Last Day of June

So today is the last day of June. Man where did the month go? I'm looking at pictures from May and it seemed like they were all just yesterday. Or is it that the days are starting to run into each other and I'm losing track of time? Certainly my time markers are out of whack. This would be the time during my marriage with Lisa that we'd be going to Europe somewhere, as recently as Greece. But that has now been 3 years ago. I didn't do anything in June 2018 because I was preparing to move out, I didn't do anything last year because I was getting used to playing hermit, and now because of coronavirus I don't get to do anything this year. Oh well... I might as well focus on the fact that at least I have Johnnie with me for the next 3 days and for those 3 days, my intention is to be a really good dad. Not as easy as it sounds especially when he's supposed to be enjoying summer break such as it were and I'm doubling up with working from home. I did think up a good puzzle for him so that he could learn to write his address... at least Lisa's and Maplewood is not an easy word. But I did do the sort and color thing so he could learn it and he did learn to write it after a while. OK OK I only did it because i wanted him to finish all 10 things on this reading and language arts assessment I had him do. This is supposed to be the norm for finishing kindergarten... to be able to write your name and differentiate caps and non-caps letters AND to be able to write your address. He got both done, the rest he could already do. BAM! 

Now about the being-a-good-dad part... for lunch I made him udon and I wanted him to have some protein too. Made him some chicken nuggets from my freezer that looked like the McDonald's version, this one from Ralphs. But there is no fooling my child. I maybe negotiated him to getting some in his mouth. But there is no getting him to eat something he does not feel like eating. And when I made him eat half of one piece, simply because i had already baked up 6 pieces, he wasn't having it. And when he was going to throw it up right there in the living room, I lost it. I shoved him in the bathroom and let him throw it up in the toilet. And i yelled at him for doing so. And only when he cried and cuddled with me with an explanation, almost begging me not to get mad did I get embarassed at my actions. Really? Was I going to bully my own child into eating some shitty chicken? Right at that moment I realized I had snapped into something I did not and would not like. And only my son's sobbing face snapped be back. FORTUNATELY, kids forgive and forget quickly naturally. And as soon as I said he didn't have to eat any more chicken and gave him the choice to eat udon did he go back to his smiling self. How did I know? Because he was back to joking around and playing with me like he always does. He loves you you know, I found myself telling myself.  Don't do that temper shit anymore. OK. I will work on that. In the meantime having nothing else to fall back on, I made the day like a school day. And that would include the Maximo stuff for PE, double-digit addition stuff that 1st graders do <which he handled just fine>, and some reading that he did himself from education.com. Not to mention at least 3 books from Bookflix. That took up the bulk of the day and before I knew it, he was already asking to go ride around the neighborhood in our scooters. If there is anything he has taken to is riding that scooter. And I take full credit for getting him going on it and getting him to have confidence. That's a very big deal I think when raising a toddler. You've got to give a child something he can develop full confidence in himself in. Not to mention it allows me to get out and enjoy a beautiful summer afternoon. This would be good enough. Although he still does fall every once in a while. Not today though. We went a ways though and on the way back, he declared that he was so hungry he wanted to get Panda Express teriyaki chicken for dinner. W-h-a-t? But what about our Tuesday night barbecue? I guess we'll make it Wednesday lunch Italian sausage barbecue instead. And have dinner at Panda Express tonight. 2nd week in a row we're blowing off Italian sausage barbecue night. it's ok. We kept it up since the fall. Time for a different routine I guess, and that is perfectly ok. And so June went quickly by, with Johnnie watching Octonauts <which gives him a chance to learn about sea creatures the way he learned about dinosaurs with the Dinosaur Train> and me thinking about the month that was. If there IS something to remember about June 2020 they were mostly about the things I usually did that I didn't get to do. Dr. Deutsch's birthday lunch. The Disneyland day-trip with Johnnie. LA Zoo too. Not even Johnnie's last days as TK was routine. But I do get to spend time with him and THAT is even better for me.