The Black Swan

May 19, 2012 Matt One comment

Last year, at around this time, I wrote a post that ended with me being doomed.  This was a result of Julianna successfully performing in her first recital.

I was correct.

Today she performed in her second recital.  Here’s how it all went down:

September, 2011.  Weekly ballet class begins.

Same teacher as last year.  Different classroom.  Different group of girls.  Different song (this year the song is Here comes the sun by The Beatles.  Same routine (essentially):

Here comes the sun.  [do do do do]

[Hands to the left]

This year she had 3 things working in her favor:  1.  She’s already done the routine on stage in front of and auditorium filled with what must be thousands of people (not good at estimation).  2. She has three friends from her school in the class with her.  3.  She is a year older.

Here comes the sun. [do do do do]

[Hands to the right]

Classes are fun.  She’s an old pro.  Nothing fazes her…except occasionally (regularly) having to leave class in the middle for a potty break (didn’t have to deal with that last year)…oh no…what if she has a pee accident during the show in May…

It’s all right…

[Hands over head and do the spin thing]

The months go on.  Rehearsals are oddly similar to last year…they say repetition repetition repetition.  They don’t say repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition but it certainly feels that way to me after what was literally 9 months of this routine followed by 3.5 months off followed by 9 more months of the same routine to a different song.

Little darling, its been a long cold lonely winter.

Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here.

[Toe point thing and letter 'P' leg move x 2]

See?  Ain’t that the truth.  Meanwhile, she’s having the time of her life.  If I remember correctly, there was a significant part of last year’s “cycle” when we’d have to be in the room with her during class.  Times when she didn’t want to go in at all.  Now she’s putting her ballet shoes on…running into class on her own.

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun, and I say

It’s all right…

[Hands to the left]

You know, maybe she’s having a great time and it just doesn’t matter that its exactly the same thing as last year.

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces

Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here.

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun, and I say

It’s all right…

[Hands to the right]

The spring rolls around.  The new outrageously expensive costume that we justified last year because we’d use it as a play costume after and never did gets ordered again.  The StubHub-priced ticket purchases happen to get the collection of relatives, cousins, and broadway scouts in for the recital.

The seats in the same auditorium are found.

The curtain in the same auditorium is closed.

The lights in the same auditorium go out.

The curtain in the same auditorium opens.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.

[Big giant circle with everyone holding hands and chasse moves] – yup, I googled the spelling.

The crowd starts applauding wildly for the circle move.  The girls are all smiling ear to ear.  But will they be able to get back to their spots and finish the dance…

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting.

Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear.

Here comes the sun.

Here comes the sun, and I say

It’s all right.

[Back to spots for a final hands to the left and right]

I don’t know what next year’s routine will bring (but I have a sneaky suspicion) and I suppose it doesn’t really matter.  It was awesome again.  She had fun.  She got on stage again, this time with zero apprehension.  She smiled.  She didn’t cover her ears.  She did the routine.  She didn’t have a pee accident.

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun, and I say

It’s all right.

It’s all right.

[Walk off stage to thunderous applause]

It is.  It is ALL right.

The Year That Rocked

April 13, 2012 Matt One comment

Today Chloe turns 3.

Another year, another birthday.  Friday the 13th.  A lucky day indeed.

I remember when we were in triage in the maternity ward a few hours before Chloe was born.  There was another mom-to-be a few curtains away.  I am pretty sure it was her first kid.  We were professionals at this point.  She had a guy with her who presumably was the father.

In triage, of course, there are just curtains so everyone can hear everything and this guy was a Craftsman…if by craftsman you mean tool.  It started with him flirting with the triage nurse.  That sort of ended when he asked her for suggestions for names starting with the letter ‘J’ and she gave a name that he balked at and essentially made fun of.  At this point I believe she moved on.  A bit later, they were told that today was not their day…off you go.  See you soon…to which he responded, “Yeah, well, who wants to be born on the 13th anyway.  I mean, then your birthday falls on Friday The 13th sometimes.”

Well we were pretty happy with our daughter with the letter ‘J’ and with the other daughter who was born on the 13th.

