This Morning...

Some mornings, I just wake up with a renewed sense of purpose. On occasion, those days happen when our schedule is jam packed with activities and learning adventures, leaving little room to actually accomplish something around the house. Today, I woke up energized and motivated...with not a single thing on our agenda for the day.

It was almost as if the stars aligned for me this morning. Elliana slept in until 7:34 (yes, that is sleeping in) and woke up with an amazing attitude. Clearly, those five teeth that are breaking through are no longer bothering her as they have been. As if that wasn't a good enough start to the day, I actually made a good cup of coffee for myself! Normally, my coffee tastes like dirty dish water but due to my caffeine addiction, I normally still manage to guzzle a few cups in spite of it. A good breakfast was had by both Elliana and I with minimal mess (well, as minimal of mess as a 20-month old eating Fruity Pebbles by herself can be). And then.....drumroll please....Elliana played independently for more than an hour!!

The pain of teething no longer had her attached to my leg during each waking moment. Being motivated to actually get work done is much more difficult with a 23-lb fussy toddler attached to a limb. This morning, Elliana methodically circled the family room playing with toys as if she has never seen them before. No requests for television and no demands that Mommy stop watching the news.

The morning dirty diaper came much earlier than usual, allowing us to actually walk it to the curb for the lovely garbage man to remove the smell from our home much sooner than usual. When snack requests came, Elliana requested a healthy snack rather than cookies or chips as she usually tries to fanagle during any Mommy moment of weakness.

It might sound like all of these things are just small, insignificant parts of the day. But, I am grateful for them and know that today will be a great day.

After all with a smile like this to look at all day, how could our day together be anything but great? :)

No Daddy Shweps!

This face isn't one we see often, but it is sometimes amazing what it takes to get it.  I sometimes feel like a bad daddy because I see it and want to laugh and sometimes even want to snap a photo.  I don't lack sensitivity.  If  this face resulted from an injury or fear, I'd be the first one to console her, but that's not where this one comes from.

Here's an example that will put it into perspective.  Yesterday, when heading upstairs at our house, Elliana stopped about 5 steps into the 15 or so required to achieve our second floor.

"Let's go!" I say to Elliana, but nothing changes.
"Do you want me to carry you?" I ask.  "No!", I get in return.
"Well, let's go up then.  Come on." I say, but still there is no movement.

So after a minute or so, I say, "Come on, I'll carry you." and proceed to carry her up the steps.

This is when the world seems to have ended for her.  She completely broke down at the top of the steps;  crying, flailing around, and yelling at me "NO DADDY SHWEPS (steps)!"  This continued on as we finished our task upstairs, headed downstairs, and began to get ready for dinner.  I just kept hearing "NO DADDY SHWEPS!" for about an hour following the initial apparent violation on my part.

Mommy had to hear about it many times, playing wouldn't resolve it, and she wanted nothing to do with Daddy.  So, how did I end up resolving the situation?  You won't guess what fixed it.

I asked Elliana if she wanted to go back to the steps and go up by herself.  "YES" she said.  So we proceeded to the staircase and she went from the bottom to the top right in front of me.  When she got to the top, she reached her arms up (like she does when she wants me to pick her up) and I asked, "Do you want me to carry you down?".  "Yes" she replied, and that was the end of it.  I carried her down the steps, she asked me to play and her mood went back to the happy little girl I'm used to.

So, sometimes the smallest things (to me) which are apparently the biggest things (to her) can cause this face.  As her daddy, I just need to realize this is the way it is and think like her to resolve the situation in an attempt to bring a smile back to her beautiful face.

Bubbles of fun

An afternoon at the park with Grandma & Papa turned into bubbles of fun!

Precious

There are few things in life as precious as the bond between a father and daughter. On vacation, I was fortunate to capture that amazing bond on film. I am forever in awe of their love and am grateful to be a part of it.

Making an attempt...

Well, I admit...I am a Mom who likes to be on the go. I just seem to thrive when we have plans and structure planned for our week. But, I think I might have planned a little too much this week.

We returned home from vacation late Saturday night, and we have literally been on the go ever since. Granted, it has all been really fun things we've been doing. A local amusement park, trip to the zoo, visiting a friend and her new baby, etc. Fun stuff!! However, I realized last night as I collapsed on the couch around 4:00 listening to my daughter cry and ask not to take a nap, that perhaps we need to schedule some "downtime" too. And so, today...I am making an attempt to do nothing.

Our day of nothing still involves some cleaning, playing and organizing. But it sounds absolutely wonderful!