Got lazy in more ways than one! First, three days without updates. Secondly, Friday turned out to require very little work from me.
Day 31 – The Grocery Store
Didn’t really do anything. The morning has become very predictable: wake up, play a bit, have first nap. This week, I mostly let him have his first nap on my chest. It’s the most predictable way to get 1.5 hrs, and frankly I felt like I needed a long nap, too.
After waking up, we played some more, read a book, had lunch, and then went out to get some groceries. He was at the beginning of his nap window, so I thought he might fall asleep before getting to Loblaw’s. Even took the long way there just to give him that chance to conk out in the car. He didn’t go for it. So in we went.
Going to the grocery store is always good for the little guy’s ego. Not that he has an ego yet, so I guess it’s good for daddy’s proxy ego. There are any number of people to stop you in the aisle, ask a few questions about your son, and inevitably say how cute he is. Which is the truth; he’s a cute little bugger. Older ladies in particular love to stop and say hi, and he almost always obliges them with his best smile, which elicits even more compliments.
He was beat by the time we were done, even though the trip was pretty short. Yet, he didn’t fall asleep on the way home. “Cheatin’ Greg” might’ve taken him for a longer ride, but “Sore Back Greg” decided that it was better to take him home and fight a bit for his nap, rather than go through more back-breaking sitting in the car. You wouldn’t think mere “sitting” would be so tough. Thing is, car seats aren’t meant to chill out in. I can get for hours if I’m just driving, but I get slouchy when I try to read or play Nintendo. And that’s when the pain begins.
As it turns out, the nap wasn’t that hard to fire up. He did fight for a bit longer than I thought he would, and he needed some more milk… but down he went. Then the rest of the afternoon was uneventful.
Day 32 – Coffee Dad
The night before, I decided I would send a tweet out seeing if anyone in the Ottawa area was interested in meeting for coffee. I was planning to be in Westboro to do some shopping in the outdoorsy shops (need new winter boots), and there was no way I was going to go a whole afternoon without a coffee, whether anyone chose to meet with me or not. In truth, I mainly expected my friend Dave to pick up on it, and he didn’t disappoint. We confirmed a noon meeting for coffee at Bridgehead.
Did the “chest nap” again, but this time he was deep in sleep. It actually took until 10:00 to get him down, which signifies a bit of a fight. To be honest, I don’t remember many of the details of that nap battle, but suffice it to say I was happy when we both fell asleep in the La-Z-Boy. Trouble is, the sleep was SO good that we were going to miss the “coffee date.” Still, common wisdom which I’ve learned to follow is to not wake a sleeping baby. Let him doze on as long as he would, and at about 11:30 (so really, only 1.5 hours, which is a small nap for many parents I know!!) he stirred. I took advantage of the stirring to let him wake up fully instead of shushing him back to sleep. Called Dave to push the coffee back by 30 mins, bundled him up, and off we went.
Coffee shops are almost as good as grocery stores for positive attention. Lots of patrons gave him giggles and smiles, and he responded fairly well once he finally woke up. Dave brought a nice DSLR camera with him, and fired off over a hundred photos during the course of our coffee. Still waiting for copies, but I’ll post one here later.
The other good thing, of course, was adult “dude” time. The only adults I see lately are the family and my wife. In-between keeping the little guy happy, we had a good chat, with a refreshingly different tone than my usual. Dave’s a dad, too, so there was still parenting talk, but overall the vibe of hanging out with my guy friends has a difference to it that’s important to me.
After coffee, the monkey was exhausted again. I wasn’t done in Westbo’ though, so I loaded him up into a stroller. Thought he’d fall asleep there, but no. About an hour later, he was still awake, although pretty peaceful. Loaded him into the car and I thought he’d car nap instantly; but… no. More than halfway home before he passed out amidst groans and moans of protest, and then he slept for a good long while… 1.5 hours all told. I played Nintendo in the car.
Day 33 – Lazydad
Early wakeup. We had a doctor’s appointment for Cole (all was good) at CHEO, so we all went together in the one car. After leaving mommy, we headed home.
Had another “chest nap”, though this one was only about an hour. Did the usual morning stuff. Then my parents came over to help out.
And when I say “help out”, what I really mean is that I abandoned them with him for a few hours. 
Grammy brought soup with her, which I ate for my lunch (thanks, Mom!), and then I dashed out.
Was helping an acquaintance out with some techie questions, which involved going to their place downtown. It really only needed to be an hour, but we got to chatting about other things as well such as videogames and Anime films. So, a second day of hanging out a bit with someone with a different set of interests than my family. Which is always good!
Talk about lazy! I didn’t have to put the little guy down for his Afternoon nap (he was apparently a bit resistant, but my parents worked through it), and I didn’t have to care for him “alone” at all in the afternoon, as Alex was ready to be picked up.
All told? I basically had him to myself for a mere 2.5 hours. ANYONE can get through 2.5 hours, and now that I’m well into the swing of things as daddy daycare, it was a walk in the park.
