Daddy Tree: Tiny Footsteps

 Willow loves to tag along for bike rides. The skinny guy in front of her plans on taking at least 10 of them in May. I've set my fitness goals for May. Walk more than 30 miles. Run more than 16 miles. Bike more than 20 miles. Those are the easy, but sometimes boring, ones. These are much, much more fun on the old body: Push a swing more than 1,500 times. Guide a baby down a slide more than 50 times. Push a stroller more than 40 miles. And these unavoidable fitness "goals" are much, much harder on the old body: Chase a walking baby more miles than I care to calculate. Change more than 150 diapers. Change more than 50 sets of clothes. Wash about 35 loads of laundry. Wash about 25 loads of dishes. And on and on. This, friends, is what I call the "Ultimate Cross-training Challenge," and I'm about to face the gauntlet this month. Wish me luck. 

Each morning, Willow and I fill a pitcher and head out to the front porch to water the plants. We're doing a good job, because the plants look full and healthy (the ferns are recovering from their bout with freezing temperatures this winter when I forgot to bring them in one night). This morning, Willow helped me fill the pitcher. This was a new event for her. She's seen water come out of taps before, but apparently not from a spray nozzle. She peered curiously at the water as it filled the pitcher. Then SNATCH! She tried to grab the water. We both were sprayed. She kept at it, trying to grab the flowing water. Then she figured out what was happening with the silvery stuff coming from the nozzle and spread her fingers out under the water. Her piercing laughs told me how much fun she was having. This summer, Willow, Che and I are sure to have lots of watery fun.

Willow stuffs some puffs into her mouth. Che and I have a problem. A big problem. Willow, er, how should I put this? Um, Willow ... yeah ... Willow likes to eat. There. I said it. Willow is an eater. A big eater. This morning, Che fixed large salad of fruit, pineapples, grapes, cantaloupe and bananas. I got a big bowl of it, and I shared it with Willow. She ate most of it, and I was full with what little she left me! Willow ate an entire banana (I didn't get any). She ate most of the cantaloupe. I got only a piece or two. I ate all the grapes, and Willow ate most of the pineapple. Then, as I was cleaning up, Willow kept eating, grabbing a Cheerio or two and puff or two from her snack bowl. And she's at it again, eating puffs from her snack bowl! Oh, well, guess I have to revisit our monthly budget and increase the grocery allotment. We're feeding a hungry one here.

 Willow gets ready to picnic near The Parthenon at Centennial Park in Nashville. Wednesdays are the biggest and most fun days of the week (discounting weekends, of course). We always go to Gymboree Play & Music at Green Hills in Nashville then we follow that up with a trip to a park, zoo, playground or museum. Willow had a "Hug-me Party" at Gymbo's Place. She didn't want to settle for good, old Daddy's hugs; she wanted to share the love. First she crawled/walked over to the teacher, Miss Rachel, and climbed up in her lap, demanding a hug. Then she tried out one of the parents. Then she tried out the shop's owner. She got hugs and some play time from all three. But the best moment came when she ventured over to a visiting grandmother, little Hadley's "Mimi." (It was Hadley's first birthday, by the way) Mimi scooped up Willow and danced with her through a few songs, helping her touch her nose, her mouth and her feet. Willow was i...

Each day, Willow does more and more walking. She's practicing a lot. Most of the walks last a few feet, but some can span whole rooms. It's all a matter of keeping her balance. The video link in this post will take you to a video of Willow practicing the Zombie Walk this morning. She kept falling every few feet, but she kept getting up and walking and walking and walking, most of the time in circles. Watch the video and tell me how you think the sock helps her in her walking adventures. Here's the video (also seen at www.youtube.com/user/willowchronicles ):

I've captured many videos over the months as Willow has grown, and I've shared those videos with friends and family as best I can. But it hasn't been good enough. So this blog, and mine and Willow's lives, has expanded to YouTube! I've posted more than a dozen videos of Willow's life and accomplishments through her first 11 months on her very own channel on YouTube. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/willowchronicles You also can click the handy link on the right side of the page under "See Willow's Movies." I'll let you know on here, through email and on Facebook when I post new videos. Enjoy!

