My daughter does not suffer from a shortage of toys.
As a matter of fact, we have so many toys that they are threatening to take over our home. We’ve gone so far as to dedicate an entire room of the house to said toys, in an effort to appease them, and yet it appears this has merely become a staging point for playtime expansionism. They’ve already begun branching out and annexing toeholds in the living room, bedrooms, hallways, and even the bathrooms.
It’s Manifest Destoyny.
But it’s not the stuffed animals, nor the electronic tablets, nor playhouses or wagons or any of the other normal baby toys that Daphne actually gravitates to.
Nope. Books are her thing.
Since she was about 7 months old, if you handed Daphne a book she would first flip it right-side up, and then turn the pages (albeit sometimes en masse), and make little noises as if she were reading each one. I’m pretty sure this is attributable to her mother steadfastly reading to her every single day of Daphne’s life.
We actually keep a sizable collection of books behind the couch downstairs. And each night, before Daphne goes to bed, she and Jen spend about 30-45 minutes reading whatever book Daphne picks out. Which is, more often than not, one of the Baby Einstein books, Ten Little Bluebirds, or Wheels on the Bus. Again, and again, and again.
So it seems that there was some kind of reading challenge at the local library for kids over the summer. If they read 5 books between May 30 and Aug. 27, they received a bookmark.
10 books and they get certificate.
15 a pencil.
And reading 20 or more books before the end of the summer earns them a trophy.
Bam. Nice work, Mom.
I’m pretty sure Daphne hit 20 by the end of day 3.
This kid is actually dreaming of having a normal profile.
Hopefully this trend continues throughout D’s life, and she’ll always be a fan of the printed page.
If so, she would come by that quite naturally. (Albeit with a lot of help from her mom.)
j.s.
Posted: June 20, 2016 · 2 Comments
Father’s Day, Redux
Hi there.
So my Father’s Day weekend was fantastic, thanks for asking.
Some work stuff ebbed into my off time on Friday, like it does, so the whole weekend started off a bit later than usual. But all my new systems are functioning with zero defects at the office (*knocks on wood*), so it was worth the time.
Because Jen teaches Pure Barre on Sundays, she wanted to give me my Father’s Day cards and gifts on Saturday instead. And the rumors proved true, I now have a brewery in my kitchen.
So I spent the day futzing around with…
and…
and a…
and this here…
And, as you can probably tell, I’m not sure how any of it really works. But it’s all congealing/fermenting as we speak, so I guess in 2 weeks we’ll find out if I’ve actually created something potable.
So on BumbleDay, Daphne and I spent some time napping the morning away…
Then we caught up with my dad and the three of us drove to the George R. Brown Convention Center for Comicpalooza.
And it was pretty good for a local convention, although I’m not sure it was quite worth its $43 one-day price tag. (That’s damn near PAX prices. And you, sir, are no PAX.)
But it was fun to wander around a convention with Daphne strapped to my back again.
Wow. After looking at those earlier pictures she’s changed quite a bit in the past 6 months…
Anyway, we wandered the vendor floor for a couple hours and then figured any further time spent there might be pressing our luck with Daphne’s Wheel o’ Moods, so we headed home.
And that was just about our weekend. I might just have to take a day off later in the week to make up for this one being over so quickly. Guess we’ll see.
Okay, talk to you tomorrow.
j.s.
Posted: June 17, 2016 · 1 Comment
Dad’s Day
This Sunday will mark my second Father’s Day. I know I’ve said this several times before now, but it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come in a year…
There have been several questions about what I’d like as a gift for Dad’s Day 2016, and I’ve been wholly genuine when I’ve replied that I don’t really need anything, and that all I want to do is to to take my wife and little girl to Onion Creek on Saturday for breakfast and coffee.
That said, it seems that Jen has a plan. Because she’s already working out time today for she and Daphne to go shopping…
I should also mention that the post I made about Baby First snubbing dads needs an update. They actually released a dad-related song this Tuesday, so I suppose credit is due. (I mean, it was put out just 5 days before Father’s Day… But hey, they made one. So props.)
