No Food or Drizk Allomed, or, a red letter day

We took the girls to Chik-fil-A this afternoon, shared a drink, and let them play in the play area. We sat in a booth next to the glass wall separating the dining room from the play equipment. As we took turns sipping our Sprite, Savannah noticed a series of letters on the glass. She stood up on the bench to examine the letters more closely and, to my surprise, began rattling them off: "N-O-F-O-O-D-O-R-D-R-I . . . zee . . . K. . . aah, aah . . . A! . . . L-L-O . . . em . . . E-D."

I had no idea the kid could recognize letters so well! And the fact that she knows that the letter A makes an aah sound pleases me greatly. If she can identify letters and match them with their sounds, it's time to teach her how to read!! (Okay, so we need to work a little on distinguishing between Ns & Zs and Ws & Ms . . .)

I am so proud of my little girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A perfect Spring occuring here in Dallas, Texas as the temperature reaches 73 degrees. Not ideal for us cold lovers but the girls are ecstatic. We spend the afternoon riding bikes and playing with balls. Towards the end Savannah grows tired and wants to do something new with the ball. I suggest she drop the ball and try to kick it before it hits the ground. She goes off and I think to myself that should entertain her for a while. Boy am I in for a surprise when she comes over a few minutes later to show me her stuff. What do you think?

After riding our bikes up and down Southwestern Blvd, we come to this step. Each girl tackles the obstacle in her own way. Savannah knows that her bike has what it takes to defeat an obstacle such as this, as does she.

Leila, on the other hand, knowing she's got the muscles, lifts her bike up and then...

flexes her big guns for the world to see.

A Trip to the Pediatrician's Office

Savannah and Colette had doctor appointments this week. The nurse explained to Savannah that she'd have to strip down to her skivvies, but because she was a big girl now they'd give her a hospital gown to wear to keep her covered. Savannah was so excited to be a big girl, she just kept prancing around the examination room, squealing and saying, "Yeah, that's right. I'm a big girl, so I get to wear a hospital gown" over and over. She wanted to keep the gown and use it as a dress-up, so we let her bring it home and add it to her collection of princess dresses. Here is a photo of her modeling the gown. The young lady told me that this was exactly how she wanted to pose for the picture, with her arms and her hair just so. Below is a picture that I took without her specifications.

When the nurse asked us if we had any questions for the doctor, Savannah piped up and said she wanted the doctor to look at a small cut above her eye, and that her wrist hurt. The nurse asked, "How did you hurt your wrist?" Savannah answered, "I injured it."

While trying to get Colette back to sleep in the middle of the night last night, I noticed Savannah sleeping like this. I thought it was funny, so I snapped a picture and then put her back in bed. Notice: she's wearing panda pajamas, and has her stuffed panda and her panda blanket next to her face.

Colette must have gotten tired of waiting for Mom to get her some socks and took matters into her own hands

Our Babies

mindless fathers, or, the wisdom of a four-year-old

Tonight I sang the girls their bedtime songs. They requested songs from the Children's Songbook. They would thumb through the pages, select a song, and ask me to sing it. After finishing each song, I'd close the book and hand it back to one of the girls so they could pick the next one. After several songs, Savannah asked me why I closed the book each time I handed it to them. I told her I didn't know, that I did it without thinking.

After a moment's reflection, Savannah said, "Dad, you don't have a mind. I have a great mind because I think. But you don't think. Mom has a great mind. She thinks alot, just like I do." Then, after a pause, she said. "Dad, we could say that you have a mind, just not a great one like I do. That would be fair."

Sigh.

fatherly foibles

While I am often amazed by Katie's attention to detail, Katie is frequently bewildered by what I fail to notice.

Take tonight, for example.

Katie was out for the evening, so it was my responsibility to put Colette to bed. I dutifully got her ready. First, I dressed her in nice warm one-piece pajamas, which was a pain because there were a million snaps and Colette, being the busy 13-month-old that she is, was far too squirmy. I finally managed to get her to calm down by giving her a small doll to play with. Things went more smoothly after that. I got her blankie and her duckie, read her a bedtime story, sang her a couple songs, and put her in her crib. Instead of screaming and wailing like she usually does, she simply turned on her side and drifted off to sleep.

For the rest of the tranquil evening, I congratulated myself on a job well done. At about 11:30 p.m., Colette woke up crying. Katie picked her up and changed her diaper. While thus engaged, she felt something lumpy under Colette's back. So she reached inside the PJs, fumbled around, and pulled out a . . . doll. Well, no wonder the poor kid woke up! How on earth did I miss seeing that as I finished snapping up her pajamas?

getting started

Well,

Katie and I have finally joined the blogosphere! Hopefully this will be more fun for friends and family to read than my lengthy emails are -- once I learn how to use all the gadgetry on here, anyway.

In the recent news department, I awoke this morning with uvulitis. Never had that before. My uvula is the same size as the state of Florida and my right tonsil the size of Ohio. A new experience for me. Bring on the ice cream!