I got home late tonight. As I was wolfing down dinner, I was asking John a ton of questions. Trying to squeeze in a ton of things in a short of period of time as possible as Little Man still hadn't taken a bath and it was pushing 9 PM.
Little Man was also trying to squeeze in as many conversations with me as possible. Juggling 2 conversations at once if very difficult but I managed. Or so I thought.
I wanted Little Man to clear his bowl and cup. He wanted to keep talking to me. No he can't clear and talk at the same time. He's my son.
So I'm sitting there. Trying to explain to him that he needs to clear his bowl and cup and then he can tell me his story. He thought it better to do it in the opposite order. I wasn't having any of it and insisted he listen to me.
He walked up to me and placed his hand over my mouth. I raised my eyebrows (can't do the single eye brow raise still) and reached for his hand. I was about to tell him quite sternly that he was not allowed to do that to me. You know, the whole "I'm the Parent" thing.
Before I could get two words out, he makes a twisting motion with his hand and says: "Lock it up".
I may be the parent but he's got me locked in his sights. I'm done for.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Vacation
Nothing like an impromptu vacation to revive the soul. John was planning on taking Little Man to New Jersey the weekend before the 4th. An off-hand comment from John wishing we could check out the Cape May fireworks sent me running to my boss the next day. Luckily I had more than enough time and with a promise to make all my deadlines, the vacation was set.
A full week at the Shore. Clean salty air. Beautiful ocean breezes. Plenty of sun. Most importantly, no sunburn. OK a can of sunscreen a day may have helped there. Daywalker I am not.
Vacation is supposed to be relaxing. Calm. Easy-going.
Apparently I don't do relaxing, calm, or easy-going. Little Man was finally old enough to enjoy all Cape May County had to offer and I was determined to cram in as much as possible.
The zoo was a definite. Unfortunately that was as impromptu as the vacation itself. After breakfast at Duffer's (cool train, not so cool food. Seriously, how do you mess up pancakes?) we decide to hit the zoo. For the first time in my life, I was subtle. John didn't pick up on the whole - hey we don't have sunscreen and your wife is Ginger who can make Casper look healthy so maybe we should swing by the house (which is on the way) and grab the sunscreen.
For the record, the Cape May County Zoo gift shop does not sell sunscreen. Bad zoo. Bad. I would gave paid the 100% markup. Trust me.
Crisis averted by staying in the shade as much as possible. Yes, I wandered the paths jumping from one shaded area to another.
I rushed Little Man a bit due to the lack of sunscreen and felt a tad guilty so I shelled out for the train ride. He then surprised me by asking to go on the carousel. He wouldn't get on any of the animals, opting instead for one of the carriages to sit in but hey, we got him on a carousel. I'll take it.
That was just the beginning of my lil imp discovering his inner daredevil.
A trip to the beach was next. 2 years ago proved unsuccessful as it was too loud for him. This time he was willing to go but refused to put his bathing suit on so I through it in the backpack. No sooner do we pick our spot then he plops down in the sand and starts digging with his bulldozer while his father and I try to get the towels laid out. Less than 5 minutes later he is covered in sand. 20 minutes later John convinces him to go check out the water. He wouldn't go deeper than his ankles but he loved it. Enough where I convinced him to return to the towels so I could get him in his bathing suit. He discovered the joys of wave jumping and even let me carry him further out where we spent a good amount of time jumping waves and spinning around in circles. Oh the memories and the wish that Dad was there to take part.
After several hours at the beach we returned to the house to clean up. John's parents redid the bathroom. They removed the bathtub and put in just a shower stall.
This kid doesn't do showers. He takes after his mom. I didn't like water in my face at his age. Neither does he. Rinsing the shampoo out of his hair involves a soap-eating shark (a facecloth) slowly devouring all the suds. Do you know how long that takes with extremely hard water? UGH! We were going to be there for hours. Thankfully they have a detachable shower head which he adored. I told him what I was going to do and then didn't give him a chance to think about it. John grabbed the shower head. I practically jammed the shark over his face and doused he was.
And he practically screamed.
With laughter.
2 successes in 2 days. Dare I press it? Hell yeah!
Once dressed we returned to the beach to hit the boardwalk. After many a skeeball games and a few others, we convinced him to leave the arcade (prizes in tow of course) and check out the rides. I figured the little cars and the boats that go around in a circle without leaving the ground would be the extent of it.
Nope. Airplanes and he wanted it all the way up. Carousel again (still no horses but no problem). Then on to the bumper cars. The look of poor joy on his face each time he bumped another child was hysterical. According to John, he showed signs of being a Boston driver. I couldn't have been more proud.
From there he wanted to hit the Tea Cups and the Tilt-a-Whirl. I managed to convince him to watch each first and then decide. Thankfully he decided they went to fast and he would wait until he was older. 8 PM and he's still jumping up and down for more rides. I distracted him with ice cream and managed to keep him from realizing other piers had different rides. He would have stayed until the place closed if he had his way.
