Today is the last day of my parental leave - sob, sob, it's back to
work tomorrow for a week, before I jump on a jet plane headed for the
land of pork pies,
bass lager, and driving on the left side of the road - England. I bet your heart bleeds for me.
My last day, as - full time baby minder for our 2 year old yelling
machine, diaper changer for our 2 week old, and general "go to guy" for
my recovering wife - started with a visit to the pediatrician for
Isabella's 2 week check up. I have to hand it to my wife, who looks
after our kids on a full time basis, while I normally work the "office"
role. Even the most simplistic task of waiting in the reception
area of our local doctor's office can be challenging with a toddler,
who is no more willing to sit still and be quiet than I am prepared to
saw off one of my own testicles and eat it. Bribing said child
with snacks and reading material only lasted so long, as did
rearranging of the magazine rack into a chaos order. In the end, Simon
and I settled on running the hallway, outside our doctor's office from
one stairwell door to another. I had to laugh as Simon was
investigating the door handle to one of the stairwell doors (he cannot
open doors just yet, just reach the handle), when someone opened the
door and came through. I've not seen him jump quite so high before.
After leaving the pediatrician, we stopped off at
Target
for a spot of shopping. Simon and I headed over to the adjacent kids
play park while Lisa and Isabella went to procure a birthday present
(we've been invited to a kids party this weekend), and to look for baby
items. Simon and I didn't play long, the play park, geared for 5
and above, was not at all safe for a 2 year old (hence the 5 years and
above warning I guess), and was teaming with kids. I was very
uncomfortable with the high jungle gym, with slide at one end and 6
foot drop the at the other with only a fireman's pole for descent. What
made it hard was that the gym was encased in solid wood paneling, and
not the typical see-through iron bars, so I couldn't see Simon once he climbed to the top.
Running around to either end of gym in 90 degree F weather on the
off chance that a bounding 5 year old was to knock Simon off the
edge was not my idea of fun. This coupled with someone else's 5 year
old
informing me, in high pitched squeal, that Simon was not supposed to be
playing here was enough dissuade me from playing much longer. So we went to find Mom and daughter in the store. I
did manage to find a couple of pairs of Jeans in Target ($12.99 - my kind of
price for Jeans), which fit, so I left the store happy.
Back home, and a break for lunch and a quick nap (okay, Simon and Isabella napped. Lisa and I watched
ER reruns).
I have been promising to erect Lisa's vertical frame for her garden
for a while now, so I finally dragged the ladder out to the back of the
garden in the PM, and attempted to construct the frame - made from gas
pipes. I naively thought that the outside temperature would
have dropped by late afternoon/evening, but no, I was sweating through
my clothing whilst
using every ounce of effort I could muster to bury the pipes 2 feet
into the ground (most of our back yard has buried rock below the
turf). Standing on an unstable ladder and coupling ill fitting
gas pipes together in humid weather was not the highlight of the day,
but my mood soon returned to placid from irate once the job was
complete. The whole time I was out their swinging from pipes,
Simon was having fun soaking himself with the garden hose - who is the
sensible one here?.
Finished reading
"Gone for Good", by Harlan Coben, this evening - an interesting mystery with a great twist at the end.