It’s been an interesting couple of weeks for us lately. Both girls have had cases of pinkeye and tonsillitis to fight through, plus Ava has had a bad rash all over her torso that she’s still taking steroids for. We seem to be on the tail end of everything, but there’s still medicine to be taken. Then there’s Mr. Enzo, who has recently discovered how to flush the toilet. Obviously it’s so much more fun to flush the toilet with something in there and watch it disappear, so over the past two nights he has blocked up two of our three toilets; one with a toy train, and the other with his fox binky, which is a pacifier sewed to a little stuffed fox.
Last night I tried to fix the downstairs toilet by removing it from the floor and digging around for an obstruction, but not only was I unsuccessful, I also caused a minor flood in the bathroom. By the time I got all the water cleaned up I was so pissed that I decided I didn’t care what the cost was, I would be calling a plumber regardless. So I worked from home today, called a plumber first thing in the morning, and waited for the bad news.
Needless to say it cost us a pretty penny to get both toilets fixed. He tried using a snake to clear them, but that didn’t work, so removing them from the floor was the only option, meaning they needed to be re-sealed and seated. Whatever, it’s not a big deal, and I’m certainly not trying to make it about the money, it’s just annoying. I’ve found that with home ownership there are two types of expenses: those that add value to the house and can be considered an investment, and those that get (pardon the pun) flushed down the toilet. Obviously this one was the latter.
At least we have one positive takeaway from this ordeal: we’re using it as a catalyst for Enzo to be done with pacifiers. When he asks for his binky we say “Sorry buddy but you flushed it down the toilet. It’s gone now. But that’s okay because you’re a big boy now and big boys don’t need binky’s.” I’m sure it will be a bit of a rough transition, but it’s time. In the meantime we need to keep a close eye on him and make sure he’s staying out of the bathroom, until of course we’re ready for our next big transition – diapers.
In other news, we had a great time hosting Madi for a sleepover recently. She and Kristy met me and the girls at the ice skating rink to watch one of Ava’s lessons. Afterwards we all skated for about an hour. It was Madi’s first time, and Kristy’s first time since she was a kid. They both did awesome and had a lot of fun, so I hope we get to do it again. Elise actually got out on the ice that day as well, and although it’s not quite as natural for her as it is for Ava, I was still really proud of her for trying. She ended up doing two laps around the rink before retiring to the stands to run up and down the bleachers.
Later on we all had lunch, then relaxed for an afternoon movie. That night we went out for pizza, then watched another movie about young figure skaters. The next morning I made a big breakfast, then Kristy met up with us a the pool where we enjoyed water slides, floating in the lazy river, and playing in the water jungle. It was a great visit and we hope to have her again soon.
Jessica has been making good progress on her neck from going to physical therapy and seems to be getting a bit better each day. Hopefully it keeps up too considering our trip to Raleigh is only a week away. She hasn’t let it phase her much at all though and keeps just as busy as ever. She’s back in the gym, swimming, running, and keeping up with the kids all the time, which is probably the most exercise of all.
Monday will be our 7th wedding anniversary so the timing of our trip works out perfect in terms of celebrating. Considering that Jessica was hospitalized for an appendectomy on our 6th anniversary, it’s more than safe to say this year will be a lot more fun. I’m more than ready for a long weekend, good weather, fun with friends, and some good southern food!
The only bummer about our trip is that I’m going to miss the final week of my beginners hockey league. Not a big deal though because I’ve already signed up for the next session, starting later in April. I scored my first goal in our game on Sunday, which was a thrill. I got out on a fast break with the puck, and my first instinct was to pass to one of my teammates, but when I looked around, I saw that they were about two strides behind me, and so were the defenders. So then I totally had that ‘Oh shit’ moment where I realized that everyone is watching me, and I better not screw this up. Honestly I didn’t even care if I scored, I just wanted to put a shot on goal and make the goalie do something to stop it, rather than shoot wide of the goal or over the top. I took a couple more strides, pulled it back, and shot as hard as I could. It probably wasn’t very impressive looking from the stands, but it felt damn good to see it sneak by the goalie’s skates and into the back corner of the net.
It ended up being the only goal scored by our team, and I totally did that celebration move you see on TV where I glided on one knee and pumped my fist a few times. I won’t normally do stuff like that, as I generally prefer when athletes act like they’ve been there before, but the truth was I hadn’t been there before, so it felt worthy of a celebration. More importantly, I love getting out there and playing and I’m committed to getting better, so I’m glad to have found this new hobby. I’ve got one more game this Sunday, then I’ll be looking forward to getting started with the next session.
Ava is continuing to impress me with her ice skating. This past weekend they were working on two foot glides, then lifting a foot and doing a one foot glide. After her lesson I was working with her during the public skate on these things, and out of nowhere she says “Hey Dad, can you do this?” and she starts hopping on one foot! I’m like, “Actually I don’t think I can do that.” I tried, and almost bit it big time. Eventually I got it, but it took several tries. It was no big deal for Ava, and mind you, this isn’t something they taught her in class. She just started doing it on her own! I knew she could hop on two feet because we frequently jump over the lines while skating, but doing a one foot hop never even crossed my mind. No biggie for Ava though.
Obviously if she wants to get really good it’s going to take a lot of practice, but there’s no question that she has natural talent to work with. I think most people assume that because she’s a girl, she’s going to get into figure skating, and she certainly might, but right now she talks about playing hockey more than anything. Obviously a big part of that is due to my recent involvement in it, but she seems pretty excited to play and talks about it frequently. It doesn’t matter to us as long as she’s having fun. The other important thing is that we don’t push Elise into anything just because Ava is doing it. I just look forward to her finding something she enjoys just as much as Ava enjoys skating.
Guess that’s about it for now. I’m sure there will be plenty to talk about after we return from Raleigh. Bye for now.