Last weekend was supposed to be a miserable experience. My wife was out of town with some friends and I was tending the kids the whole weekend, I also had a plumbing problem to fix, and (to top things off) my taxes needed to be completed. Talk about the trifecta from hell… BABYSITTING, PLUMBING, AND TAXES all in one weekend! Well… perhaps I shouldn’t lump babysitting into the mix… We’ll call it the DOUBLE WHAMMY WEEKEND FROM HELL WITH A HALF TWIST.
Turns out it wasn’t that bad… here’s a quick review…
The kids were pretty good! My wife had been telling me horror stories about my son’s ear infection… and the residual fussiness the accompanied it. Laura even left me about 15 reminder notes posted all over the house so that I wouldn’t forget to give the munchkin his medicine. But little David did alright… he needed some TLC every now and then (kind of like his Dad) but overall he was a pleasant little rug-rat… a small cup of chocolate milk seemed to cure to his fussiness (also like his Dad).
I was pleasantly surprised with my 2 year-old daughter Abby… she was a much better helper than I had anticipated! Her skillful deciphering of David’s toddler gibberish made things a little bit easier for me. Abby’s clever negotiating skills at bed time are always tricky to work around… fortunately for me… chocolate milk seemed to motivate Abby just as much as David. I think I found the ultimate weapon in the war against fussiness! (My apologies to Ryan and Kerri Hales who are avid blog readers and soy milk evangelists)
Taxes weren’t as terrible as I thought either. I’ll soon post a new theory about my experience… this year was the first time since I was a teenager that I filed my own tax return… definitely a blog worthy event… Keep tuned.
As for the plumbing problem… it just turned out to be a leaky rubber washer. I was expecting a Category 2 or Category 3 situation… and I even invited my Dad to come over to help out (he’s a great sport and actually seems to enjoy the challenge to hone his handyman skills… and get away from his dreadful computer work). The problem was fixed in less than 10 minutes… which doesn’t even qualify it as a Category 1 plumbing problem… more like the plumbing equivalent of a weak tropical storm.
At the end of it all… it was a pretty decent weekend. Of course it helped that I didn’t have to take the kids to church… I’d take President Monson and his wiggly ears over a boring Sunday school lesson anytime! Things went so well that I even managed to clean up the house before my wife came home… BONUS POINTS! I just wonder whether my smooth sailing weekend had more to do with good kismet… or good Nesquik. One thing is certain… despite my smoother-than-anticipated experience… I’m not about to spoil my luck by telling my wife she’s got it easy staying home with the kids… no sir… I’ll just sip my chocolate milk and smile.