This weekend also marks the return of Comicpalooza to Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. I would really like to swing through there at some point over the weekend… They have a pretty epic list of guests this year. (Daphne getting to meet Sigourney Weaver would be cool as hell…)
Guess we’ll see how it shapes up.
Okay, I’m out. Happy Father’s Day and I’ll see you guys on Monday.
j.s.
Posted: June 16, 2016 · 1 Comment
Figuring This Out
I’m slowly getting the hang of the new camera, so give the video below a shot and see if panning your view around simulates the riveting excitement of my living room on a Saturday afternoon.
It also seems that the distortion inherent in a 360° recording has the side effect of making me look like an engorged walrus.
Man, I don’t think I’m that chubby? At least I hope I’m not… It is possible that my self-perception is a bit askew though. (Wouldn’t be the first time.)
Anyway, I’m slowly working out how to use this thing. I’m sure I’ll get better as I have more time to play with it. My favorite part of that video is Daphne’s quick wave at the camera, like a tiny, bashful “hello!”
I’m going to keep this one short as my headspace has been monopolized of late by vocational stress, and the subsequent effect that changes in my workplace are going to have on my family life.
But that’s not really a topic I’d like to delve into further at the moment.
j.s.
Posted: June 15, 2016 · 1 Comment
A Major Award!
My daughter does not suffer from a shortage of toys.
As a matter of fact, we have so many toys that they are threatening to take over our home. We’ve gone so far as to dedicate an entire room of the house to said toys, in an effort to appease them, and yet it appears this has merely become a staging point for playtime expansionism. They’ve already begun branching out and annexing toeholds in the living room, bedrooms, hallways, and even the bathrooms.
But it’s not the stuffed animals, nor the electronic tablets, nor playhouses or wagons or any of the other normal baby toys that Daphne actually gravitates to.
Nope. Books are her thing.
Since she was about 7 months old, if you handed Daphne a book she would first flip it right-side up, and then turn the pages (albeit sometimes en masse), and make little noises as if she were reading each one. I’m pretty sure this is attributable to her mother steadfastly reading to her every single day of Daphne’s life.
We actually keep a sizable collection of books behind the couch downstairs. And each night, before Daphne goes to bed, she and Jen spend about 30-45 minutes reading whatever book Daphne picks out. Which is, more often than not, one of the Baby Einstein books, Ten Little Bluebirds, or Wheels on the Bus. Again, and again, and again.
So it seems that there was some kind of reading challenge at the local library for kids over the summer. If they read 5 books between May 30 and Aug. 27, they received a bookmark.
10 books and they get certificate.
15 a pencil.
And reading 20 or more books before the end of the summer earns them a trophy.
I’m pretty sure Daphne hit 20 by the end of day 3.
This kid is actually dreaming of having a normal profile.
Hopefully this trend continues throughout D’s life, and she’ll always be a fan of the printed page.
If so, she would come by that quite naturally. (Albeit with a lot of help from her mom.)
j.s.
Posted: June 14, 2016 · 1 Comment
Auction (Building) Block
Today was one of the first days that I had to be into the office early, which to most of you would translate to “a normal hour.”
Meaning I was up, showered, dressed and breakfast-ed long before Daphne had so much as stirred in her crib.
She did wake up before I left though, just long enough for a quick smile and to gently press her palm against my nose.
It occurs to me that this is what a lot of fathers get, every day.
And it absolutely sucked.
No smiling up at me as I lifted her from her crib…
No cuddles while watching Sesame Street…
Just a quick “hi,” while pouring coffee into a Thermos, and continuing at a breakneck pace out the door to trade away the precious hours of my life.
What’s more, I’ve a dinner meeting after work tonight, so I won’t see her before bed either. Which means I won’t get to lift her up to scratch the paintings on her nursery walls, or slap Elton the Penguin…
or gently lay her in her mother’s arms while telling her “good night, little girl,” like I do every single night.
I don’t know if I could do this every day.
Actually that’s not true. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do this every day.
Because no amount of pay feels like it’s worth what I’m selling.
j.s.
[Edit: Understand that I’m not talking about normal workday hours. Specifically, I mean dads who work all day and never get to see their kids, except on the weekends. That doesn’t seem worth it, no matter the pay.]
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