Chloe has had another great year filled with lots of interesting new adventures, quirks, and funny conversations.  Its not always easy for her.  She still has some stomach issues that bother her from time to time and still uses an inhaler as a preventative measure but she never complains.  She just goes on with her day happy as can be.

Last year she developed a strong interest in geology.  This year that continued but we don’t MINED (that joke rocked).  Each day we find new rocks in her jacket pockets.  I’m not entirely sure what she finds so fascinating about them.  She seems to just like having them around.  Recently, Julianna complained after a car ride that her rear was hurting her.  When she got out of her seat, we found a rock in it.  Hmm…wonder how that got there?

Chloe has grown so much in so many ways, including, but not limited to, her hair which went from being relatively short last year to down to her waste.  It is wispy and light, sort of like her personality.  It falls all over her face and is a food leftover haven, which suits her fine.  She’d be happy to sit at a table and eat literally all day long, and no thank you on the cake, she’d rather have fruit.  We have a moment that happens every single day after dinner, when the girls are either playing or watching an episode of something (WordWorld is the current fave) when she’ll drop the daily, “[Daddy|Mommy], I’m still hungry.”

I’ve started responding with, “Yes, you are always hungry.”

Then she says, “Yes, I’m still hungry,” followed by her walking over the pantry or refrigerator and staring until ultimately, one of us relents (mostly me).

There’s just something about her that you have to know to understand her I think.  For instance, she doesn’t show a great interest in potty training and we’re in no rush.  Her diapers have Sesame Street characters on them.  She is very meticulous about picking a diaper to wear, each time, but the seemingly greatest joy in her life is the day when the new box of diapers comes home.  Oh boy…watch out…you’d think Ed Macmahon just showed up with the Publishers Clearing House with all the jumping and giggling and clapping.  She can not wait to get into those diapers and find all the “Baby Elmos”.  She puts them all aside in their own pile and goes through those first.  I suppose its the simple things for her.

She still loves to chat with the stuffed animals in her crib (also still very content in her crib – not a climber) to the point where we still don’t know how long we could leave her in there in the morning.  She almost never complains about being in bed.  She’s very imaginative but I think the real gift is when she invites you into her little world.

As affectionate and generally outgoing as Julianna is, Chloe is sort of the opposite.  She doesn’t like to be touched really, or hugged, or hold hands all that much.  She’s friendly (and doesn’t bite) but just requires that you work for it a little more.  I’m ok with that.  She’s “careful” about who comes into her world.

Once you’re in though, be ready.  Pretend doctor checkups, tasting pretend food, putting ponytails in dolls hair, tea parties, and all the normal kid stuff are fair game.  She loves it all.  She will sit on a swing in a playground for an hour and let you push her.  No need to talk…just enjoying the breeze and being on the swing.

I think she enjoys the presence of people more than the interaction with people.  I can relate.  She gets sad when Julianna isn’t around.  They play together really nicely most of the time but sleepovers are becoming more common for Julianna.  Chloe shows no interest.  She just likes having her sister around.

I’ve been trying for a while to wrap my head around what I think makes her so unique and cool and recently I think I figured it out:  Her eye contact.

When she feels comfortable with you, she’ll look you right in the eye and tell you exactly what she wants.  A lot of kids do this, including Julianna but there is something very direct that you can see in Chloe’s eyes when she’s communicating with you.  You combine that with bobbing her head with each word and it becomes very compelling to just talk to her.

Imagine the following sentence with a head nod/bob for each word and wide eyes and a very serious tone:

“Daddy.  If you wait until Hanukkah time and your hair grows, you can become a girl.  I have boobies.  Do you have boobies?  Can I see your boobies daddy?”

She said that to me yesterday.  I don’t even know what to make of it.  So silly, but thoughtful in her mind and very matter of fact.

I suppose that’s the way to describe the person Chloe has become thus far:

Silly.  Thoughtful.  Matter of fact.

As a matter of fact, she’s pretty awesome because while I’m sure she couldn’t articulate it yet, she’s not afraid to be just a little different and that’s pretty cool in my book.

