I'm on vacation!!! I'm on vacation!!! I'm on vacation!!! I'm on vacation!!! I'm on vacation!!!

Sorry, I couldn't control myself. Now that I have gotten that bit of childish exuberance out of my system, we can move on to more adult oriented conversation.

I'm on vacation!!!I'm on vacation!!!I'm on vacation!!!I'm on vacation!!!I'm on vacation!!!

My bad, it's almost like my more relaxed personality traits have taken over and I feel it is necessary to let them run free on occasion.

Just to give you some insight into what I have done for the last 5 days, I will list for your reading enjoyment some things I have accomplished:

Saturday- I went and saw my grandparents, my mom, and my dad. I also got my son to take two naps (normally he takes one "nap" a day, and my wife insists I use the term "nap" loosely). And since I was on vacation, I may have dozed off during one or both of his naps as well.

Sunday- I got up with my son and let my wife sleep late. We did not tear the house apart (this time), although there was a lot of playing with Wibble Wobbles, Pop Blocks, reading books, and watching Shark Tales. My son and I also watched some football, as all fathers should do with their sons on Sundays. My brother Rob came over (who my son adores) and they spent time wrestling and discovering the magic of key rings.

Monday- again got up and let my wife sleep late, and then my wife let me catch a mid morning nap. I had a crazy dream about my job, so I hopped out of bed. We had planned to go to the mall, but my son had mentioned twice that his ear was hurting. FYI- my wife doesn't play around when it comes to ears, so we called to get an appointment with my son's doctor. We went to the appointment, my son pretty much runs the joint when he shows up, and he get's the look over by the doc. Turns out, he did have a pretty good ear infection, but never let it slow him down and only complained twice. Little man has an admirable pain threshold. Then we went to his Gran's house so he could play with his cousin Gabreale and chase Rocky (he's a cat).

Tuesday- it was a rainy day, but a rainy day of nothing is better than a sunny day of work (hopefully that did not illegally infringe on anyone's bumper sticker). My wife and I took our son to a local mall and let him run wild. He enjoys that wild open space and total freedom. I just let him do his exploration thing and I run along behind him to make sure he doesn't do anything that could get expensive. He also likes playing in the area set aside for children, but more for the climbing obstacles than the social interaction. Can a two year old become jaded to other children at or near his age? It's possible I reckon, my son obeys all social manners, but I guess knowing he is there for only a limited time he doesn't want to waste it creating a friendship that probably ends the moment we leave the area. Anywho, we leave, he falls asleep, we go home and he wakes up. Despite my efforts at non-enforcement (the trick to getting my son to take a nap is to act like you could care less if he takes a nap), my son holds out against a nap until mid afternoon. He takes a nap, I take a nap, and my wife takes a picture of us napping together. We wake up, put on the animated movie called Spirit, and proceed to eat our weight in wheat chex and Gold Fish snack crackers. Essentially, we trade until the bowl is empty, fill up and do it again. Later that night he wants Daddy to hold him and snuggle him when it's time to go to sleep. No problem, I am on vacation and a little spoiling makes it worth while.

Wednesday- we all go to Kiril's five year old cousin Gabreale's school for a surprise visit during her lunch and to see her classroom. Afterwards, I go and get some work done to my tattoo of my son on the left side of my chest (extra shading, outlining, accents). It was a good tattoo, I think it is better. And what they say is true, I want to get more done...

So far, that's been the first five days (four and a half really). Delightful in the abscence of almost anything work related. My son and I have bonded, my wife doesn't have that crazy look in her eye, I have picked up a few pounds (not that that was a goal or has ever been difficult for me to accomplish, but it is nice to take a break from watching what I eat and crush a few M&Ms, pizza, bags of chips, etc) and I still have fours days left to do something or nothing.

I do so dread next Monday. But hey, for right now, I'm on vacation!!!