Mystery Pie (aka Mincemeat Pie)
My Weekend With The Boys While TheAngelForever Was At #SheStreams, Part 1
On Friday, we all woke up early and took B to the train station. She was off to SheStreams and my weekend with the boys had begun. Ok, technically speaking, it wouldn’t begin for quite a few hours more. First, I needed to drop NHL off at school, drop JSL off at school, go to work, work a lot, come back from work to B’s parents’ house to pick up the boys (they picked them up from school) and then bring them home… THEN our all-boys weekend began.
The weekend started pretty uneventfully. After a quick dinner, I gave the boys each a big brownie that I had brought home for them. NHL devoured his, but JSL didn’t want his. He was acting funny and I asked him if he was tired. He said he was so I wrapped his brownie for later and got the boys ready for bed. JSL fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
The next morning, I slept late. In this house, this means that I slept until 7:30am. At about 7:45am, I was trying to justify staying in bed longer when the doorbell rang. I quickly tossed on some pants and a shirt (no answering the door in my PJs) and went to the door. Nobody was there. But there was a package there for B. I took that as a sign to get up and get moving.
Our main restriction for Saturday was that I celebrate Shabbat. Mainly, this meant I wouldn’t drive them anywhere. It’s kind of hard to go out and do things when you’re limited to walking distance only. (At least it is where we live.) That was ok, though. I noticed that the living room could use a good cleaning. Then, NHL asked to watch Roku and we couldn’t find the remote. That was the final straw. Off I went on a cleaning bender. I tried to get the boys to help, but quickly gave up on this. (Though JSL came back from time to time to help until he tired of the task.) Toys got put away, papers got stacked neatly. The couch was even moved to dispose of hidden dust bunnies (and retrieve lost toys). Oh, and I found the Roku remote hidden under the couch cushions.
As my cleaning wound down, and after we ate lunch, I decided we should go for a walk. NHL resisted (of course). He demanded that we should stay in the house watching TV. (Because, apparently, half a day spent in your PJs watching TV and playing Nintendo DS isn’t enough quality time with your electronic buddies.) I offered that we could walk to B’s parents’ house. (Yes, they’re within walking distance. A bit far, perhaps, but doable.) He relented and agreed to go.
Only then did it dawn on me: What if they were out? Another Shabbat restriction is that I won’t use the phone. So I couldn’t call them to see if they were there. For all I knew, we could walk all the way over there only to have to head all the way back when we found out they were out shopping. I asked NHL if he wanted to call B’s parents and he jumped at the chance.
I talked him through how to use the phone and he called them up. It was around here that I lost control of the situation. Nobody was really dressed yet and I figured we’d walk over together. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Again, I rushed to put on some presentable clothes. At the door this time was B’s father, ready to drive us over. Apparently, NHL told him that they wanted to come over RIGHT NOW and have dinner there. B’s father saw we weren’t ready to leave yet and left to go to the mall with B’s mother for a couple of hours.
After he left, we all got clothes on and headed outside. After a quick run-in with a big spider (wonder what kind this was), we I got the boys’ helmets on and they had some biking fun.
A month or so ago, I’d removed NHL’s training wheels and he still doesn’t know how to balance properly, so I spent the time holding him steady. Supporting him if he leaned over, guiding him to a slow, safe fall if he leaned too far, and trying to remind him to keep his mind on riding the bike and not singing various songs while biking. Meanwhile, JSL was on his big wheel burning rubber…. or plastic as the case may be.
After some biking, the boys and I decided to play something else. Out came the balls for some soccer fun. (Where “soccer” really means “kicking the ball aimlessly up and down the block without any clearly defined goals in mind.”)
Finally, it was time to go to B’s parents’ house (driven by B’s parents). There, the boys played and we had dinner (pizza). As the day ended, B’s father drove us back home and I got them into bed. Our boys’ day together was at an end. The next day, would bring more fun and picking B up, but that story will need to wait for tomorrow.
Waiting For @TheAngelForever to leave for #SheStreams
Aloha Friday: How Spontaneous Are You?
Today, B will embark on a great adventure. This was put together last minute, unlike other trips we’ve taken where we had months to plan. This really isn’t like us. To us, spontaneous means deciding at the last minute which restaurant to eat out at, not whether one of us will travel to New York City in a couple of days!
Of course, I fully support B’s decision to go. More than that, I urged her to go. She’s been feeling confined lately. She spent the whole summer having to deal with two boys every single day. From when I left in the morning until I returned in the late afternoon/early evening, she would need to deal with their bickering everywhere they went.
Even when they went to school, she didn’t get much freedom. JSL gets out of school at 1pm, so B only has four hours to herself. Add in household chores that she does and she has very little time for herself. This will be a good chance for her to recharge her batteries.
My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever done anything spontaneous?
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Aloha #106
Just Call Me Type AB TechyDad
During the recent open house at NHL’s school, we spoke with his teacher. During the conversation, she urged B to relax about some things, saying it is under control. B admitted to being quite a Type A personality. That got me wondering: What type personality am I?
In most respects, I’m a Type B. I’m laid back and am willing to let things happen. I’ll take action when I need to, but I try to stay calm about it. Perhaps this is my mother’s influence (she always told me not to “rock the boat”) or perhaps this is the result of being bullied growing up (staying unemotional was a way of protecting myself). In any event, I’m willing to just accept what happens and make the best of it.
This aspect of my personality makes completing projects difficult. I find myself relaxing about deadlines and putting off important work to relax with video games. I often-times need a Type A personality pushing me to move past the deadline.
On the other hand, I can be very Type A at times. I don’t like going out without some sort of plan as to what we’re doing. Just “seeing what happens” isn’t my kind of outing. I might not plan out every second of the excursion, but I’ll want to know the basics. Furthermore, once I have a schedule of events in mind, I’m very resistant to changing it. When Irene threatened to ruin our Disney World trip, I clung to the schedule up until the last moment.
With projects, my Type A personality kicks in during the middle of a project that I love. I begin to chart out every aspect of the project, assign an estimate for completion and plan my work over the course of the next week or so. I’ll spend hours coding one little feature because it needs to be perfect.
I can see the buds of this duality in NHL. He’ll be very laid back about some topics, not particularly caring when (or if) something gets done. Suddenly, though, Type A NHL will kick in and he’ll obsess over whether something is perfect or exactly when something will be done.
Of course, at this stage of his development, it’s quite clear where the A-B line is. If you ask him to do something, it gets put into the B bucket. Clean the toys on the floor? Sure, that’ll happen. Eventually. (Maybe.) Meanwhile, if it is something that he wants, into the A bucket it goes. What TV show is on right now? Sorry, mom and dad, but right now Looney Tunes Show is on and it’s a new show and I’ve got to see it right now and I know it’s being recorded on the DVR but it’s ON RIGHT NOW DON’T CHANGE THAT CHANNEL!!!!!! (insert Stabby Face ala The Animated Woman.)
I guess, as NHL grows, I’ll be getting a taste of my own Type AB medicine.