She rocks.

Happy Birthday Chloe.

 

Date of Birth

March 24, 2012 Matt No comments

Today Julianna turns 4.

Another year, another birthday.  Today was not only the end of a week-long birthday celebration, but also a chapter in Julianna’s Excellent Adventure.  We’ve only completed 3 chapters so far and its already feeling a bit repetitive to say this but, what a year.  I mean, what a year.

Last year at this time I remember thinking about how I had a real, human, person as a daughter.  A person I could chat with and go for walks with and appreciate things with.  All of that was true then and all of that is even more true now.  3 to 4 was no less of a jump than 2 to 3.  I wouldn’t even say it was more of a jump; just different.

This was the year when we went shopping for underwear and she learned how to put it on by herself, instead of her diaper.  Then she learned how to sit on a toilet and do her business.

This was the year where she stopped sleeping in a crib and started sleeping in a “big girl bed”.

This was the year when, like a velociraptor, she learned how to use doorknobs to open doors and go where she wants to go, when she wants to go.

This was the year when she learned how to read, and write her name.

This was the year when she learned how to do basic math.

This was the year when she started to really wonder about places outside her own small world.

This was the year she got up on stage in front of a auditorium full of strangers and performed what felt like a 2 hour ballet routine.

This was the year she went on her first real sleepover.

This was the year (I think) she developed what I would define as real friendships (outside our house).

This was the year she asked where babies and “pyramids” come from.

This was the year when she had her first professional sports local championship (Bruins).

This was the year when she went to her first Red Sox game where she saw the aforementioned Bruins collectively throw out the first pitch with the Stanley Cup, and saw the Red Sox score 6 times in the first inning on a perfect Sunday afternoon while she danced, ate icecream, popcorn, pizza, and anything else she could get her hands on.

This was the year she learned how to be a great big sister; sharing, hugging, and teaching Chloe in her own little ways.

This was the year she decided that, yes, she did want to go snow tubing down the mountain and, no, she did not want to sit on someone’s lap.

This was the year that she overtly joined in on the adventure.

This was the year when I thought it wouldn’t be possible to be prouder to have her as a daughter than last year.  Wrong.

That was the year when.

This is the beginning of the year when…

Happy Birthday Julianna.

Longfellow

February 14, 2012 Matt No comments

In 1 month you’ll be four.

In 2 months you’ll be three.

Today is another reminder

Of what you both mean to me.

 

With your curly hair and your dancing,

With your straight hair and your quirks,

I’m up late many nights,

Pondering how all this works.

 

What kind of people will you grow to be?

What kind of things will you achieve?

What kind of career will you take on?

What kind of tricks are up your sleeve?

 

What will your hobbies be?

Will you like math or history?

Will you want to travel the world?

Will you go to Israel and plant a tree?

 

Don’t ever stop asking questions.

Don’t ever stop being you.

Maybe some day I’ll have grandkids.

And you’ll have this feeling too.

 

Maybe I’ll walk you down an aisle.

Maybe I’ll bail you out of jail.

Maybe you’ll go to summer camp.

Maybe you’ll send me mail.

 

I thought I’d write a poem.

I hoped I’d write it with ease.

Filled with silliness and sentiment.

Like a donut filled with cheese.

 

Some days will be perfect.

Some days you’ll get miffed.

One thing is certain though,

Having you as daughters is the greatest gift.

 

It doesn’t matter if its Valentine’s Day.

It doesn’t matter if its not.

I don’t need Hallmark or anything else to remind me,

That you girls are two of the three best things I’ve got.

 

Happy Everyday.

Love,

Daddy

The Resume of Julianna

February 5, 2012 Matt No comments

Given the tough economy and the fact that she is almost 4, it is time for Julianna to start working on building her professional career.  This process starts with a solid resume.  Some information has been redacted to protect her competitive advantage related with starting “so early”.

Julianna

Age: Almost 4

Email address: Have your people call my people.

Objective:

Paint.  Eat Mac & Cheese.  Play with all my dolls over there.  Read my books.  Go to school.  Have swimming.  Go to gymnastics.  Do ballet.

