That's My Girl

Danica was wearing her Star Wars t-shirt today (which can be seen here) when we went to the mall to walk around a bit. We stopped by Borders so she could take a look at the books there when she spotted a DK reader (this one, actually – and no, we don’t need it, so don’t buy it).

Girl: “Daddy, dis Wall-E book?”

Dad: “No sweetie, that’s actually a Star Wars book. Good taste, though.”

G: [Clutching the book to her chest] “It match my shirt!”

D: ***Warm, fuzzy feeling***

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I actually wanted to go down to the mall so that I could see if Danica would ride the kiddie train they have set up for the holidays. I got the idea after I saw my buddy Don’s kids in a picture he put up on his site. I knew going in that the downside would be that she would have to ride the train by herself, since the maximum height on the train is fifty inches.

I’d told her earlier in the day that we were going to see trains, so she was excited about it. When we got to the area where the train was, I had her watch for a while to get her comfortable with it. She was excited about seeing it, so I asked if she wanted to ride it. She responded with a yes, but I told her that she’d have to ride all by herself and that Daddy couldn’t go on with her. She responded that she was scared, which is something that she’s picked up over the last couple of months. I’ll have to write more about it some other time.

Anyway, I told her that there was nothing to be scared of and asked her if she wanted to ride the train. She said she wanted to, so I explained again that I couldn’t go on with her and that she would have to ride by herself. I had her watch a group of kids get on, explained to her what was happening, and talked her through the whole thing as the train went around for a while.

Things seemed good, so I we went to the entrance to wait. When it was her group’s turn (there were only three of us in line), I handed her a dollar to give to the kid who was handing out tickets. She handed it to him no problem, went through the gate onto the little platform they have, and then I took Colin around to opposite side of the platform where the exit was (FYI, the “platform” was a little 4x8 foot gazebo-like structure with the entrance gate on one side of the rectangle, and the exit on the other side of the rectangle – not very big).

So the three kids in the group were standing at the platform, waiting for the girl who strapped the kids into their seats to let them on the train. They were ready to get on but Danica just stood there, so the girl leaned over and asked her if everything was okay. Of course, at that point, things went downhill and were clearly not okay. The Girl burst into tears, and that was that. *Sigh*

In hindsight, it might have helped if I’d taken her on the train, but I think she would’ve freaked when I left. I think the only way she would’ve done it is if she’d had a friend to go on it with her. I tried talking her into trying again, but she wasn’t feeling it. We walked around for a bit and came back before we left. In fact, she said she wanted to ride the train, but when I mentioned that I couldn’t go on it with her, she became reluctant again.

Truth be told, I’m just disappointed that she has the same personality I do – headstrong but insecure. Here’s hoping we can overcome that.

10:11 a.m. Verbatim

Dad gets the diaper bag ready for the late-morning errand run.

Girl: “Daddy, where we going?”

Dad: “We’re going to see Mommy later.”

G: “We going to see horseys?”

Dad’s not really paying attention as he finishes off making a grilled cheese.

D: “Do you want some of this grilled cheese?”

G: “Dey don’t haf grill cheese! Dey haf reindeers!”

Funny Danica Story of the Day - Christmas Show

I get a little overwhelmed when I have a lot of stuff that I want to write about but don’t have time to put in words. I then avoid doing it because I know I’ve got a ton of other stuff I should be working on. Anyway, to alleviate this problem, I’m going to try to blog a little bit each day, so you should see increased blog volume with decreased depth.

Now I don’t know how this happens, but Kindra always gets the good stories from Danica. A couple of days ago, they were driving home when the radio station played the Linus monologue from A Charlie Brown Christmas. The ensuing conversation:

D: “It Daddy’s punkin show!” (The Girl loves It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.)

K: “No, sweetie… it’s Daddy’s Christmas show.”

Monologue ends, song begins to play.

D: “It over, Mommy! Why it over?”

K: “They’re just playing the song, not the whole show.”

D: “Why it over? WHY IT OVER!?”

K: *Sigh*

I’m Sorry I Didn’t Take Care of It First

Crap. It’s been a month since I posted anything, which really speaks to the volume of work and lack of rest that we’ve had as a family these past few weeks.

Anyway, you might be wondering what the picture of the John “Hot Plate” Williams 1989-90 NBA Hoops card is for. It’s actually Colin’s first basketball card. Kindra had brought the kids by the 76 Classic (http://www.76classic.com/) at the Anaheim Convention Center where I was working last week so that the family could have some dinner together. While we were talking, an older gentleman came up, pulled out the card, and offered it to us as Colin’s first basketball card. He said he usually kept a couple of cards on him to give to kids, but didn’t have one for Danica because he’d given them to his grandkids earlier.

My only regret is that I wasn’t he person to give Colin his first card… I don’t even care if it’s of a player whose NBA career was cut short because weight issues who was playing for a team that has since changed its name (the Washington Bullets are now the Washington Wizards for those of you not in the know). John Williams entry at Wikipedia here.

Hmm… now that I tell the story, it sounds a little creepy.

Election Day

We had a doctor’s appointment for The Boy today. He weighed in at 17 pounds, 11.5 ounces, which is up from the 15 pounds, 6 ounces he weighed a month ago. He’s also 27 ¼ inches, up from 25 ½ inches.

Both kids are doing well and are over their cold issues for the most part, but the on-again, off-again cold weather here is messing with their noses. They both got their flu shots today, which we told Danica was like when she gives us “Strawberry Shortcake shots.” I have a feeling she’s not going to be too excited about being at the doctor’s office in the future, since it was the first time she’d had a shot in a long time and because I think she’s likely to remember the experience. Eh, I also told her tonight that the shot was a “little owie” to keep away the germ monsters and the big owies they could cause… I think I’m starting to get the hang of this fatherhood thing.

By the way, both of them were also great when we went to vote this morning. I took the kids around 10 a.m. after Mom said there was a fairly long line when she went at 7. Danica was content munching on some fruit snacks, and a bottle satiated the boy long enough for me to cast my ballot. Thank goodness there wasn’t a long wait when we went, though it was a little funny being the only male there with children, and the only parent there with more than one.

On another election note, I have to say I’m happy that my children were born during this time. At least they can say they were alive during such a historical election. President-Elect Obama hit my thoughts right on the nose: what changes will our children see should they live to see a century of history pass? I’m pretty sure my parents would never have thought that their child would see the fall of the Berlin Wall and the U.S.S.R., the rise of the internet, and an African-American President of the United States.

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Oh, did I forget to mention that Colin is sleeping through the night? It’s been amazing. We get him to sleep around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m., and he’s slept through until 7:00 or 7:30 a.m. for the past ten days or so. Unfortunately, his sister refuses to follow his lead. We’re so over it, we just drag her into our bed now. The down side of that is if all three of us are in bed, Mom and Dad get the crap kicked out of them by The Girl. One of us (Mom or Dad) usually ends up spending at least a portion of the night on the couch. Gee, guess that people are right when they say the “family bed” thing really isn’t worth it.

(As I write this, The Boy is having trouble tonight… must be something with one of the shots he got today. Bummer).