work right away. Unfortunately, I need two hands to do my job. My son wandered around my work area but never strayed farther than a few steps from me. When the kids are getting their mics, they form kind of a human wall; this was very helpful in keeping him nearby. I knew it wouldn't be so easy when the show started. A parent volunteered her daughter to watch him for me, but I told her I would try my luck on my own. I did ask the girl to sit near us- just in case.
Since the majority of my plan consisted of spreading his breakfast out over the course of the show, I brought along his Booster Seat. He was trying to climb into it while I was checking the mics, so I figured he wouldn't mind sitting in it for a time. He finished his bottle before the show started. This left me with his cereal bar and snacks to hold him over for the rest of the show (a little under 2 hours). He patiently ate his cereal bar during the first scene and allowed me to feed him small portions of his other snacks for the rest of the first act. The only time he made any noise happened to be during some applause! Things were going great. I held him for the entire intermission and he returned to his seat with no protest afterward.
As the second act got underway, I started to wonder how much longer his snacks would hold him over. Surely he had to be getting full (and tired). He didn't begin to show any signs of frustration until deep into the second act. He even applauded at a couple appropriate moments. I was thrilled that he was able to hold it together for this long. Even if he didn't, I knew my two student assistants would be able to step in for me in a pinch. However, I was determined to get through the show without any help. One of my goals for this experience has been to maintain as much of my "normal" life as possible. I've been relatively successful so far.
There's a moment right before the end of the show where the two main characters have a baby. That's where the crying sound effect that I recorded last week comes in. I'm not sure if it was hearing himself crying over the P.A. or his patience running out, but at that point my son began to lose it a little. Thankfully, there are only a few simple mic cues to hit before the entire cast sings until the end of the show. I pulled him out of his chair and sang the remaining songs to him as we bounced to the music. He was happy once again, and we survived the entire show without disturbing the cast or audience! I was so proud of him. I felt bad for putting him through that, but considering the circumstances, it needed to be done. Not that we would (because I've been on the other side of it far too many times), but I know now that we could probably take him to the movies. He's already been to a concert and live theater!
When we were collecting and putting away the mics after the show, the same parent from earlier volunteered to hold him and make my job easier. This time I obliged. We hurried out of there as soon as I was done. I gave him lunch at Gram and PopPop's house and put him down for his nap soon after. It was very important that he get a chance to nap because he had to get his hair cut later in the day. PopPop came home to supervise his grandson, and I had to rush back to school for the afternoon performance for the student body. Knowing that my son was resting, I could finally relax.
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Besides taking our our dogs to their hair dresser in the morning, I had no specific place to be today. Unfortunately, when I dropped off our older dog, I was told that he had fleas. Day ruined!
Our younger dog only gets her hair cut once a year, but we take her along when we pick up the other dog so she can get her nails clipped. As soon as I found out about the fleas, I drove back home and grabbed her so the hair dresser could give her a flea bath. While a dogless house would ensure an uninterrupted nap for my son, the circumstances also meant that I had to wash the sheets, towels, and vacuum all the floors!
Once again, I refused to let anything stand in the way of keeping amy day relatively normal. After we dropped off the dogs, I drove over to the local Kia dealer so I could test out the Sorento. As lunchtime loomed large, I explained to the salesman that we didn't have a lot of time. We've heard positive reviews from several people, and I simply wanted to get a look at the car to see if it was worth pursuing further. We headed back home after the testdrive, and my son fell asleep almost instantly. Ruined day: continued!
With my son sleeping in the car, I couldn't get inside to do any of the aforementioned and necessary housework. I still had to give him lunch, too. Couple all of this with the fact that I had to pick up the dogs before 3. And forget about P90X! I let him sleep for as long as I could, and then we went inside for lunch.
I tried unsuccessfully to get him to take a more complete nap after lunch, but he had little interest in complying. I needed him to stay in his crib so I could finish the cleaning. Thankfully the sound of the vacuum drowned out his disdainful cries until I could go up and retrieve him. I gave him his post-nap bottle and snack, and we returned to the hairdresser with just a little time to spare. Ruined day: survived!
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My wife accidentally took the car seat with her to work today, so once again our Sam Ash trip was delayed (along with any other plans to leave the house). The weather was pretty nice right before lunch, so I thought we should spend some time outside.
After his impressive showing on the trail several weeks ago, I had this crazy idea to let my son "run" in a local half-mile Fun Run. I'm no Biranchi Das, but he looks and sounds so happy when he is running around. We're going to see how it goes. Anyway, he was already dressed in sweatpants, so I put a sweatshirt on him and we stepped outside. He immediately got the idea- I initially walked a few feet in front of him and he would catch up. Eventually, I slowly jogged next to him and he did his best impression of a runner. You kind of have to see it to understand, but he flails his arms about wildly and sticks out his tongue and blows raspberries all the while. It's really something.
We made it almost all the way around our block before he had to stop and check out some leaves. I picked him up to cross the street, but he was distracted by a new neighbor's barking dogs. Fearing nothing and respecting few boundaries, he pointed at the window against which they jumped and approached it rapidly. One of the residents is apparently a boy roughly my son's age, and he peaked over the couch while his mom waved his arm for him and the miniature dogs continued to jump and bark. The entire scene was almost too cute for its own good. When it appeared that my son had his fill of the dogs, I picked him up and put him back on the sidewalk. He ran right back to the dog/ baby house.
Eventually we got back on track and on to the next block- that is until he randomly walked up another neighbor's steep (for a 16-month old) driveway. Then another's steps and front porch. And yet another's bow window (inhabited by two larger, barking dogs). This, coupled with his insanely fast climbing skills, makes me think it may soon be time to teach this kid about danger...
Finally after about 25 minutes (I wish I had been using RunKeeper), we had made it all the way around two blocks (roughly a half-mile) and back home. Not a single stumble, fall, or skinned knee! We hydrated, ate lunch, and he recovered with a nice long nap. I did some dishes, played Nintendo 64, and thought about how neat that was. Just like that guy told me (and I misheard) a couple of months ago on the trail- all I needed to do was put some sneakers on him and he would do the rest.
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