Education:

Toddler 1 class at school where I learned the various colors of the rainbow as well as shapes like “square” and “circle”.  Toddler 2 class at school where I learned more advanced colors like “fuscia” and tricky shapes like hexagons.  Pre-School 1 where I got crazy and learned things like yellow+blue=green and the Pythagorean Theorem.

Expected matriculation: Spring 2013*.

* Planning to attend Mossy League Kindergarten Program

Experience:
Newborn/Infant- March 2010 – March 2010
  • Responsible for crawling
  • Worked with family to eat solid food
  • Cared for pacifier “lovey” device
  • Befriended Minnie Mouse doll that remains a part of family to this day
Toddler – March 2009-March 2010
  • Attended gymnastics class where the successfully stood on 1 foot for 3 seconds.
  • Learned how to use fork.
  • Responsible for use of complex communication tool: English.
Little Girl - March 2010 – Present
  • Leads team of 2 people in play time.
  • Raise hand frequently to ask questions
  • Helps
  • Responsible for sitting on toilet and going to potty all by self
  • Try food before throwing on floor
  • Clean up toys after self.
Skills

Hello Kitty guitar rocker.  Climbing up to top of slide.  Sliding down.  Microsoft Office.  Forward rolls.  Reading books.  Writing own name.  Feeding self.  Mad Nunchuk skills.  Loving sister.

References

Available upon request.

Sleep. Over.

January 7, 2012 Matt No comments

It went a lot better than I thought it would.

Technically speaking, our kids have had sleepovers before.  They’ve slept outside our house without us there.  They’ve slept in our house without us there.  They’ve slept in different houses from each other, once, but each of them had one of us.  This was different.

This was to be a new adventure.  One of my aunts invited Julianna to come to her house for a sleepover.  My sister’s 5 year old daughter was also invited.  Girl party!

My aunt had prepared a team of people:  Her husband, 1 of her sons, 2 of my other cousins (both teachers with lots of kidperience), and 1 golden retriever.  She had meals, activities, and sleeping arrangements planned.  She even had a plan for how to deal with Julianna’s slowly fading fear of dogs (another story for another time).

For a week leading up to the kickoff, we prepped Julianna.  We would tell her how much fun she was going to have and how it would be sooo cool to get to sleep at another house and how her cousin had done this before and loved it and now SHE got to do it too and so on.  At first, she was skeptical.  At first, she had lots of questions about the dog situation, like, “will Belle sleep in the same room?”.  This question was oozing with deeper meaning.  We assured her that she had nothing to worry about.  We told her, “Belle is extremely gentle and loving and frankly would much rather eat her older cousin.”

As the week went on, the assurances got easier.  The excitement got greater.  Finally, we got to a point where we had to pack our overnight bag.  For this, the big guns:  A princess rolly suitcase.  Outfits.  Check.  Books.  Check.  Special pillow.  Check.  Everything else.  Check.  The last bit was to pack her favorite bedtime friend, a Minnie Mouse doll that has been with her every night since right around her birth.  For that, we’d wait until morning.

Morning arrives.  She’s very excited now.  The plan is to go to school, as normal, and then mommy will pick her up early, along with her cousin and bring them both back to our house where my aunt will be waiting.  We get to school and she’s so excited that she’s telling anyone who will listen what she’s doing tonight.

What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out, not a whole lot.

My wife goes to get the girls and brings them back to our house.  My aunt had arrived a few minutes prior, which was enough time to get the car seats installed.  The girls come into the house for a quick potty break and a snack attack and then into the car they go.  Julianna is so excited at this point, she vaults into her car seat like she was some sort of olympic athlete.  If only she did that every time…

Off they go.  I tell myself 4 things:

  1. I hope she has an awesome time.
  2. I hope she misses us.
  3. I hope I don’t have to drive 45 minutes to pick her up at 2:00am.
  4. We aren’t going to call every 5 minutes to see how she’s doing.

