Last Wednesday, Niko had early dismissal. Also, on that day, Nina was in the hospital as she had another surgery. Remember last month, when she had appendicitis! Poor baby, my sweet Nina. Don’t worry, she came home on Friday and is already doing much better.
So, back to early dismissal. I decided to take that afternoon off from work so Niko and I could have lunch, his choice! Well, when I picked him up, he wanted to go home. I was disappointed as I was really looking forward to having lunch with him. A few days prior, he mentioned The Cheesecake Factory, and I was like perfect! He didn’t have any particular reason why he wanted to go home, and I asked several questions to pinpoint it.
As we were pulling into our driveway, Niko asked for a smoothie from Jamba Juice, and I was like, really…and OK, let’s do it.
So, I got him a Peanut Butter smoothie, and a sweet waffle. I am not a fan of Jamba Juice and didn’t get anything.
After Jamba Juice, he was ready for food and wanted to eat at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers. Now, this I like and was happy to oblige. Niko got a hot dog with ketchup, French fries, and a lemonade and I got a double cheeseburger with mean and cheese only, French fries, and we shared a 5-piece chicken tenders. I was a little bit mean and told Niko no shake since you are drinking a smoothie, and fortunately, he was cool with that.
On the way home, I asked him if he wanted to stop at neighborhood meat market close to our house. And, of course, he replied YES! He got salami, chocolate chip cookies for us, seasoned hamburgers (which I cooked on Wednesday night, and they were absolutely delicious), and sourdough hamburger buns.
On Thursday, his grade at school had an outdoor field day, and if you know Niko, he refuses to wear shorts and a t-shirt. We try, but to no avail. I even told him he can wear his bathing suit, and he didn’t want to because it was against the rules. I was like rules, I don’t care about that rule, and I will happily take full responsibility for anything that stems from it – he refused that. I was, at first, going to allow him to wear his thinnest pants and thinnest long sleeve t-shirt, we even had the outfit picked out a few days prior. I was even going to pack him clean clothes to change into as well as a towel. He probably would’ve worn those thin clothes, but the day before, I made the choice not to send him to school that day. I didn’t want to get a call from the nurse that Niko was sick because of the heat. So, he stayed home while I worked all day, and we both survived the day. Also, on that day, Nina was still at the hospital.
On Friday, Nina was discharged from the hospital and was free. It was my parents who bailed her out and picked her up (not only Wednesday morning at 4:30 am, but also Friday afternoon at 5:45 pm). They didn’t get her home till close to 7:15 pm. Yeah, traffic is bad and that was the same route I had to drive when I worked for Chase. Niko wanted to see Nina before he went to sleep, and I allowed that to happen. We helped her get settled in, and I thanked my parents a million times for helping us out. I may rely on them towards the end of July as I have a colonoscopy scheduled.
In April, and before Nina’s appendicitis happened, we unveiled a SUPER AWESOME REWARDS CHART for Niko. It was to reward good behavior with fun things to with Nina and me. Well, we kept track for about two weeks, and he did awesome. But after that, we stopped keeping track as we had other things to tend to.
So, I still wanted Niko to choose something for yesterday as he has been doing really good despite not having mom every single second of the day. He chose Niko’s choice! He really wanted to go to Rivercenter Mall and Legoland, but I was like, let’s do that as a family in a few weeks and he was OK with that. Then, he mentioned Urban Air and I was Ok with that, but I told him I wouldn’t buy myself a ticket because it’s more fun for kids. He was OK with that. Then, he mentioned the pool and I was OK with that. So, we had two good options, but unfortunately, he woke up super early and didn’t feel like doing anything except for sitting on the sofa watching TV and playing video games. Sometimes when he goes to bed later (like on Friday night as we waited for Nina, she came home at 7:15 pm, but Niko didn’t fall asleep till around 8:30 pm), he gets up early (yesterday morning, it was 5:30 am). Normal bedtime for Niko is 6:30 pm or 7 pm and usually, he wakes up around 6 am or 6:30 am. I am so glad that I don’t have to wake him up in the middle of the night for a quick pee. He tends to sleep through the night as very rarely, he wakes for a quick pee.
On Saturday night, he wanted to sleep on the sofa, so I made the sofa as comfortable as possible and did the pillows and blankets as if we were sleeping in his own bed. I had him tucked in at 6:30 pm, and he was sleeping a few minutes later. At 12:15 am, I heard his iPad playing the find my iPad chime, and as I was turning it off, my little blue-eyed boy woke up and was like, what’s happening? So, we did a quick pee and a quick snack, and back to bed. Now, here is where I would love to write that he immediately went back to sleep and didn’t wake up until 7:30 am. But that didn’t happen. I won’t go through the 2-hour ordeal we went through, but in the end, he had to poop (it was just some farts), and he really wanted his iPad and I said nope, get a book, a toy, or some markers and a piece of paper. He was frustrated that he couldn’t have his iPad and when that happens, it takes him some extra time to get out of that stage. Eventually, he got a piece of paper and makers to draw. When our ordeal ended, he was able to go back to sleep, and woke up at 7 am. I was a bit worried that he wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep, and we would both be awake for a long time and be extra cranky! Nina always tells Niko that when he gets older, and is unable to sleep in evening, that she and him can hang out together (she will be the nighttime parent and I will be the morning parent).
I only had to do one thing yesterday, and that was a CVS run to pick up medicine for Nina. Niko requested Top Ramen and a toy! Yeah, I got us Top Ramen for lunch and a Red Baron pizza for dinner. CVS doesn’t have a great selection of toys, so I got him some markers. Later in the day, Niko did some organizing of his art area downstairs, and he threw a lot of stuff away. I also cleared some surfaces, and it looks so much better.
Well, that is all I have. it’s 10 am, and I need to stop adding more unnecessary words to this as I want to do other things today.
