Ella and I spent the long weekend together while Christy went scrapbooking in Wisconsin. I was a little terrified at first, but settled in quickly during the 90 seconds I had between my arriving home and Christy and her friends leaving. (It may come as no surprise to every reader of this blog that I was about 10 minutes late.)
Ella and I intentionally planned a not-so-adventure-packed weekend, as I wanted to be somewhat risk-avoidant during the weekend.
Thursday Night was pretty easy. We cooked on the grill , listened to Marketplace, played a few rounds of Pop Goes the Weasel (which I have modified to a game in which I spin Ella around and pop her up in the air) and called it a night for the both of us around 8:30p. I decided we both needed the extra rest.
Friday was a work-from-home day, and it was easily the most productive I have ever been. I knocked out 3 conference calls, a couple interviews and a few emails and wrapped the day by 3:30pm. Ella didn't get dressed in daytime until 11:40am, but she was otherwise very happy. I also got to tell everyone on the other end of the line that if there was any squealing, there was a 10% chance it was coming from me and a 90% chance it was my baby. Ella, however, being a good baby, rarely made a sound.
Friday afternoon Ella and I raced over to Fare for All, which in White Bear Lake is a once-monthly program wherein we buy exactly the same groceries as a whole lot of other people, but we don't know ahead of time what we will get. I've never gone before, but have sent Christy in two prior months. The young women working the checkout counter were happy to say "We love your baby! We see lots of babies doing this job all over the Twin Cities, and your baby is the cutest!" They then helpfully reminded me that, as I was carrying a box of groceries and a baby, to drop the groceries if I had to make a choice.
Friday night Ella and I chased down airfares to Belize (they got pretty cheap, but not from MSP), watched a little Deal or No Deal and Dave Ramsey Show and called it a night around 9:15pm.
Having proven that I could keep our baby alive for two nights and a full day, Saturday was our big day. Ella and I woke up at the crack of 10:15am, Ella got a bath and we were off to the:
- Post Office
- CVS
- Aldi
- Kowalski's
- Church/Kid-O-Deo
- Kowalski's (again. needed more cabbage.)
In between the first grocery run and church, I made us some Cabbage Rolls (a head of cabbage and a lot of potatoes were in the random groceries) and by Sunday had made Chicken with Black Beans and Rice.
Sunday, Ella and I had a very relaxing day. We walked around outside a little and played together a lot.
Overall, I kept the radio off and did a lot of talking with Ella, which was really nice. We read a lot of books and learned about objects around the house by my pointing at them and explaining what they did. We learned a little Periodic Table of the Elements (we tend to stop around #20 because that's where I forget) and Newton's Laws of Physics. I ran a quick web search and came across a Mathematical Analysis of Candy Land and printed it for Ella to read when she's old enough to read. (Did you know that there's a 3.13% advantage to going first in a two player game? Now you do.)
In a way, I feel like a real dad after the weekend. I kept our baby alive for three nights and three days, got a lot of extra cooking and house cleaning done and I think we both came out pretty well adjusted. A good weekend.
Oh, and if you play me in Candy Land, I have dibs on going first.
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