After all, there will be 2.5 adults for each kid.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, we could forget that we had another kid…

We didn’t.  We went to pick Chloe up a little later and had a very nice, and relatively quiet time with her, which included a later-than-we’d-normally-be-out trip to the toy store.  Guilt.

We had an easy night.  Checked in once or maybe twice with the sleepover to find out that they had eaten dinner (Mac & Cheese), baked cupcakes, and even pet Belle the dog.  The night ended at around 10:00 when Julianna, who was one of the last to fall asleep, was apparently still so excited, that she was sitting up on her knees on her bed, trying to talk to people, and then literally passed out.

All is well.  They essentially slept through the night without a hitch.  They woke up and made pancakes.  They played, went on a hike, and barely got a scratch.  Barely.  One little fall and one little drama moment but nothing arm shattering.  No calls to be picked up immediately.

Meanwhile, my wife and I are now “remembering” how easy having 1 kid in the house was.  Eventually, it was time to head out and pick Julianna up.  We all get in the car, anxious to see how it all went.  We walk in the house and get this:

“Can you go outside, I don’t want to leave yet.”

Perhaps she’s more resilient than we give her credit for.

She had an awesome time, was well behaved, and can’t wait to do it again.

And she didn’t even get eaten by a dog.

 

End of Naps

January 2, 2012 Matt No comments

Julianna almost never naps at school.  She will occasionally nap at home but we try and limit that.  We sometimes encourage her to just stay in her room for a little while and “rest”.  She can get out of bed and pick a few books to read.  Generally, this is the plan at home and if she falls asleep, fine.

She has become pretty good at “working” her room.  She can even put herself to bed at night to a certain extent.  On the nights when it seems like she just isn’t ready for bed, we might even leave the light on, let her pick a few books and then make an “agreement” that she’ll read for a few minutes and then turn her own light off.  Many times, this works.  We’ll come back 30 minutes later and the light is off, she’s tucked herself in, and she’s asleep.

Today was a non-school day.  Today her “rest” turned into sleep.  She slept for probably 1.5 hours.  No big deal.  This does tend to push her bedtime back a little.  We had a playdate scheduled for the afternoon so we figured she’d probably use up the extra energy.  It all evens out at the end right?

Wrong.

The following just happened:

Bedtime was in the normal window (7:30-8:00).  Tonight was my wife’s night with Julianna.  No problem.

By 8:00 my wife and I were both out of our respective rooms and down in the living room watching tv.

Around 9:15 we hear Julianna quietly singing to herself (yes, we still have a monitor in her room).  This happens sometimes.  She probably was just not that sleepy.  No problem.  She isn’t complaining.

Bonus:  She was singing Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” with the following lyrics:

“My mother is the man in the mirror!”

We thought nothing of it.

10:00.  She is still singing and whispering a bit…but now we hear her moving around (the living room is below her bedroom).

Hmm…I wonder what’s going on in there?

10:15.  We head upstairs and notice that there is full light coming through the bottom of her door.  Oh boy…

We decide we are both going in to see what she’s doing.  It has gotten a little quiet so maybe she fell asleep…

I crack the door and notice she isn’t in her bed.  Oh, she probably fell asleep on the floor somewhere.

Wrong.

She runs over from her closet…FULLY DRESSED!

She has a big grin on her face, and tells us with a lot of pride, that she is ready for school.  She had gotten out of bed, turned on her light, opened her window blinds, gotten out of her pajamas, taken off her nighttime pull-up diaper (which she told us she put in the small garbage can in her room), picked out an outfit for herself (which actually matched), went and got herself a pair of underpants, and got herself dressed.

Now, granted, the shirt was on inside out, but…the shirt was a shirt that happened to be on a hanger in her closet.  Of course, she told us, she used her little stool to reach high enough to get it.  Forget the t-shirts that are in her dresser.  She decided that she would rather look through her closet for a shirt that was more appealing…

…and then go back to the dresser to find a pair of pants that matched.  I can’t even do that.

She was all ready to go.  10 hours early.

“Daddy, I’m ready to go to school.  I’m not tired.  Is Chloe up?”

