Day #1278 (Thu., July 4, 2013) – Daddy/Daughter Day #1
I’m off work today as it is July 4th. My wife wanted to do some work around the house so I figured it would be a great time to implement the Father/Daughter Days that I’ve been talking about. The plan is to spend one day a month exclusively with Katie. As she gets older she will be able to plan out the itinerary, but for now, I will take the lead.
Today I decided that I would take Katie to the Merry-Go-Round in Northgate Mall (see photo to the left). She cried the last time we left so I knew she would love it. Today’s objective is to figure out a strategy where she will not fuss and whine when we leave. It went extremely well… Here’s the scenario…
When we arrived at Northgate Mall I took Katie to the Merry-Go-Round right after a potty stop. She is really good at riding the escalators. I figured I would take advantage of bulk sales so I purchased about $20 worth of tickets. Not only is there a reduced price for this…but you get one ticket free… For the first ride Katie wanted to ride on the bench for some reason. I thought for sure she would want to ride on one of the horses. Go figure…
We then roamed around the mall until we came upon the $0.75 rides. Of course Katie had to go on each one…first the train, then the firetruck, then the helicopter, then the speed boat…then the firetruck again before we left. Before the last ride I spelt out the itinerary. We would ride one last time, then go on the Merry-Go-Round again if she wanted, then I would buy her a present from the machines, then we would go home. She agreed.
On the way to the Merry-Go-Round we passed by the big train and of course Katie wanted to go on that. As the conductor was not there previously I agreed, so after paying $3.00 Katie crawled into the middle train car already occupied by a boy. She loved it…
Next up was another ride on the Merry-Go-Round. Katie chose a deer to ride on this time. As we left the mall Katie wanted a $0.25 ball from the machine. She wanted a pink one but her first ball was black. I said that since she was a good girl today, no complaining or whining, I would give her another $0.25 for another try. This one had some pink in it so she was very happy.
On the drive home I called up my wife and praised Katie up one side and down the other. It was a pleasure to be with her today, and I made sure she knew it.
This evening we went to Maple Dairy Farms where all three of us shared a banana split. We then went to park near the Chapel Hill Stadium so we could see the 4th of July Fireworks.
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY
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1) Today was the official first Daddy/Daughter day for Katie.