Kendra spent the morning at a ladies brunch and that gave me the opportunity to have some one-on-two time with the twins. Because of the challenging week I could have easily let them play by themselves or turned on a movie for a couple of hours. Easton is fascinated with tornadoes, earth quakes, and volcanoes so there is plenty of "learning" videos on NetFlix. Anyway, I'm not against those ideas, but they should be the exception rather than the rule when I have a chance to interact with them. Whether I intentionally spend quality time with them or not, they are learning from me. If I am distant or unavailable or uninterested in them, that will cause issues for them later in life. Kids need certain input from a father, which requires interactive quality time. I guess that's what my view of parenting boils down to: Interactive Quality Time.
The only thing that frustrates me more than seeing a child with an absent father is seeing a father ignore a child who wants the father's attention. The most egregious incidents I see usually involve a father with his face buried in his cell phone while their child is ignored or neglected. That gets me fired up because the father believes he is "spending time" with the child, but in reality he is distorting the poor kids self-image by non-verbally saying, "you are less important than whatever I'm doing on my phone".
I'll get off my soap box... kind of. I want Easton and Layla to know they ARE important to me. However, I also want them to know helping others is important also. For this reason Easton, Layla, and I joined Jeff and the folks at Big House Inc. for some volunteer community outreach.
We bagged up several dozen bags of bread and vegetables. The twins jumped right in and helped out as they walked through the assembly line stations to fill the bags.
Layla said, "I want the piece of carrot cake." Easton joined in by looking for something else to point out so he could stake his claim. I sat down with them and said, "we aren't going to eat this food. We are taking it to the neighborhoods and giving it away." They were OK with this answer, but I could tell they were still looking for some way to talk me into giving them some food. Then I said, "The people we are serving don't have any food to eat." Layla stopped and gasped loudly. The concept sunk in immediately and she said, "That's terrible!" I was happy to see she understood the reality that some people struggle with hunger.
After the food was bagged we drove to "the hood" (their words, not mine) and some folks knocked on doors of the run-down apartment complex to tell them we were giving out food. The twins and I stayed at the food distribution van and talked to people coming by. My biggest regret was not knowing conversational Spanish. Where's Joanie when I need her? I did some rough translations and the elderly Hispanic lady laughed at me, but she got the point of what we were trying to say and appreciated the effort.
The twins hit their limit so we went to Honey Bear's BBQ on the way home for tasty sweet potato fries and ribs. I felt a little bad because we just handed out crusty bagels and old cake a few minutes before devouring a great lunch.
Anyway, the morning was a huge success in my opinion because we served others. The twins not only saw me serving, but they were a part of giving to those who are less fortunate. I don't expect Easton will suddenly be grateful for snow peas, but the principle is being taught and caught.
Great Aunt Mary is known as GAM around our house. She came into town for a few days and spent one full day hanging out with the 4 Webbs. Kendra ran some errands and went to a salon for her hair cut so that left Mary with me and the twins. Since I took the day off work we had a few hours to go adventuring. Neither Mary nor Layla had been to the Museum of Natural History. Easton and I gladly volunteered as tour guides for them.
Before we even entered the building Layla was acting as if we discovered Jurassic Park. She was impressed with the little iron dinosaurs out front. Easton showed Layla how sharp the T-Rex teeth were.
We walked through the doors of the main entrance and both of the twins lit up like Christmas trees.
Layla was a slightly scared by the bones and some creepy lights and sounds, but other than that she did great. Mary and I reminisced about Uncle Dave taking me to the dinosaur exhibit in Kansas City. Those learning experiences were some of the most fun times we experienced together and I'll never forget them.
Easton and Layla even went so far as to build a dinosaur and ride it! I was proud of them for the willingness to jump on with me.
We spent a big portion of museum time in the outdoor section playing paleontologists as we dug through the mounds of shredded tires looking for fossils. I love how excited they were, believing they truly discovered dino eggs and bones.
On the way out the door we stopped by for one grand finale: The metal dino. Easton and Layla climbed up next to it and stood amazed by how big it is. I didn't get the head, but it's the best picture i have of the twins and they are what's important, right?
See you soon!
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