“No Julianna, Chloe is not up.  Nobody is up.  It isn’t even tomorrow yet.”

“Oh, but I’m not tired.”

“Ok…well…um…as a special treat, why don’t we go watch 1 episode of something (Sid The Science Kid) and then we’ll try this again.”

So now it’s 11:00 and we try again.

Back in our pajamas.

Back in bed.

Reading a few books.

Singing a few songs.

Wondering when my little toddler turned into a big girl.

11:15.  I say goodnight and close the door.

11:16.  She’s out cold.

So that happened.

The Great Pyramids

December 26, 2011 Matt No comments

“Daddy, where does the pyramid come from?”

Well, I get these types of questions regularly.  My mother was recently asked by Julianna why she couldn’t see the moon during the day.  What can I say, my kids are nerd-wannabes like their daddy.  It makes me very proud.

“Daddy, where does the pyramid come from?”

Context:  Julianna is sitting on the toilet right before bed.

I say, “Julianna, what do you mean?  People built them.”

“No, where does the pyramid come from?”

I say, “I’m not sure what you mean.” [as she looks around the room].

So I start to look around the room trying to figure out what she’s referencing.

“Daddy, where does MY pyramid come from?  Does it come from here?” [pointing to her rear]

“um…” [confused]

“Does my pyramid come from here?” [pointing again]

“Wait,” I say, “do you mean, ‘where does your PERIOD come from?’”

“Yes.”

umm…

She recently came across a tampon in our bathroom and asked what it was.  Is it something you eat?  No.  Is it something mommy eats?  No.  What does it do?  Ask mommy.

She must have asked mommy…

Now she wants to know where her pyramid comes from.

Egypt.

Question mark?

Exclamation point!

A Daddy Book Report: Goodnight Moon

December 23, 2011 Matt One comment

Goodnight MoonAuthor: Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrations: Clement Hurd

Report By: Matthew Seth (34 Years Old)

Goodnight Moon

(If you have the book, follow along with the pictures)

“In the great green room there was a telephone, and a red balloon, and a picture of, a cow jumping over the moon.”

My Julianna lives in a great green room but the day I put a telephone in there is the day…well…my kids are likely to not know what a phone with a cord is.  As for the red balloon, the bunny must have been at Kelly’s Roast Beef.  They give out balloons and we are never “allowed” to leave without getting one.

“There were three little bears, sitting on chairs and two little kittens and a pair of mittens.”

The thing they don’t mention here but the keen detective will observe is that the bunny has a fireplace in her room (the bunny is a her in my house).  I thought that the lack of safety rails on the bed was enough…but this is going too far.  Plus, if you have a fireplace, why do you need mittens?  Perhaps the fireplace isn’t real.  After all, it doesn’t cast any real light like the lamp does.  Also worth noting, the mittens clearly don’t fit the bunny (notice the giant thumbs on the mittens).

“And a little toy house and a young mouse.”

Now I know why there are no bed rails.  This bunny probably actually sleeps in the little toy house.  I suppose “little” is relative because clearly she could fit in there…which is where she has to go to escape from that ferocious young mouse.  Oh wait, I forgot, there are two little kittens who would probably eat that mouse.

“And a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush.”

The bunny has no hair so why the comb AND brush?  I’m just speculating here but I imagine it had to be shaved off after the last time she had a bowl full of mush that got stuck in her hair as she tried to eat it in bed in the dark.

Anyway…

“And a quiet old lady who was whispering HUSHHHH…”

Wait, where did she come from?  A minute ago the bunny was alone in the room.  Of course, this explains why the young mouse wasn’t eaten by the two little kittens:  Quiet old lady dropped her ball of yarn on the floor.

“Goodnight room.  Goodnight moon.  Goodnight cow jumping over the moon.  Goodnight light, and the red balloon.  Goodnight bears.  Goodnight chairs.  Goodnight kittens.  Goodnight mittens.”

Hold on, where did the socks go that were on the clothes line thing a few minutes ago?

“Goodnight clocks.  Goodnight socks.”

Oh, they’re back.

