This year, Father’s Day was a bit different, as I got to celebrate being a new father. The morning started off with all of us sleeping in a bit, something I never tend to do. When Riley was awake, I brought her into the bed with me and she stared at Mr. Ceiling Fan, while telling me all about it. When Meghan came back into the room, she brought with her a present in a box. I opened the box to find a loving card from the ladies, and a book called ‘When Riley Grows Up’, a semi-custom book from HoorayHeroes.com (I did a little research afterward because I was curious about how it was made). It’s the story of me talking to Riley at bedtime, telling her of all the cool things she could be when she grows up. I think it will be a great book to read to her when she’s a little bit older.
Meghan said that since it was my day, I could choose to do whatever I wanted, and that she would take us out to lunch. It was raining in Lansing, so our outdoor options were pretty limited there. We ultimately settled on going to the Binder Park Zoo. Riley had been to the zoo before, we took her to Potter Park on Mother’s Day, but today we were going to feed the giraffes! We loaded into Meghan’s car and set out to Battle Creek.
When we got to Battle Creek, we were hungry and Riley needed a diaper change. Since it was my day, I got to pick, so I picked Jimmy Johns. I’m a sucker for a good sandwich, and I love their #16. It’s no Turkinator, but it would have to do.
With our bellies full, we headed to the zoo. Riley didn’t sleep at all on the trip to Battle Creek, so unfortunately she fell asleep as we started walking around to look at the animals. She didn’t wake up until we arrived at the ‘Wild Africa’ exhibit. It was here that it started to mist, but I wanted to make sure that she was able to see the giraffes.
After a look at the giraffes, we headed into the dining area to feed Riley her bottle. With her belly now full, we began our trek around ‘Wild Africa’. My goal was to feed the giraffes. We didn’t have to walk to far when we encountered that area. For a mere $8, you too can purchase 5 lettuce leaves! Yeah, I could have bought a number of whole heads of lettuce for $8, but I wasn’t going to pass this up.
Unfortunately Riley was too little to help, but I gave some of the leaves to Meghan, and the two of us fed the giraffes. While feeding them, I was trying not to let their tongues touch me so as to not potentially spread anything to Riley, which is why you see my drop the lettuce. In the end, their tongues hit my fingers, and hand sanitizer was my new best friend.
After we made our way around ‘Wild Africa’, we headed back to the front of the zoo and made our way out. Before leaving Battle Creek, I wanted to hit up the mall. Wow, I haven’t seen a mall in such sad shape since I was in the one in Bowling Green, Ohio. I would say a good 75% of the store fronts are closed. Maybe 10% of what’s left is anything you’ve even heard of, and the the remaining 15% are one off stores. The Applebees and BDubs were still hopping though.
When we got home, I ordered a pizza and we relaxed for the night…or tried to. Riley felt warm and wouldn’t settle down. After a bath and a bottle, she was a bit more settled, but still felt warm. Meghan checked her temperature, and it seemed to be OK (except for one check, which prompted us to check again a short while later). She had felt warm the last few days as well, and seemed to develop a slight cough, but didn’t display any other symptoms.
Daycare
Today is the day…the first day of daycare. It wasn’t anything that Meghan or I have been looking forward to, but unfortunately it’s a necessity since neither of us have the option to work from home 100%, and neither one of us can afford not to work. Meghan spent some extra time with her this morning, and it was my responsibility to drop her off (and will be going forward). Today is sort of a trial run, she’ll be there only a half day today and tomorrow, with full days starting on Wednesday. Luckily, Meghan has the option to work from home one day a week over the summer, and will be able to keep Riley home during that time.
I got to daycare a bit early, so I climbed in the back of the car to sit with her for a few minutes. We talked for a minute, I let her know that her mom and I love her and that she would be picked up at lunch time. She held my finger…as she let out a big fart.
As my luck would have it, when I tried to check her in, my fingerprint didn’t work (we had set it up a few weeks prior). The woman in the office let me in, but noted I would need to set it up again when the regular woman who runs the office gets in. I took Riley to her locker, got her out of her car seat and put everything away. Popped her bottles into the fridge and walked around her room while we waiting for the person running the room to get in (they apparently don’t start until 7am, despite the fact that the place opens at 6am, and I didn’t want to leave her in the office). When the woman got in, I handed Riley off, which was really hard to do. I told her goodbye and headed into work.
I think the idea of taking her to daycare is going to be hard for a while…I think it will get easier as she gets bigger and can start doing things on her own. At her age right now though, it’s just tough.