Connor and Daddy's week of fun! (and resting)

It is just Connor and me this week! Linda and Ian are away in NYC visiting Suz and having a great time sight seeing. The trip was planned months ago and Linda used a credit she had with expedia. I dropped them off at the airport Thursday night.

Connor got upset as Ian and Linda shouted goodbyes from the curb. But he cheered up with some tunes from my Ipod. Before we left fo the airport we explained to him that Mommy and Ian were going on an airplane. As we drove away I explained it again, this time raising one hand like it was flying and added airplane sounds. This has been repeated by Connor for last two days. "Mumy and Ian go airplane? Zzzzhhhooommm!"

This morning as Connor was cheerfully waking me up; I realized that I have never been with just Connor for more than a few hours at a time. It really surprised me that in his almost 3 years of life this is the first time that is just him and me on our own. It's a really great chance to hang out with him and get to know him. Yes that sounds weird as I am his father and see him everyday. But it is slightly different with just him and me.

The one little snag in all this is that I am had hernia surgery a week ago. It was laparoscopic surgery so the recovery time is relatively fast (two weeks). No heavy lifting or exercise at all. I am still really sore and a little bit paranoid that I have somehow ripped all of my internal stitches/netting stuff and will need to get this thing done a third time! I am probably fine and just being a big baby. I don't like being sick/ill/recovering. I heard from some coworkers that people get over this type of surgery really fast so I figured I would be as good as new in a week. Ha ha ha. I am not.

Connor has been great. No meltdowns or freakouts. I was concerned about watching him on my own and not feeling 100%. Thursday afternoon as Linda was packing/finishing up, all of us were pretty stressed out. He had multiple meltdowns and freakouts. I guess he got them out of his system for the time being. I have to handle him a little differently now since I can't just pick him and make him do what I expect him to do. When he is being defiant, I have been trying some humor and in general being just silly. Burping always gets a laugh. It is working really well. Maybe I could write a book on potty humor parenting.

I had lots of plans for Connor and Daddy week before this medical stuff happened. We were going to do some of the following-
- Lots of park/hiking/outdoors stuff/bike riding
- go to a spring training game (there are lots of baseball teams that train in Phoenix)
- AZ Science center
- Zoo
-Drive upstate

Most of those are out for this week. I still might try to get to a spring training game if I feel up to it. However Connor and I have been having fun just hanging out together. So far we have-

- Woken up really early! Connor is a very happy morning person!

-Listened to "The Hamster Dance" song every time we got in the car.

-Went for a short walk down to the end of the street and back. Woot!

- Played "Connect Four"... sort of. He likes to drop in ALL of the checkers and then sliding the thing to dump them out. This is followed by lots of laughing.

- Went to the park and played soccer. Sort of... I stood in one spot and gently tapped the ball with my right foot. Connor ran around and had a good time. He is getting really good at kicking it back to me. We also worked on stopping the ball. "Squish it like a BUG Connor!" And he did. More laughing.

- Connor has been my little helper, grabbing things when I ask (sometimes). I have been trying to rest as much as I can. When he gets thirsty, he doesn't just ask for a drink. He shows up where ever I am lugging the juice and his sippy cup for me to fill. "Daddy...JUICE!"

- Saw some classic cars. I spotted a bunch of guys gathering their classic cars on Friday night near a McDonalds that is close to Cindy's house. I think it was one of those once a month local car club things. So we stopped and looking around. Connor LOVES cars! He gets so excited. "WOW! CARS!"

We went over to Cindy's house after the car thing. Cindy is really cool and helping me out while Linda is gone. Connor of course played with cars. Trevor made lots of space/lightsaber noises. Annika reminded me that I had promised her a checkers game from last weekend. So we played and I lost... bad. She got three double jumps and one triple jump. Cindy would shake her head slightly each time I received a particularly smashing move from Annika. "Yeah... you missed a double jump there. Annika plays for keeps... I thought you played chess a lot." Connor and I headed home around 8pm and listened to "The Hamster Dance" again. He asked for Ian and Mommy the whole way too. "MommyIanairplane! Zzzzhoooom!"

I broke down and bought another DVD of Pixar's "Cars" this afternoon. Connor used to hunt down the last one we had and carry the disc around the house like a teddy bear. Needless to say it doesn’t play anymore. So we made popcorn and had a movie night. He gets seriously excited about that movie! Tonight he was even trying to repeat back some of the dialogue.

Bedtime was later than usual (9pm) but went very smoothly. We read a book, brushed teeth and sang a few songs. Ted the bear was put to sleep and covered in the blanket by Connor. "Ted asleep" As Connor put his head down, he said in his little voice "I miss Ian. I miss Mommy."

I am looking forward to tomorrow. Connor has been super talkative and very funny. We might try to get the park again and the library too. Nothing too active, just some fun stuff. But for now I am going to bed... Connor gets up early!