So one of the videos I watched yesterday was about a morning routine called "asking questions". The premise was that all the answers you need are already in you. You simply need to mine it by asking the right questions. And this is something I need to cultivate and do every morning. This morning when I woke up the question I asked was: How could I be the best dad to Johnnie today? This most definitely set my intention for the day. I was at Lisa's by 7:45 AM and she was already ready to go and unexpectedly [to me] making Johnnie eggs for breakfast because he was hungry. Of course he's hungry! But she also knows we go to Elysee for breakfast every Saturday morning that we're together. And we're going again this morning. When Lisa left, Johnnie took a couple of bites and then asked if we could eat at Elysee instead. He knows. And so off we went for our usual Saturday morning. We DID have breakfast at Elysee, and then to Target to pick up groceries, and then to Whole Foods too. After all, gotta find some Clorox or Lysol wipes SOMEWHERE. The whole state can't be out of it right? Damn corona virus. That was the Saturday morning grocery run such as it were. The power of routine and then when we got home he asked to watch Lego Indomitus. I was happy to put it on while I did laundry. And got a little work done. See yesterday went smoothly that this morning's power outage at the FRB took me by surprise. We weren't notified. And so I had to scramble a bit to get the message out and make sure the health centers are on disaster recovery mode. I was the official word. Johnnie got caught up in the videos that he wanted to have lunch at home. That was ok. I was happy to oblige. He was in such a playful mood. My favorite sound is the sound of him squealing and belly-laughing while we horseplay like in the video I posted. I will never get enough of that and that will never get old. As for lunch, it turned out I had plenty of food for ME too. I still had that fish that I bought last night that I didn't get around to cooking. We had just bought butter pasta for Johnnie for lunch for the week. He gets to have an early start on that today. And the Pediasure I wanted to try and test. And we bought some of that chocolate croissant from Whole Foods. Done and done. He had such a good lunch when I asked him to take a quick nap, he was out in 5 minutes. Just like old times :)
Anyway there were a couple of things that Johnnie did bring up in conversation today that I had to tackle. You know how kids ask the strangest questions sometimes. He asked me why people die? Urghh! I just said that people get old and then their bodies break down and don't work anymore and then they die. And then he mentioned Grandpa Koko specifically. Now where did THAT come from?? What the heck kind of conversations does that family have with my son?? He was satisfied with my answers I think. And then the second round of questions came as a comment. Out of left field it seemed. He mentioned that Brooklyn kept talking to him about marriage stuff. Seems harmless at that age so I just laughed it off. Until he mentioned that he doesn't like that he doesn't get to play with the girls sometimes and that he doesn't like playing with some of the kids. What he mentioned that they made fun of him that he couldn't read. Now I told him that THAT wasn't true and that we read every single night. The kids were making fun of him for not reading the words THEY read. Words like poop. And so I had to explain to him that he was so advanced in his reading that it was like a superpower. And like everyone with superpowers it is scary to other people. So much so they have to make fun of it. This is where negative programming starts and so I wanted to make sure I got this one right. I went back to my question this morning. THIS is how I get to be the best dad for Johnnie. By making sure he feels safe and ok and explaining other kid's behaviors. Johnnie is already going to be different that much is sure. And I really mean SPECIAL. I know all parents think their kids are special. But do most parents really know how? I will work on his social skills and get help however way I can from those that see him everyday as well. And then we played together, first baseball... at least until he broke the bat with one really hard swing. W-h-a-t? The thing is plastic! And then we played soccer afterwards. And had dinner at Panda Express. We ended up having a pretty good day. I even did an exercise with him where I asked him to draw how parents love their kids and he ended up writing how much his mom and dad love him and how he loved them back. AHHH THAT is Johnnie's love language: words. And then of course presents. In that order. Nice that Lisa and I already know this. It's sort of like a code we've already figured out. And when Lisa called at 7:30 dead tired from HER day and almost forgetting to stop at the apartment to pick him up, I was ready for the hand-off. I felt like Johnnie and I bonded even more today. I know this because quite spontaneously in the middle of our play he told me "I love you dad". Melts my heart. Every.single.time. THAT will never ever get old.
So one of the videos I watched yesterday was about a morning routine called "asking questions". The premise was that all the answers you need are already in you. You simply need to mine it by asking the right questions. And this is something I need to cultivate and do every morning. This morning when I woke up the question I asked was: How could I be the best dad to Johnnie today? This most definitely set my intention for the day. I was at Lisa's by 7:45 AM and she was already ready to go and unexpectedly [to me] making Johnnie eggs for breakfast because he was hungry. Of course he's hungry! But she also knows we go to Elysee for breakfast every Saturday morning that we're together. And we're going again this morning. When Lisa left, Johnnie took a couple of bites and then asked if we could eat at Elysee instead. He knows. And so off we went for our usual Saturday morning. We DID have breakfast at Elysee, and then to Target to pick up groceries, and then to Whole Foods too. After all, gotta find some Clorox or Lysol wipes SOMEWHERE. The whole state can't be out of it right? Damn corona virus. That was the Saturday morning grocery run such as it were. The power of routine and then when we got home he asked to watch Lego Indomitus. I was happy to put it on while I did laundry. And got a little work done. See yesterday went smoothly that this morning's power outage at the FRB took me by surprise. We weren't notified. And so I had to scramble a bit to get the message out and make sure the health centers are on disaster recovery mode. I was the official word. Johnnie got caught up in the videos that he wanted to have lunch at home. That was ok. I was happy to oblige. He was in such a playful mood. My favorite sound is the sound of him squealing and belly-laughing while we horseplay like in the video I posted. I will never get enough of that and that will never get old. As for lunch, it turned out I had plenty of food for ME too. I still had that fish that I bought last night that I didn't get around to cooking. We had just bought butter pasta for Johnnie for lunch for the week. He gets to have an early start on that today. And the Pediasure I wanted to try and test. And we bought some of that chocolate croissant from Whole Foods. Done and done. He had such a good lunch when I asked him to take a quick nap, he was out in 5 minutes. Just like old times :)
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