Days 155, 156, 157, 158

The significance of today didn't really hit me when I woke up this morning. My wife's final day of work is this Friday, so this is essentially the beginning of the last week of SabDadical as I've come to know it. Granted, it will be nice to have her home all the time, and it's certainly exciting to think that within a week or two we'll be welcoming another member to our family. However, the whole "two against the world" nature of our relationship this past year will never be the same. It simply can't be. The fact that I was able to have this experience at all is amazing in and of itself, and I can truly appreciate that now that it's ending. No matter what twists and turns await us in the future, I'll always have these memories to lean on. I'm not sure if I'll continue to document things as thoroughly as this, but that's a decision for another day. More on that later.

We had to return some DVDs to the library, so I pulled out the stroller and we took our time getting there. When we finally arrived, I think my son was a little confused. He walked right over to the children's area and pulled out a chair for me. We stood there for a while, perhaps waiting for the other kids to arrive. After a few minutes, he acquiesced and decided to make the best of an unfavorable situation. He started pulling out toys and books and having a good time on his own. I let him go for a few minutes, but soon he realized that nobody else was coming to play. He walked over to the stroller and with that, we said goodbye to the library.

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A few months ago we took my son to a local indoor playground. Maybe he was overwhelmed by all the other (older) kids that were running around there, or maybe he was just too young to understand what to do. Regardless, he wasn't all that excited about it, and at one point even threw a minifit when we tried to get him to play. Based on his recent affinity for jungle gyms and the like, I figured it might be time to give the place another try.

I was immediately more optimistic when we arrived to find only one other child there. My son walked right up to the entrance gate and waited for me to open it. Another good sign! The final positive piece of the puzzle fell into place when he ran past all the toys in the day care area and climbed right on to the play equipment. Bouncy room? Check! Ball pit? Check! He eventually climbed all the way through the tubes to the very top of the area (we're talking 15 feet or so)! That, of course, means that I had to climb up there with him. Somehow my knees weren't nearly as entertained by all of this as his seemed to be.

We survived a poop scare while we were up there (turns out it was the other kid) and toured the entire complex before returning to the ground level. They also have a bouncy-castle-rain-forest type area, so I  lifted him up and let him check it out. That's literally what he did: he walked around the whole area once and walked right out. Maybe next time.

We went out for lunch after that, and I got him a kid's meal with what I think was his first juice box. We'd been avoiding them, but I'm not sure why. He loved it, and especially enjoyed pulling the straw out of it and working to get it back in. In between this and ignoring his chicken nuggets, he maintained an on-again-off-again flirtation with an older couple sitting near us. I'm not sure which he likes more: chasing little little girls or playing peek-a-boo with senior citizens.

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Today was our last music class together. It was sort of a "greatest hits" including some of his favorite songs that we practiced at home. Strangely, when it came time to show off the skills we worked so hard on at home, he chose to wander around the room instead. He still smiled knowingly as each of the songs went on and mimicked the corresponding motions from afar.

He got a whole lot more interested when it came time to play with a hula hoop during a song called something like "Floating Down The River". He likes to jump in and out of it, turn it like a steering wheel, and bounce it like a ball. He does not like when someone else wants to hold it with him. Thankfully, he knows when it's time to put it away, and he is happy to help.

My son doesn't seem to be much for goodbyes, as he walked out the door before we had a chance to say them to our teacher. It's been great to see him grow so much over the two "semesters" we were in the class. This type of interaction was really important to me. I know I'll miss it, and someday maybe he'll be able to understand why.

The Reading Phillies had another day game today, so I called my dad and we met him there once again. My wife reminded me that we had free tickets leftover from an R-Phils Valentine's Day promotion, so I redeemed a single ticket for the game. This placed us in the first row of the yellow box seats, and gave us half a row to ourselves. This came in handy when it came time for my son to empty out my diaper bag and place all of the items strategically throughout the area. My son spotted Pop Pop before I did, and started waving his arms wildly trying to get his attention. Eventually he found us, and I left the two of them together while I grabbed lunch. When I came back, my son was sitting calmly on Pop Pop's lap, seemingly enjoying the game and clapping at appropriate times. I can't say that upset me one bit.

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This Sunday is Mother's Day, so it's about time that we figure out what we're going to do for her. She deserves far more than we can provide- taking the proverbial bullet and heading back to work so I could stay home like I insisted (that's the way we planned it, right? I forget...). As we get closer and closer to TNB's 0st birthday, it's gotten tougher and tougher for her to be anywhere from home. While I can't do anything about that, I made sure that I did my best to make sure Mother's Day, of all days, would be a relaxing one for her.

