Roughousing With Papa

Autumn had her first ballet class today and it was so fun to put her leotard and skirt and shoes in a special bag for her to take and hang up in her cubby.  Today at work I kept looking at the clock to see if it was 3:00 yet, the time her lesson started.  When 3:00 finally rolled around, I wondered what her class was like, if she was having fun, etc.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall just to observe her.  So, as soon as I picked her up I asked her about the class and asked her what she learned.  She got all excited and jumped in the air and then stuck out one foot w/ a pointed toe.  I asked if that was all and she nonchalantly said yes and then started jabbering away about a picture she had drawn.  I was a little disappointed, b/c I could have taught her how to point her toe at home for free.  But, I am sure they did more than just learn to point their toes and I think it will be a neat experience for Autumn.

We went over to Mom & Dad’s house and Mom had tried this new recipe she found online for Thai peanut noodles and salad.  The sauce ended up being kind of gross, so she added some honey and we put that on the noodles and then just ate the salad separately.  After dinner, Autumn wanted Papa to chase her and play with her.  It looks like she’s screaming in this picture, but she’s laughing/screaming and having a blast.  She kept trying to get Papa’s hat but he was too fast for her.

This picture just makes my heart happy.  He pinned her under his legs and started lightly kicking them up and down on her back.  He said he was doing the spider leg shake and she was loving it…and so was he.  I love how they’re both laughing and having fun together.  I will get down on the ground and roughhouse with her, too, but it’s always more fun when Papa does it.  I found this great article online about why roughhousing is so important for kids.

1. It makes kids smart.
2. It builds emotional intelligence.
3. It makes kids more likeable.
4. It makes children ethical and moral.
5. It makes kids physically fit.
6. It brings joy.

Some of my greatest memories of Dad are when he would get home from work and wrestle with us kids.  We would all gang up on him, and even Mom would play sometimes, but he was somehow able to hold all 5 of us down!  I remember thinking how strong he was and how much fun it was to have him play with us.  So, stop reading this blog and go roughhouse with your kids! 

After all the fun and excitement and giggles from roughhousing, we watched the first official NFL game of the season and I just love me some football.  Before I knew it, it was already 8:30 so Autumn & I came home and I gave her a bath so she would be a “Smell Good Johnson” instead of a “Stink Bug Johnson.”  I put her to bed and then watched Project Runway.  I loved the collection that Team Chaos put together, especially the dress that Viktor made.  I thought he should have won instead of Anya.

Anyways, after that I started to pick up the living room to get ready for the brunch on Saturday.  I moved Autumn’s table and chairs out into the garage and vacuumed the carpet and swept the cobwebs out of the corners (we have so many spiders this year for some reason) and rearranged the furniture.  There are a bunch of things I need to get together and take to Good Will.  I was going to go to bed, but I wasn’t tired so I loaded and started the dishwasher and stayed up to watch Whose Line.  They were doing the Irish Drinking Song and Drew messed up and it just got funnier from there.  You have to do yourself a favor and watch it HERE!  I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my cheeks and I couldn’t breathe.  I think what makes it so funny is that they were laughing so hard they couldn’t even do the song.  It was one of my all time favorites!  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.  I finally called it a night after that.