Niko was off on Friday for Good Friday, but Nina and I had to work. Despite that, Nina was going to surprise him with a movie date that afternoon to see the Super Mario Bros movie.
Well, plans had to be changed because when she woke up on Friday morning, Niko and I had to take her to an urgent care clinic because she had severe abdominal pain, and she even threw up for the first time in twenty-seven years. The urgent care clinic referred her to a freestanding ER so she could get a better diagnosis. The diagnosis was appendicitis, and she was then transported to the hospital to get her appendix removed (from all of her books) which happened on Saturday. Niko and I will be picking her up later today. She is already much better, and she even told me, that when you are sick, the hospital is the best place to be.
So, we both ended up taking a sick day on Friday. Niko and I had to chauffer her to the clinic and to the freestanding ER. When we dropped Nina off the first time on Friday morning, and were leaving to go back home, he told me he was looking forward to alone time with me. I mean, we haven’t had father and son bonding time in a while as he has either been sick or tired. About an hour after we got home, Niko and I had to go back in the world to picker her up from the urgent care clinic and drop her off at the freestanding ER. I had barely enough time to feed Niko breakfast, bring in and put away our grocery delivery order, and make my breakfast. I, unfortunately, didn’t have time to eat my breakfast, so I just covered the frying pan with a place so Riley cat wouldn’t try to sneak some licks of it. I did, finally, get to eat about an hour later.
That also meant I got to take Niko to the movies, and we had a wonderful time. We had popcorn, drink, a box of candy. You know something, that was the second movie he has been to, and both times, he did awesome. He really wanted to go bowling, and I was all for it, but I told him we can do some other time when it’s less crowded. I also wanted to get him home, as it was getting close to our nighttime festivities. And I knew he was tired! Once I had him tucked in, he was asleep in 15 minutes.
I am looking forward to more movies in the summer when school is out. After the movie, I made a pit stop at CVS for Top Ramen for dinner and cookies and cream ice cream for dessert, and Niko was elated! Another first grader, but not in his class, said hello to him while we were browsing the ice creams.
It just so happens that the movie theater and the freestanding ER were next to each other, so before the movie, we stopped in front of the ER and, luckily Nina was still there, so she came out and gave Niko lots of hugs and kisses. Just a few minutes later, Nina was being transported to the hospital. I am glad Niko got to see her. I mean, we did Facetime quite often with her, but in person contact is always much better.
My parents did offer several times to watch Niko so I could spend some time with Nina, and I did take them up on that on Saturday for a few hours. Before that happened, though, Niko and I had breakfast together at a local Mexican restaurant. I offered to drive thru for breakfast tacos, but he insisted on dining in, and I was like OK, we can dine in! I got three bacon and egg breakfast tacos (one of them I got with cheese and potatoes) and a large soda to go! Niko got two egg breakfast tacos and a chocolate milk. He then looked at my bacon and wanted it, and fortunately, I had two pieces on each taco, so I gave him two and he was extremely satisfied. We came afterwards so Niko could pack some stuff to play with and I grabbed some stuff for Nina.
I dropped him off at their house and didn’t even wait for them to open the front door before I left! I am just kidding. I escorted Niko in and said my hellos and goodbyes and even a got a hug from Niko. I left the hospital after I got the everything went well dialogue from the surgeon.
Don’t laugh, but while I was with her, she really wanted me to do a Trader Joes run as it was down the street from where we were. She even had a few specific requests. The last time I did a Trader Joes run, was on July 23, 2021, as Nina had back surgery, and after Niko and I dropped her off, we did a Trader Joes run. It was actually at the same hospital!
So, I did it, alone, and I was able to stop and look at few things. With Niko, it’s grab and go! I got Nina’s stuff, and lots of frozen stuff for us to munch on throughout the week. Niko liked my selection as well, as had a tiny piece of a chocolate babka cake.
I will tell you also, that Niko did a great job doing everything for me easily despite not having MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Even though he knows she isn’t home, he still calls for MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! He even sent a video text to Nina of him saying that!
Remember, two paragraphs ago, when I mentioned that Niko has done everything easily for me. Let me explain that a little bit more…
Last Monday, Nina and I decided to make Niko a SUPER AWESOME REWARDS CHART. Basically, if he does stuff without making a big deal out of it, he will get a weekly reward.
We are doing it because for the past several weeks, getting him to do things has been an absolute struggle. Most of things can take a minute, but he complains about them, and it really frustrates us. Taking things away after giving him multiple chances doesn’t work.
When we told Niko of this, he was all for it, and even helped me write down some ideas for rewards in a jar.
Om Thursday, Nina and I reviewed the SUPER AWESOME REWARDS CHART, and he passed! So, he got to choose something to do on Sunday. The reason it was Sunday is because Saturday, we were planning on having a Passover lunch with my mom and dad. Obviously, plans changed, and Niko got to enjoy a nice sit-down lunch with them and my brother, and when I arrived, they were cleaning up, but I still got to enjoy some food and got a lot to take home, along with all the stuff from Trader Joes.
The idea that Niko chose was Niko Pick Lunch! I told him that we can still do it, but it may require driving thru and eating in the car on our way to pick up Nina. Or we can do a raincheck and do it next weekend.
