Suburban Butch Dad Report, 3/7/2010

Yes, friends, it’s that time of week again, time for another report on living butch and parental in the ‘burbs.   This report brought to you by my second cup of coffee and a rare quite interlude at the House of Kyle.

It’s March in Olympia which inconsistent weather.  Yesterday I was outside in my shorts and a sleeveless shirt, working myself to a sweat in the yard, enjoying sunshine, blue skies and 60 degree warmth.  Today it’s cool, breezy and threatening rain, with overcast skies and nary a hint of the sun.  Tomorrow the temps drop even further, sub freezing in the morning, along with an increasing chance of rain.  Guess who’s gonna be bundled up to the gills for the morning bike commute tomorrow.

We had another busy week here in the ‘burbs.  ElderSpawn and the missus have been delivering pre-ordered Girl Scout cookies and also doing shifts of booth sales at Safeway.  One more week, and we’re done with GS cookies for another year.  ElderSpawn has done very well with sales this year and has shown a lot of initiative and willingness to work hard.  We’re both proud of her.

Mrs. Kyle had a night out with her BFF this week and I took on the challenge of caring for Little Bit.  The way we work this is that the missus will stuff the child as full as possible on milk before she leaves for the evening, and then I’m on my own with frozen, pumped breast milk and a baby sometimes unwilling to take sustenance from a bottle.   If I can get the baby to sleep without having to put out the bat signal, we both win.  And that’s what I did, though at the cost of staying up until almost 1 am.  It was close though, Little Bit was crying and head butting me but wouldn’t take the bottle.  I texted to the wife that we were having a tough time and she texted back that she was working on a half a drink, and agreed to come home at 1:00.  Moments after we’d completed our text conversation, Little Bit dropped her solid, heavy wee head down on my chest for the last time and became heavy as a lead weight.  I texted back to my wife who was now cleared to stay out as long as she wanted.  Another win for us.

I often blog about pushing my limits, exploring my edges, facing my fears… but I’m here to tell you, none of that is as scary and daunting as being on the brink of exhaustion with a small Whiny McWhineyperson, the sound of her impatience like tiny razor-sharp baby fingernails incessantly scraping the inside of my skull.  Ahhh.. the joys of parenthood.

Last night I had a movie date with ElderSpawn, we went to see Percy Jackson & The Olympians, The Lightening Thief.  Her class had read the book together, did some special projects based on the story and she’d been looking forward to the movie since it was announced.  The story is classic “coming of age young teen turns hero who saves the world” with a Greek mythology twist.  I remember my mythology phase, when my brother and I checked out stacks of books on Greek, Roman and Norse mythology, devouring the stories and acting them out in the pastures and woods around our home.   In order to prepare for the movie, I asked my daughter to check the book out for me from the school library.  I consumed it in 3 days, it was tasty.

The movie was great, lots of action and special effects and the storyline was compelling and kept things moving quickly.  It diverged plenty from the book, removing and inventing entire subplots, but still good.   The book is even better, though, so if you’re a fan of YA or have kids of the right age, check it out.

We shared popcorn, soda and ice cream pellets.   We had whispered conversations about plot differences and afterward she was flying high, slugging my arm and going on and on about how awesome the movie was, and how I’m the best mom ever invented.  That’s how she put it, ‘invented’, she’s such a geek.  It was a lot of fun and we promised to do it again the next time a good movie comes out.

Later today

In a little while, I’ll be hopping into my truck and pointing it north on I5, heading to a class put on by Daddy Wendell.  It’s a class on Making Leather Braided Handle Floggers, combining some of my favorite things:  making stuff, leather and kink.  Plus, I get to meet Wendell, whom I’ve heard a lot about from Roxy.

After class, I head to the famous Wildrose Tavern on Capitol Hill for beers with JesseJames, a blogger I’ve enjoyed for a while but never met in meat space.  I’m not sure how we’re going to recognize each other, since she won’t be yellow-toned like her Twitter avatar and I’ll be fully dressed, unlike so many of my blog pictures.

I’m geekin out a bit over meeting both of them in one day.. I’ll write more about both in the coming days.  Y’all have a great Sunday evening.

 

 

 

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