“Goodnight little house and goodnight mouse.  Goodnight comb.  Goodnight brush.  Goodnight nobody.  Goodnight mush.”

I’ve had to try and explain what “Goodbye nobody” means and what it is doing in the middle.  “Daddy, how do I say goodnight to nobody?”

“And goodnight to the old lady whispering HUSHHHH…”

Notice how attentive the two little kittens are now that the quiet old lady has cleaned up her yarn mess.

“Goodnight stars.  Goodnight air.”

Let’s hope not.

“Goodnight noises, everywhere.”

“Daddy, I just made a fart.”

“Goodnight noises, everywhere, except for that one.”

 

The Little Moments

December 11, 2011 Matt No comments
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The big moments in my parenting life are easy to remember.  Daddaism was designed to be a place where Dads could share those moments.

That’s what it is for me. That’s what it could be for you.

Full disclosure:  I love writing on this blog.  I wish I wrote more but what I’m sharing here is much less about “you” as it is about me wanting to record my thoughts, feelings, memories, and general experience with my kids so that 25 years from now, when Julianna marries Lucifer and 26 years from now when Chloe marries Satan, I will have some embarrassing stories to bring up.

Birthdays and holidays are generally great catalysts for heartfelt posts.  Today is neither of those things but I’ve been thinking of what my next post would be about and what great “moments” had happened recently that had anything to do with Recitals, Turning 4, Cutting Turkey, Cutting Cheese, etc.  Nothing.  New Years is soon…I suppose I can wait and do a “Year That Was” post.  I’m sure I will.  In the meantime, there have been a handful of funny and interesting little moments that I don’t want to forget about, none of which merit a whole post…

Begin.

Tonight at bedtime, Chloe told me that we were in her home.  I asked her where my home was.  She told me it was also here.  Holy sh*t, there are people other than my wife and I who call this place home.

Julianna wanted me to explain to her how to count to infinity.

The last episode of Glee (which we don’t show our kids) had a song at the end that was fantastic.  It is called “We Are Young” by a band called Fun.  It was very catchy.  Very Breakfast Club.  We got it on iTunes.  The next morning, on the ride to school, I told my daughters that I was going to play a new song for them.  The song started and about 43 seconds in, Julianna said, “Daddy, can you start this one from the beginning please?”  That’s our indication that she likes the song.  I don’t think we’ve listened to a different song since.  Over and over and over again.  I secretly do the same thing.  Weeks at a time.

Julianna is in a “body exploration” phase.  Yesterday, she announced the following to my mother-in-law: “I have a small Bagina”

Chloe can sing many of the words from “We Didn’t Start The Fire”.  Deal with it.

Julianna asked my mother recently why she couldn’t see the moon during the day.

Chloe does this thing where she randomly comes up to me and puts her finger on my cheek and runs it up to my forehead and says “Zzzzoooooop!”  I believe she might be from a different planet.

Julianna likes to call us over and “whisper” into our ears.  If only it was a whisper.  It’s more like she’s using a megaphone.

Chloe doesn’t like birthday cake although at a birthday party today for one of their cousins, she let me give her a bite of my piece.  She kept it in her mouth for about 2 seconds and then tried to take it out of her mouth and put it in mine.  I believe she might be from a different planet.

Julianna has a “big girl” bed now.  My wife left bedtime with her over 30 minutes ago and decided to try and let her put herself to bed tonight.  This will involve reading on her own and then going over and turning off the light and tucking herself in.  As we speak, I can hear in the monitor (and why not), whispering to her stuffed animals, dolls, and various other “friends” that it is time to turn the light out and please no more talking after she does that. When did my newborn turn into a human who can get in and out of bed, turn on and off the lights, and “read”?

There are tons of these types of moments and they happen every day.

I can’t possibly remember them all and maybe they aren’t as important as remembering the recitals and the Halloween costumes and the birthdays and the multiple Masters degrees and the first PhD and the third Oscar and the other Darryl and the second Darrin…

But I know there are going to be a lot more of these little moments and perhaps quality and quantity aren’t mutually exclusive.

 

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