Day With Dad

Saturday Mom went on a shopping trip with her girlfriends to an outlet mall a few hours away.  That left me to take care of the kids (insert scary voice here) "all by myself". I went into it thinking the worst and ended up getting the best.

Alyce and Luke were both in a great mood all morning.  Luke ate his breakfast with a grin on his face and behaved himself up until nap time.  When it came time for his nap instead of making a fuss Luke just snuggled into my arms before I put him to bed. 

2 hours later he was awake and the three of us went out to lunch at McDonald's.  The one near our house has a 2 story play land, air conditioning, and by the time we got there was almost empty.  Luke ate an entire hamburger patty, the bottom bun, some apples, and milk for lunch.  With a full belly it was time for the play land.  Luke obviously is too small to be going up the slides or on any part of the play land but he did enjoy himself.  He was busy running around on the padded floor and testing the two stairs leading up to the tunnels for the slide.  Luke practiced going up and down the stairs on his hands and knees face first, both ways.  He can go up stairs just fine, but down is another story so this was a good time to practice.  When it was finally time to go he had mastered going down two stairs.  His method wasn't pretty and I wouldn't let him try it on the stairs in our house, but it was effective.

After lunch we went over to my friend Josh's house for some joint parenting.  Two adults vs three kids is much easier than 1 on 1 or in my case 2 on 1.  I got Luke all sun screened, in his swimsuit, and we hit Gideon's pool at Josh's house.  Alyce and Gideon enjoyed the pool which couldn't have been deeper than 9" but Luke didn't seem to like it much.  Instead he walked around the deck and playing with their water table.  Not long after we got started outside the sky turned Gray and pool time got rained out.  We finished up the day at Josh and Gideon's with some hot dogs and ice cream.  Alyce and Luke behaved themselves all 4 hours making my job all that much easier

As the afternoon turned to evening Luke was showing his lack of a second nap and it was time to get him home to bed.  Luke didn't even make a sound as I laid him down in his crib.

I am a very lucky dad to have such great kids.  Having them for a whole day was a treat.  Usually when I get the both of them it is at the end of the day where one or both of them is already overtired and can quickly get on your nerves.  The all day affair granted me the opportunity to see what Mom goes through on a daily basis and I don't know if I could do it.

Playing is Hard Work

The crew enjoying some juice after playing hard outside. Note Luke is drinking his sippy cup upside down.

Luke has come really far in his transition from bottles to cups.  We started the transition around his first birthday and now he is only taking a bottle at bed time.  He seems to prefer bottles to cups, but I think that is because he gets one and only bottle at bed time and it has warm formula rather than cold milk.  I'd say that Luke is partial to getting brain freezes as because when he takes a long drink from his cup, he makes a face, waits a few seconds, and then jumps back in.  I'm guessing waiting for the brain freeze to pass.

Even though we are moving to cups I still prefer bottles.  He isn't the world's cleanest eater when he uses a cup.  Tons of liquid run down his chin and onto his clothing.  He doesn't seem to mind but I don't want his shirt all wet when we are about to leave the house.  Bottles on the other hand never spill a drop.

Bedtime Doots

One thing Luke loves to do with Mom, Alyce, and I is Doots.  Doots is when you stick your pointer finger out, the other person does the same, you touch fingers, and say "doot".  Anyone can start a Doots.  Sometimes it is Mom, Alyce, and I and other times it is Luke.  Doots are always good fun.  We did them with Alyce when she was a baby and Doots eventually led into Double Doots (both hands at the same time) and finally we did fist bumps.

Luke likes to give Mom and I Doots right when we put him down to bed.  He is in his jammas, we lay him in his crib, he rolls over, and sticks up that finger for a Doot.  Once he gets what he is looking for he rolls over and usually goes to sleep with little or no fuss.  It is quite the sight to see.