Adventures of a Stay at Home Dad Part 5

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   Part 5

2nd week completed and it's officially over. The honeymoon period of being a stay at home dad I mean, not the actual doing of it. Now I'm into the grind. I had a pity party in the weekend and skulked around being miserable about the amount of work that has to be done, gets done then has to be done all over again the next day. So I thought I'd try just not doing it. But that didn't work. Still need washing and dinners. 

I have decided to do a weekly blurb instead of a daily blurb as daily is too much. I just don't have the time for it and I think that I'll run out of things to talk about if I do it every day. It also gives me time to think about what I'm actually writing instead of spewing it all out. 

We went to the Dental Nurse on Wednesday. They gave Hannah a bumblebee thingy and Briona a spider thingy. It was great seeing the kids faces light up when they were given the spider and bumblebee. I remember getting those same thingies when I went to the dental nurse *some* years ago. Now seeing my kids get them too...it's a legacy thing. 

I've been trying to find the right sound setting for my stereo. I don't want it loud enough to wake the girls when they are asleep, and I want it loud enough to enjoy the music, movies or playstation when they are run. It's not as easy as it sounds to find the right volume!

It's really great to see the girls exploring and finding things out. Briona pushed the swings by herself this last week and got knocked over by the return swing. She dusted herself off, got up again and next time she pushed it she moved out of the way. She learnt quickly! I'm also encouraging Hannah to open doors by herself. She used to be able to, now shes gotten lazy about it.

Speaking of encouragement, I've also been pushing for Hannah to use manners when she's asking for things. As much as I hated it when I was a kid, it's true that "what the oldest does, the younger ones follow." So if we want the family to have manners, Hannah needs to learn to use them. As far as I'm aware the adults are using them already so there really isn't an excuse to not use manners. Now it's just a matter of *getting* her to use them. Somehow. 

The house is looking a mess but I don't care at the moment. Spending time with the girls is more important. I used to be uptight at Teresa about the house cleanliness, when I was working, "I like a place of rest...this is busy and cluttered" that sort of thing, but honestly? The house tidiness is less important. I realise that now. I put unfair pressure on Teresa when I was working and have only just realised it. And now that I think about it...that mess stuff/spending time with the girls, I just said up there ^^ might be an excuse to just not do work. 

One thing I'm finding out being a stay at home dad - My time is not my own. It's a weird feeling, and one that many guys shy away from. We like our own space/time/games/etc... As part of that journey I read a book about parenting and it said "Active listening is an important skill to use when parenting. It's a difficult skill to master. It involves putting whatever you are doing down and looking at the child when they speak, or want to show you something. It means giving them your FULL attention while actively listening. Then when they have finished - you ask them questions, feeding back their talking to you. A questioning parent shows them that you are interested, and an interested parent tells them they are interesting. It shows that you love them when you ask them questions." I think that's a good statement and I'm trying to put that into practice - I know I've been fairly bad with it in the last couple of years.

I've been enjoying the opportunity to make dinners. They are surprisingly easy to make. The other day, I made Butter Chicken which is an indian dish - except I used Italian Tomatoes which changed the flavour a bit. You have to marinade the chicken from 1 to 8 hours before cooking. This is something I didn't notice on the receipe until AFTER I had gone to the supermarket for our weekly groceries and bought some special ingredients specifically for Butter Chicken. I had pulled the chicken out the night before and it wasn't quite thawed when it came to dinner time. THEN I read that it was to be marinated.... So we put the chicken in the fridge overnight to thaw properly, and I made a quick and dirty *read easy* Ham wrapped Baked Bananas with raisins and butter coating. That was on Monday. On Tue, I pulled out the properly thawed chicken, skinned them and sliced them across the meat grain, and poured a yoghurt and spices mix over them then left them to marinade for 6 hours. Put it together with rice. mmmm mmmm!

And just for anyone interested here's some of what I've made throughout the week. 

She just loves pumpkin soup!

Edited by Chovynz