Welcome to day two of “is the banging ever going to stop?”
Photo by Verstappen Photography on Unsplash
The roof project continues. We are afraid to go outside and watched these two poor guys work 12 hour days wearing full black outfits with masks on in 80 degree heat. Weird, but they seem to be doing a good job so…whatever.
The hard part was we were trapped inside for the morning at least - due to falling debris from the sky.
The whining started about 11am: “I’m bored, I want to go ride my bike”.
We told her that we can’t go outside because there are nails everywhere and bike riding in the driveway is unsafe.
More whining.
Sigh, fine. I will toss the bike in the car and we will go to the school to learn how to ride
The entire episode did not go well.
Today we learned that she can fall off and I go down too trying to not have her fall off. I learned that it’s hard to run sideways and grab a seat and handlebars at the same time. I have a scuffed elbow as a souvenir.
But, she’s getting there. I would guess she rode by herself for about 40 feet or so before she realized that she was doing it and then instead of doing more of the thing that is working. She stops.
There’s a park there - so in between all this bike riding fun1 she played in the park and eventually met a friend. They played and then they planned a surprise for me. The child tried to grab the hat from my head and while I was trying to get the hat back, the little friend threw dirt at me. OK, not fun - but not my kid, and the parent was around somewhere - so whatever.
Then five minutes later, they come up again and this time the child wants to throw dirt at me. I told her that she should not throw dirt or else. She ignored me and threw the dirt and ran away.
I put the bike back in the car, and went to sit down and waited until she came back around and then I introduced her to the “or else” of the day. I told her she was done and we were going home.
Say hello to my friend: Consequences.
First, whining and protesting happened.
Then cue the screaming when she realized I meant business.
She screamed in the car, she screamed on the front lawn while were were trying to navigate a minefield of roofing nails, and she screamed inside where I pulled the ultimate Dad move:
“ Go to your Room”, I told her. More screaming, and then a little less, and a little less and then silence. BW and I had a conversation for the first time in a few days. It was nice.
Eventually, she came out of the room as if nothing had happened, but I gave her the debrief: You do not throw anything at anybody unless you’re playing catch or something. No throwing, no hitting.
Remember - Yes Dad = fun. Dirt Throwing = a long day for all.
Oh, speaking of long days - the roof is done, but the eaves and gutters still need to happen. I didn’t get a chance to get a picture because I was dodging minefields all day of one kind or another.
Until Next Time,
TH and Co.
I thought I was going to die. you try running beside a bike bent over trying to keep a moving human that has zero sense of balance upright.
