Harrison talking is the greatest thing ever. For all the frustration of speech therapy & fighting insurance companies & not understanding him, the work we all put into it was completely worth it just to hear the ideas & humor & thoughts come out of my little boy. His newest thing is suggesting things he’d appreciate as “Maybe you…” or “How ’bout…” & he does it perfectly with an incredible balance of hope & sarcasm
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Like, “How ’bout…you make me a big chocolate milk, please?”
or “Maybe you…take me to the park today?”
& better yet, “How ’bout…I no take a nap today?”
Back in the spring when we bought his trampoline, I came across an amazing deal on a cedar play house. I stuck it in my parent’s garage for the entire summer because I was too afraid to put it up at the old house & risk it being packaged into the house sale (like how the buyer asked for his swingset). Then we bought a house that had a swamp in the backyard & the box sat in our garage with Harrison staring at it forlornly. We promised that as soon as the backyard was fixed, we’d set up his house. Which meant that the moment he saw the mini excavator in his front yard, he was like, “Maybe you set up my house today?!”
I had to tell him no. For an entire two weeks while we waited for the job to be finished & dry.
This past Sunday, Harrison walked up to Doug & tugged on his jeans. “How ’bout you set up my house, please?”
A rule of thumb when building children’s products – have alcohol on hand & a marriage counselor on speed dial.
Six hours on Sunday & we still didn’t finish. Maybe we’re idiots or maybe this is the worst playhouse in the entire universe or maybe it was the amount of maple whisky consumed by 2pm, but we’ll just never know.
Every morning, Harrison stares in the backyard & says, “Maybe you…finish my house today?”
Maybe I’d….rather dig out my eyes with a spoon? Whack myself over the head with the plastic gables? Be punched in the face by a rabid squirrel? Take your pick, kid.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
hahaha my husband just built my daughter a lofted playhouse bed for her 3rd bday. and by built i mean, it’s super sturdy, but very….rough. and by just i mean, it took him 3 weeks 2 of which were his “paternity leave” (the leave he took to help me with the newborn….).
but oh, something about a man in jeans and doing some kind of contsructing….mmmm…..i love me a handy fella.
I feel ya… our cedar-ish swingset took about 20+ hours to erect. Good times. Now I understand why reasonable people pay for installation.
Yes. Come swingset time, we’re paying money to have someone else do it.
I learned somewhere between hanging a collage of frame family photos and assembling a basement full o ikea toy storage that every good marriage needs a hire-a-husband. Worth every single penny.
Hahaha! We have the same play house. It took my husband and step-dad more than 8 hours to set it up.
Which is we we live in a community with a park in the center! I’m sure we would kill each other putting one of those bad boys together!
Loving your love of Harry’s developing speech. JUST YOU WAIT. Hilarity is soon to ensue, I gairowntee. Zaid’s newest is: Hey, I have an idea! And Hey, Lemme tell you something. He sounds EXACTLY like Fire Marshall Bill which makes it even funnier.
Ha, I’m highly familiar with that particular house, too! Took us 5 hours and 3 people, one of which used to build racecars and the other does home remodels (and the 3rd was me, so really it was 5 hours and 2.25 people). It’s INSANE, that construction.
NOT want you want to hear right now but we have a very similar playhouse & we built a platform underneath of pressure treated wood. Keep the inside from being a soggy, muddy, weed infested mess. We also didn’t attach the door bc we were worried about slammed doors on tiny hands. I’ll send pics if you’d like.
YES! The plans for the base are already in progress
took us 5 months to put the swing set together, including 2 months of ‘is it time for the slide yet?’
My husband has been working on the kids’ giant wooden playset since last May. I am pretty sure it will never be done.