Arriving Broken? Wha Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa???

I replaced the batteries, pushed the buttons and still, no dice. So I contacted the company Kristin bought it through and they sent out another one and told me to hang on to the original (she said they had 3 weeks to ask for it back). The new one arrived and…didn’t work.

At this point Isaac was getting annoyed at his Ride On because he loved pushing the buttons, but didn’t love the part where it didn’t make noise. And it was frustrating me because, seriously, two broken ones??? You’d think they’d check them before they shipped them out to me.

So I pulled out the big gun and contacted Mega Bloks directly. They said I needed to ship the broken one we just received and they’d replace it and refund the shipping cost. I went down to the post office and mailed the truck back to them. When I found out how much shipping to them would cost ($48.75 since they were in Canada!), I called to make sure they would reimburse that, as that’s more than what a new one costs most places online. They said they would, so I shipped it off.

A little while later a new Ride On came in the mail and we had a functioning toy for Isaac. And he loves it.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! The buttons work!!!

It can’t go outside in the grass because the front end is too low and will get caught up on everything (also it was enough of a pain to get a working one, I’m not going to let it get rained on), but since we have 2 now, the non-functioning one can stay outside. He’ll hop on his “truck” and drive it around, or push it from behind and get a big kick out of it. We’re having to work with him on not slamming it into walls or cabinets, but he’ll get it eventually.

All told it took about 2 months, numerous phone calls and emails and $48.75 (that we just received a check for) to get him his Christmas present. Ah, the things we’ll do for our children.

While I’m well aware that I’m not a mom, I was planning on stopping by for a little while to see if I could get to know Isaac’s classmate’s parents a little better and maybe coordinate some play dates for some of the non-school days. I figure Isaac likes the kids already, I know the ones that he hangs with the most, so I might as well try. While there was a potluck dinner last September where we had the chance to meet some of them, we sat at a table that ended up only having one other family from Isaac’s class, so I don’t really know any of them. I just see them in passing in the mornings and afternoons.

So Thursday morning came and I went to drop Isaac off. While I was in the room I talked with his teachers about the event and was informed that it really wasn’t for me but that they did do “Dads & Donuts” in June. The immediate thought that went through my head was “Great, I can hang out with two other guys”. And even if I do meet every dad in Isaac’s class, they’re not the ones who stay home and would be taking their kids to the play dates I want to set up. Guess I’ll just have to find a different way.

How have you gotten to know parents of kids in your little one’s class? Please don’t tell me it was at Moms & Muffins…

While we were there, Isaac took on a playscape that he conquered with no qualms whatsoever. At least at first.

As you can see, absolutely no problems with the steps or stairs in any way. Until he met a woman that is.

During one of his climbs, Isaac encountered an 8 or 9 year old girl who apparently worried that Isaac couldn’t do it by himself, so she started helping him. It was cute, she’d pick him up and put him down on the next step and hold his hand up the stairs. Completely unnecessary, but cute. Then he started hamming it up. He got to the point where he’d walk up to the step, stop, hold his hand out for her and wait. PLAYA WHAT!!!

That’s the kind of confidence with the ladies that I never had right there. Do you have a little flirt?

It all started with his legs. They’ve been beat to hell for the past few months. He’ll scrape them up climbing off and on the deck or scratch them due to a mosquito bite or you name it. He’s had scrapes on them for a long time. Then he pulled off a real boy move and fell down and scraped up his knee.

Or maybe you prefer the story of us being out at The Chocolate Bar for his cousin’s birthday when he was running on the booth cushions. He tripped and fell forward and I instinctively grabbed him, causing him to turn toward me as he fell. Unfortunately toward me was the direction of the table, causing him to jack his cheek bone against the table and give him a NICE bruise on his right cheek.

Or maybe you prefer the bruises on his arm that showed up out of nowhere. It could have been from where I grabbed him to try and prevent injury at The Chocolate Bar, or it could have been from who knows what else.

Or perhaps you prefer the story of how Isaac loves to get a running start and flop. Except this time he did it on the concrete dance floor when we were in Brenham at Maifest. And instead of landing on his hands and knees “comfortably”, he smashed his face into the concrete. So not only did he hit the ground, his forehead and nose got pretty messed up too.

Or maybe it was the mosquito bite right in between his eyes just above his nose. Not that it’s the only one. If we’re outside for more than 2 minutes you can pretty much guarantee he’s coming in with a mosquito bite.