My plan was to get her some bath supplies because she's been spending a decent amount of time there lately. We drove to the local strip mall and immediately spent too much time in ULTA. I was surprised that they didn't have any sort of gift pack of bubble bath there, despite having an entire aisle dedicated to individual items for ablution. I checked Target, and I checked Bed Bath and Beyond, but neither had what I was looking for. Feeling defeated and inspired by my surroundings, I decided to take things in a different direction. My wife loves tea: sweet tea, hot tea, Icy Tea- I'm not sure if she has a preference between Mr. T and Ice T, though. She has a teapot at home that she used sporadically, and she always orders "Mickey D's Sweet Tea" whenever we get McDonald's. Unfortunately, our closest McDonald's was recently torn down and won't be reopening until sometime this summer. It's just such a pain driving all the way to and dealing the traffic patterns of the local strip mall just to get some tea, regardless of its alleged sweetness. Surely, there's got to be a better way.

It's difficult to navigate through a Bed Bath and Beyond without noticing that they offer a variety of instant coffee machines. While neither my wife nor I drink coffee, I had never considered the other things these machines can make: namely tea for her and, to a lesser extent, hot chocolate for both of us.
I checked out some reviews and compared prices online but decided not to buy just yet. If there's one thing that can always be found in my house, it's a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon. I decided to check for coupons at home and go back on my way to work the next day (it's my last day of work at the Phillies before the baby comes).

We ate lunch outside at Panera Bread (Cuban sandwich and soup for me, apple slices, sandwich pieces,  and juice for him) and learned a lot about the family issues of a nursing student sitting next to us (she was quite upset about someone dying some kid's hair purple to show up someone else for giving the kid a bad haircut - yeah, I don't know either). Anyway, our brains survived the fountain of dumb overflowing nearby and headed home for our final nap before our final band practice of SabDadical.

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So that's it for now. I think I'll post a proper wrap up in the near future. It took me over a week to finally write this because I've been so busy getting stuff ready for TNB. He'll will be here any day now, and I remain as calm as I was the night when I typed my very first entry here.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I can't even begin to put into words how great it has been. I keep telling myself nothing is really ending; I'm just going to be doing what the archetypical dad is supposed to do- providing for his family. I was just lucky that I got to do a whole bunch of things that most dads don't get to. Thanks for coming along for the ride. See you soon.

Days 151, 152, 153, and 154

We actually made it to baby storytime this week. We missed it the past couple weeks because my son can't seem to get up in time to make it there by 10:00. I'm not sure if that classifies as bragging or complaining.

When we got there, we found out that another little boy had replaced my son, so to speak. As it turns out, they have the same name! We didn't create a name or pick a trendy one, but we're still shocked any time we hear of or see anyone with the same name as our son. As teachers, we had a hard time picking a boy's name that didn't evoke memories we didn't care to recall. It's been even more fun the second time around.

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I decided we should take a walk around the neighborhood today, and I grabbed my son's lawnmower to see if my theory that it keeps him moving in one direction continued to hold up. We were fine for the first time around the block, but as soon as I asked him to make the turn for the second time around, he began what amounted to the worst tantrum I'd seen him throw. Looking back on it nearly a week later as I write this, it probably wasn't nearly as bad as I originally thought. However, it seemed worse mainly because all of a sudden, there were people all around us. This guy was pulling weeds. That guy was getting out of his car. That lady was sitting on her front porch. They all looked at me with sympathetic eyes and wrinkled lips as, one at a time, they let me know that they had been there before. I picked up my shrieking son in one arm and his lawnmower in the other and carried them until it appeared that he had calmed down. I put him down, gave him back his lawnmower, and we both looked forward to his nap.  

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Mommy had the day off yesterday today as we headed to the doctor to get some prenatal glamour shots of TNB. As of right now, he looks just like our oldest son did when he was that age. I assume the black and white turns to color as part of the actual delivery, Wizard of Oz-style.

Today was a "day on the floor" as we played zoo, LEGO, and worked on our numbers and letters. He's becoming quite good at distinguishing letters from numbers. He has a couple wooden puzzles that help him with this. I hand him the pieces and he puts them where they belong. Strangely, he puts them in the right spot but doesn't always get them facing the right way. He then tries to force them in, and I remind him to turn them around. Occasionally I will work in a letter when he's working on a number puzzle, and he will make a noise and then cast the piece aside. Granted, they are different sizes, but it's still rewarding to see him recognize things like that.

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I had some business to take care of this morning, and my dad made himself available to take care of my son. We got up early and made our way over to Pop Pop's house. My son immediately took ownership of all the toys that had been laid out for him and didn't really look back. I was worried that he would start crying as soon as I left the house (my son, not Pop Pop), but he barely flinched as I walked out the door. I didn't take it personally.

We all went to McDonald's for a less-than-nutritious lunch. My son was more interested in putting on a show for our fellow diners. Between loading and unloading his Happy Meal box with anything he could carry, climbing into someone else's both, and mangling his juice box, he had several eyes on him. Though they fell short of giving him a round of applause, the other patrons certainly seemed to be entertained.

When we got home, we had a few minutes to relax before taking the dogs to their hairdresser. It was no small feat to wrangle both dogs and deliver them while also holding a near-22-month-old, but I took care of business. I let the hairdresser know that my son would be going to sleep as soon as we got home, so I couldn't guarantee when I would be able to come back. She understood and let me know their closing time was flexible. Keeping this in mind, I returned home. It was a long day and longer week, and it was time for Daddy to take a nap.