Full-Time Uncle Mike
Recapping my few days babysitting Finn in Toronto
A few weeks ago, I flew up to Toronto to try my hand at full-time uncle duties by relieving Dan and Steve of their parenting obligations as they traveled to Seattle for a wedding. Every visit with Finn is special, especially since I moved away from Toronto in 2019, but I was really looking forward to this one as my chance to “spoil him” and be the “fun uncle”. I have amazing memories from my youth when I got to hang out with my uncles including golf trips, camping trips, watching movies and eating junk food, so I was hoping to create similar memories for Finn.
Wednesday, October 26
I arrived early on Wednesday morning without a flight or customs hiccup. When I arrived at their house, Steve was working from home and Dan had gone into the office. I caught up with Steve for a bit before getting to work - I used Dan’s fancy office and received many compliments about my much more aesthetically pleasing Zoom background.
By 5:30pm it was time for us to walk down the block and pick Finn up from school / aftercare. Maybe my favourite part of the whole trip came when he saw me through the classroom window and yelled “Uncle Mike!” and ran around to let me in the door and gave me a big hug!
We walked home and Finn immediately wanted to play so we ran through a couple chapters of Storytime Chess. Then we fed him dinner and got him ready for bed. I read him his bedtime story, before saying ‘hi’ to Dan and heading to bed.
Thursday, October 27
It was an early wake up (a trend over the trip) with Dan and Steve leaving to catch their early flight. I got Finn’s breakfast ready and got him out the door to school around 8:15am. I really enjoyed the walk together as he likes to let you know everything that’s going on in that curious little mind of his. After dropping him off, I grabbed a coffee from a local shop near their house, then headed back to work for the day.
After walking home from school at the end of the day, Finn and I went right into the backyard so I could witness his updated soccer skills. We always like kicking the ball around, and their backyard is the perfect mini field for his little legs. We also played a bit of tee ball - it was super fun to see his new hand-eye coordination and it’s priceless hearing him giggle as he runs the bases.
For dinner, I attempted to throw some vegan influence his way with plant-based chicken nuggets, seasoned cauliflower, and avocado hummus. As I read those words back, it’s not surprising they didn’t get rave reviews. This is where Finn told me I should “study more” so I know what he likes and doesn’t like.
Friday, October 28
Same routine in the morning in getting Finn off to school: bathroom, clothes, cereal, shoes, backpack, jacket, out the door. Since I last saw him, he now fully gets dressed and ready on his own so my job was pretty easy - just watch the clock and tell him if he’s doddling too much.
By mid-day, Matt Sacks arrived - a good buddy of mine who used to live quite close to me in Toronto. He now lives in Vancouver (his hometown) but we’ve done a good job keeping in touch and we always have a blast catching up. He happened to be in Toronto at the same time, so he and Nora (another great friend who now lives in Hamilton) came over to hang with Finn and I after school.
It was so nice having them around. We picked up Finn from school, he got to play with Lenny (Nora’s hilarious dog), we all played soccer in the backyard, and kicked off the weekend with some delicious Greek food. Finn got to stay up a bit later with us, drawing, playing games, and prepping LEGO for Saturday, before he went to bed. Another new development is that he seems to now prefer reading alone in bed rather than being read to. Fine by me, and it’s so cool to see how much joy he gets out of reading and the challenge of learning new words in fun books.
Saturday, October 29
The awesome chats that Nora, Matt and I had to end Friday night, picked right back up over coffee on Saturday morning. During breakfast, Finn and I made a “list” of ALL the things we had to get done that day (see below) :)
I took Finn to his dance class up the street, and because it was Halloween season, we got him dressed up as a vampire (his costume from last year). I painted his face and eyes and mouth so he really looked the part.
After dance I gave in to his request and got him McDonald’s for lunch. As a good reminder that I potentially preach too hard and that kids (especially Finn) hear everything: apparently a week after I left, Dan told me that Finn said “Uncle Mike says this isn’t real food, but we can still have McDonald’s just not too much”. That cracked me up!
Then we did some LEGO, building a new firetruck - I pretty much just offered moral support as Finn easily handled the intricate pieces and the instructions.
It was a beautiful day so we played a bit more soccer in the backyard before I had to take him to get his COVID booster. The guy was a brave champ and didn’t even flinch with the needle. We then chilled in the afternoon with a movie and some popcorn, then I made him some tasty pasta for dinner, which he really did enjoy.
Sunday, October 30
It was the day before Halloween and the day Finn’s parents got back so we had to make the most of the day and finish our list! Instead of the usual breakfast routine, I suggested we head to the nearby diner, and Finn liked that plan. We had a nice little hang as he took down some chocolate chip pancakes and I crushed coffee.
When we got home, we started our Happy Halloween sign which was going to be hung up in the house for perfect picture-framing (see below). Finn decided to do one letter per sheet of paper - his colouring and writing is really coming along!
We then raked some of the leaves in the backyard before walking nearly a kilometer to the nearby park to play some sports. We took the baseball bat, ball and glove and had a hilarious time throwing and catching and batting and running the bases.
By the time we got back, it was snack time, and then Dan and Steve arrived home. We ordered pizza for dinner and Finn updated them on everything we had done in the past few days.
Monday, October 31 - Halloween
Finn was of course excited about Halloween from the moment he woke up, so he dressed up in his costume (Calvin), and I walked him to school along with Hobbs (Steve). The best decision I’ve made recently was to take off that Monday, and Dan and Steve did the same so we truly just had an incredible catch-up. Something about taking a Monday off instead of a Friday - it feels even more freeing.
We started with lots of coffee while discussing life and just catching up and reading, which was all so relaxing. Then we walked a good distance to one of my favourite Toronto restaurants, Fresh, for a tasty lunch.
We continued the afternoon hangs by stopping in for a pint at a local brewery, before going back home to finish Finn’s Halloween decorations and set up the projector TV with some scary movies.
At night, Steve and I took Finn trick-or-treating, and despite the intermittent rain, he pulled in a HUGE haul and got plenty of “oh that’s so cute” compliments around the neighbourhood. The costume really had it’s full effect when a dad-sized Tiger was following Finn up and down the block.
Following the sugar rush, Steve and I hung out watching Monday Night Football over a pre-Steve-birthday scotch, and then it was off to bed and I flew out the next day.
The trip was a great reminder of how fun it is to observe the way kids experience the world around them. Unfiltered joy, curiosity and an overall desire to play and explore are things we should try and grasp onto, at least once in a while, as adults.
Thanks for reading!
Mike