Weekly Review 106

Hello, readers! This week was good. We got a taste of the fall season here in the region, a slight change in our morning routine (I took Mr. O to school), and we had a “boys weekend”. Overall, it was a lot slower than the previous week and I did not mind it at all. I’ve been all about trying to live slowly lately, and this week was a great time to try and start living that way. 

It started on Monday (don’t they all?)…I woke up early, before everyone else in the house, and headed downstairs. I opened the windows and let the cool air in. It was a chilly, gloomy, and rainy fall day and the morning chill making its way through the house was something I’ve waited for all summer. 

The work day went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was my turn to pick up Mr. O from school. When the teacher called his name, he knew it was time to go and he assumed Lea was there to get him. He ran to the door yelling, “Mama! Mama!”, but when he saw me he had this huge grin on his face and he sweetly said, “Daddy!”, and gave me a big hug. 

The rest of the night was quiet. We played, ate dinner as a family, and then we all went to sleep. Still exhausted from our trip the week before. 

On Tuesday morning Mr. O and I were up around the same time. We went downstairs and I made us both breakfast while we watched Spidey & His Amazing Friends. Later that morning, Lea made us all cinnamon rolls. Mr. O had to have 3 of them. It’s okay, he’s a growing boy, lol. In the evening, after we ate dinner, we colored in some of Mr. O’s coloring books, wrestled and then he went to bed. Once he was asleep, I walked on the walking pad for 20 minutes, then I cleaned up my office and sat down in my cozy little corner, opened the window to let more of that cool autumn air in, and started reading The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. It’s a short read, but my eyes started getting heavy, so I had to put it down and go to bed. I plan on just starting it over another day when I’m wide awake and have the time. 

On Wednesday I was up earlier than normal because I was taking Mr. O to school! I was excited to take him and to see how he is there. Unfortunately, what Lea said was true. He cries the whole time, hangs on to my legs, and has to get pried off of me by his teachers, lol. Then, after we leave, he is completely fine. It was also picture day, so I tried to leave quickly so he didn’t get his snot all over his shirt. I hope he took a nice picture. Lately he has been taking goofy ones by putting his fingers in the sides of his mouth and pulling outward, lol. 

When he came home in the afternoon, we played with playdough, watched his Spidey show, and I gave him a bath. Once I was able to sneak out of his room, I went downstairs to play PlayStation and I put my headphones in and listened to music, as I swung around NYC as Spiderman. It was relaxing. 

On Thursday evening, Mr. O and I made dinner together. We were cooking chicken and rice (my mom’s recipe) and we turned on my “Oldies” playlist, which features Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis, etc. I picked him up and we danced around the kitchen while the food was cooking. He was giggling and enjoying it for a few minutes, and then he demanded, “PUT ME DOWN!”. Yes, sir. I put him right down. “Please no do that again”, he said. He enjoyed it, so I don’t know what his deal was, lol. Later in the evening, I walked on the walking pad again and watched Thursday night football with Lea. 

On Friday afternoon Lea left for my in-laws for the weekend. My mom came to watch Mr. O for a few hours while I finished working, and then my boy and I started our “boys weekend”! After my mom left, we finished eating our dinner and played the Spiderman game on the PlayStation. In the evening, we went upstairs and I folded laundry while Mr. O danced and ran around to his new birthday playlist I had made for his 4th birthday party. His birthday isn’t any time soon, but I wanted to get a head start on it. It’s safe to say he loves it so far! 

When we finished our chores and dancing, I brought our spare TV into my bedroom. Mr. O and I were having a sleepover. He was so excited! We started with Wall-E. Then he got tired of it and asked me to put on “Light McQueen”. Within the first ten minutes he was knocked out. I spent the rest of the night playing on my phone, knowing it wasn’t long before I fell asleep too. 

On Saturday morning, Mr. O and I watched Paw Patrol while lying in bed. He moved closer to me to cuddle on my chest, and then he looked up at me and said, “Daddy, why you so fat?”. Rude! We eventually made our way downstairs to eat breakfast, watch Tractor Ted, on YouTube, and also Steam Trains Galore, which is something he hasn’t wanted to watch in a very long time. 

After all of that, we went outside for a couple of hours to cut the grass. Once that was over and we bathed, we were sitting on the couch relaxing, watching Mr. O’s show, when suddenly…the power went out! I was so upset, but not as upset as Mr. O, who was very invested in his show. “What happened in space, daddy? Why did the house batteries turn off?”. He claimed something happened with a satellite in space and that’s why we lost power. I notified our power company and then packed up his diaper bag. We were heading to the comic book store. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for when got to Tenth Planet, and eventually I was too overwhelmed with Mr. O running around, so I decided I’d come back another day. I packed him back up and we paid one of my Yiayia’s a surprise visit. She was thrilled to see us. Mostly Mr. O, but that’s okay. 

30 minutes later and we were off (again). This time, we met up with one of my cousins at Target, because Mr. O wanted to go, “Look at toys”. He knew he wasn’t going to get one this time, and I stuck to it! I did cave, though. I got him a cake pop. He loves those. We walked around, looked at different toys, took pictures of them for Santa, and then I bought myself a shirt that I liked. When we left, we went to my other Yiayia’s house to spend some time with her. On our way home we picked up Culver’s for dinner, watched a show, played, and then Mr. O went to bed. I ended my day by playing Madden until my eyes got too heavy. 

On Sunday my boy and I woke up, got dressed, and went to church. He was so excited to finally go back. It’s been a while. He went to Sunday school and behaved (thankfully), and now he is at my mom’s for a few hours. Lea came home, went to the store, and just got back (again). I am watching a bunch of NFL games on RedZone while writing this post. The rest of the day should be quiet. Mr. O is going to be gone for a few more hours, and then later tonight Lea and I will be watching the latest episode of Lanterns on HBO. 

It was a great week and I’m so glad our lives slowed down for a bit. 

A Moment I’m Still Thinking About

Yesterday Mr. O told me, “Daddy, I had a good day”, and that is enough for me. I’m glad I could give him fun things to do, even if they don’t seem fun to me. We had a good couple of days, just the two of us. It was tiring for me, but it was so much fun for us both. 

Thank you for reading! How was your week?

Peter

Instagram