This has led to a boy who had to go out in public looking like this:

Erin went to a play date and warned all the moms who were going to be there what Isaac looked like and how he got injured so they wouldn’t call CPS on us.

I know without a doubt that there’s no hope for it improving. With a daredevil mentality, a smart 5 year old cousin to concoct schemes and another daredevil 3 year old cousin, the craziness is only going to get crazier. The best we can do is pack a first aid kit at all time. Heaven knows we’re going to need it.

And I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Do you have a daredevil?

One of the bad ones is that I have become something of a “frumpy househusband” and it’s not uncommon for me (and Isaac) to still be in my pajamas when Erin gets home if we didn’t have any errands to run. That one’s not so good, I’m not really proud of it.

One of the good ones is that the dishes definitely don’t pile up as much anymore. Kind of proud about that one.

And one of the “eh” habits is that I rarely ever wear shoes anymore. When we’re hanging out in the house I see no need to wear shoes, and when we go out back I don’t worry about them either. We have decent grass and no sharp objects (or stickers, thankfully), so I go barefoot. When we do go out I just slip on some sandles and head out.

I hadn’t really thought about the ruts I (we all) have gotten into until recently when I was going out and decided to wear shoes instead of sandles. Isaac saw me put on socks and grab my shoes and immediately yelled “BIKE RIDE!!!” at the top of his lungs. This led to him wanting to be taken into the garage, suited up and headed out into the great world of me pulling him all around the neighborhood. Let me tell you, it broke his heart when he realized that we were not going for a bike ride, but rather just leaving the house. (I honestly don’t even remember if he was coming with me or not) Then, just last week, I asked him if he wanted to go for a bike ride. The first thing he did was walk over to the shoe rack, picked up my shoes and brought them to me. First off, I took that to mean yes. Second off, it reminded me just how obvious it was as to when I wear shoes.

Who Knew These Shoes Held a Deeper Meaning?

All of this got me to thinking about the routines I frequently find myself getting into and how I can change them to make life more interesting. For a long time every week was the same for Isaac and me. Monday Erin would be off and we’d hang out as a family. Tuesday he’d have school. Wednesday we’d do story time at the library, Thursday he had school and Friday we’d just hang out at the house. Then I realized how incredibly boring that week was, so we started going to the Children’s Museum or the Zoo and I’d let him run his energy out. After enough weeks of that I kind of got bored going there so we started going for more bike rides, walks and playing out in the backyard more.

The frequent changing of the weeks has made the stay at home life a whole lot more interesting. I’ve decided that while every day isn’t going to be the most exciting day on the face of the planet, that doesn’t mean that every day of every week has to be the same. Routine for children is important, no doubt. But a boring routine is just that, boring.

I like to think of our routine as being 1) Wake Up/Breakfast 2) Do something fun 3) Lunch 4) Nap 5) Wake up and play with Mama 6) Dinner 7) Bed. That just means that I need to come up with one thing a day to do (well really 3 things a week, he goes to school 2 days and the weekends are always busy) that entertains us and we can be good for a few weeks. Then, when it starts getting old, I just have to think of 3 new things (or recycle in 3 old things).

And if I ever stick with something too long, Isaac will surely remind me. He might even give me a kick in the pants with my own shoes.

What about you? Has your kid ever done anything that made you think “Hmmmmm, maybe I do that too much?”

On the flip side though, sometimes I miss those times where the two of us would sit there and rock together, his head on my chest and me feeling the awesome satisfaction of knowing that my son found my presence comforting enough to be soothed and create a willingness to go to sleep. He’s also been sleeping through the night a majority of the time, which means we haven’t had many of our late night rocks (though a few nights ago I definitely woke up in his room having no idea what time it was or how long I’d been in there).

All of this leads to the simple fact: our little boy is growing up and gaining independence. It’s been a long time coming, and it’s something I’m glad is happening, but sometimes it’s weird to think that your little guy doesn’t need you as much any more. Just a humbling fact of life.

BUT, I’m not completely out of it.

Our routine on non-school days is that after lunch he takes a nap. Now, at this point in his life, I COULD take him in to his room, change his diaper, lay him down and walk out of his room. But I’m not ready for that. I take him in his room, change his diaper and rock him for a few minutes. He still snuggles up on me, gets his last kiss in and we rock for a few minutes before I lay him down in his crib and walk out. He’s still awake when I leave the room, but we’ve spent a few minutes of quality time together. I know he doesn’t need it, but I do. I’m just not letting it go yet.