I wasn't sure how to top that. Thankfully Aunt Lori came through with a great idea - mini golf. While he showed shades of Tiger Woods in the beginning, he would slip occasionally. He'd forget he was playing golf and play hockey instead. Said he was practicing for when he played for the Black and Gold. Man I love this kid.
Exhausted, I came home early leaving the boys to play for two more days. My grand plans for Sunday quickly faded as I took the day to recover. He kept up with me and then surpassed me. I need more energy. If he keeps this up, I'll need a month to recover from August.
A full week at the Shore. Clean salty air. Beautiful ocean breezes. Plenty of sun. Most importantly, no sunburn. OK a can of sunscreen a day may have helped there. Daywalker I am not.
Vacation is supposed to be relaxing. Calm. Easy-going.
Apparently I don't do relaxing, calm, or easy-going. Little Man was finally old enough to enjoy all Cape May County had to offer and I was determined to cram in as much as possible.
The zoo was a definite. Unfortunately that was as impromptu as the vacation itself. After breakfast at Duffer's (cool train, not so cool food. Seriously, how do you mess up pancakes?) we decide to hit the zoo. For the first time in my life, I was subtle. John didn't pick up on the whole - hey we don't have sunscreen and your wife is Ginger who can make Casper look healthy so maybe we should swing by the house (which is on the way) and grab the sunscreen.
For the record, the Cape May County Zoo gift shop does not sell sunscreen. Bad zoo. Bad. I would gave paid the 100% markup. Trust me.
Crisis averted by staying in the shade as much as possible. Yes, I wandered the paths jumping from one shaded area to another.
I rushed Little Man a bit due to the lack of sunscreen and felt a tad guilty so I shelled out for the train ride. He then surprised me by asking to go on the carousel. He wouldn't get on any of the animals, opting instead for one of the carriages to sit in but hey, we got him on a carousel. I'll take it.
That was just the beginning of my lil imp discovering his inner daredevil.
A trip to the beach was next. 2 years ago proved unsuccessful as it was too loud for him. This time he was willing to go but refused to put his bathing suit on so I through it in the backpack. No sooner do we pick our spot then he plops down in the sand and starts digging with his bulldozer while his father and I try to get the towels laid out. Less than 5 minutes later he is covered in sand. 20 minutes later John convinces him to go check out the water. He wouldn't go deeper than his ankles but he loved it. Enough where I convinced him to return to the towels so I could get him in his bathing suit. He discovered the joys of wave jumping and even let me carry him further out where we spent a good amount of time jumping waves and spinning around in circles. Oh the memories and the wish that Dad was there to take part.
After several hours at the beach we returned to the house to clean up. John's parents redid the bathroom. They removed the bathtub and put in just a shower stall.
This kid doesn't do showers. He takes after his mom. I didn't like water in my face at his age. Neither does he. Rinsing the shampoo out of his hair involves a soap-eating shark (a facecloth) slowly devouring all the suds. Do you know how long that takes with extremely hard water? UGH! We were going to be there for hours. Thankfully they have a detachable shower head which he adored. I told him what I was going to do and then didn't give him a chance to think about it. John grabbed the shower head. I practically jammed the shark over his face and doused he was.
And he practically screamed.
With laughter.
2 successes in 2 days. Dare I press it? Hell yeah!
Once dressed we returned to the beach to hit the boardwalk. After many a skeeball games and a few others, we convinced him to leave the arcade (prizes in tow of course) and check out the rides. I figured the little cars and the boats that go around in a circle without leaving the ground would be the extent of it.
Nope. Airplanes and he wanted it all the way up. Carousel again (still no horses but no problem). Then on to the bumper cars. The look of poor joy on his face each time he bumped another child was hysterical. According to John, he showed signs of being a Boston driver. I couldn't have been more proud.
From there he wanted to hit the Tea Cups and the Tilt-a-Whirl. I managed to convince him to watch each first and then decide. Thankfully he decided they went to fast and he would wait until he was older. 8 PM and he's still jumping up and down for more rides. I distracted him with ice cream and managed to keep him from realizing other piers had different rides. He would have stayed until the place closed if he had his way.
I wasn't sure how to top that. Thankfully Aunt Lori came through with a great idea - mini golf. While he showed shades of Tiger Woods in the beginning, he would slip occasionally. He'd forget he was playing golf and play hockey instead. Said he was practicing for when he played for the Black and Gold. Man I love this kid.
Exhausted, I came home early leaving the boys to play for two more days. My grand plans for Sunday quickly faded as I took the day to recover. He kept up with me and then surpassed me. I need more energy. If he keeps this up, I'll need a month to recover from August.
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