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.

-----

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.

-----

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.

-----

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.

-----

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.