As Willow's interactive story bunny, Abigail, says, "Ohhhh, this is going to be so much fun!" ( http://www.hallmark.com/online/in-stores/storybooks/story-buddies/ ) Two of Willow's most favorite activities happen today: going to Kroger and watching the AC repairman work. Odd combo, huh? Krogering Willow loves venturing to Kroger. At first I thought she liked watching the colors swish by as I pushed her and the shopping cart down the aisles. I also thought she liked the bright lights and the ability to quickly swipe things from the shelves or throw things out of the cart. She likes all those things, but I've figured out what she really likes. She likes the Old People Paparazzi. You know these people, the gray-haired throngs that seemingly never leave the grocery store, those nice folks who seem to pop up in every aisle, waiting for a baby to swarm and coo-coo after. You know the Old People Paparazzi. Willow knows them too, and she's come to expect t...

A while back, I shared with you details about Willow's first kiss (which came from a diabolical tot named Max). A lot has happened since that kiss; Willow has grown by leaps and bounds. Witness: Her top two teeth have started coming in (and with it an annoying clicking sound Willow likes to show off). Willow has started walking. She's inconsistent with it and still chooses the much speedier crawling to walking, but I've seen her walk from the kitchen to the love seat in the living room, which is more than 20 feet. She plays much more with toys than she used to (and she leaves bigger messes). She likes to take things out and put things in (cabinets, boxes). She smiles, laughs, giggles and points all the time. She takes most her formula in sippy cups now. She eats almost everything Mommy and Daddy eats. Her vocabulary has grown. She can say "Da-da," "Daddy," "Ma-ma," "Mom," "touchdown" (story below), "that"...

Willow, Che and I are traveling to see the grandparents, aunts, cousins and Mos (or is it Moes or is it Mo's or is it Moses?) in Henderson, Tenn., this weekend. And that brings up one of the big differences between being a couple without kids and being a couple with kids: packing for travel (they even have an app for that, God bless us packing-weary parents). Back in my pre-child days, packing hardly mattered, probably taking up 1 zillionth of a tenth of a percent of my brain capacity to do (six days equals six days of socks and underwear plus some T-shirts, some shorts, a pair or two of pants, put on some shoes, throw in some toothpaste, and I was off). That's hardly the case anymore. Take, for example, if you have a spit-up-prone baby. Do you take two burp clothes, four, eight or, maybe, 16? Better take 24. And how many diapers do you take? Or wipes? Do I need to take baby medicine? Is it going to be cold or warm or cold and warm or warm and hot then ... AACK!!! You get t...

One of the things Cherish and I worry about with my staying home with Willow is that she will miss out on socialization and play with other kids. And this is a tough nut for me to crack because I am a shy guy (and many moms seem downright afraid of me). But I've been working hard at it, enrolling Willow in a play and learn class (which, it seems, might be more for my benefit than hers because I have to, YIKES, interact with moms) and taking Willow to playgrounds, parks and bigger attractions such as the zoo. I searched in vain for a play group for Willow (I found one dads group in Nashville, but all the kids in the group seemed to be years older than Miss Willow). I think I've succeeded, and I think I will get better at getting Willow out into the world (this summer is going to be grand and my little girl is going to start pulling her shy daddy into those awkward situations), but there have been flubs along the way. One of them, I'm sorry to report, is lap-sit story tim...

Willow and I don't have much planned for today: Laundry. Prepare recycling for hauling off. Go to the park. Go to the library. Plant sunflower seeds (Mommy will be happy about this). Vacuum (Mommy will be happy about this). And all the daily chores such as watering the plants and unloading and reloading the dishwasher. Willow is taking a nice, long nap right now, recuperating from her big day yesterday where we went to Gymboree class and then to the zoo. Willow was so zonked out at the end of our zoo adventure, she didn't wake up when I took her out of the stroller and put her into the car or when we got home and I took her out of the car and put her in room. She woke up early this morning, so she's getting an early nap. Once we get the laundry finished, we'll head off to the park. Willow is a big help with laundry. She likes to reorganize the piles of clothes a lay out. She also likes to take clothes out of the washer, but she's not too good at putting a...

Friends, days just don't get any bigger than this for Miss Willow! She's taking a nap now (or is SUPPOSED to be taking a nap ... quiet down in there, kiddo!), but when she wakes, we'll be heading to Gymboree Play & Music class in Green Hills. Willow loves this class, and Cherish and I find the cost is more than worth it. Willow gets to romp around an ever-changing gym with other tots her size. When we first started going, Willow was a bit of a bully, pushing around the smaller kids in the 6-10 month class (Willow is a giant among peers), but once we bumped her into the 10-16 month class, she's fit in well; she likes mimicking what the bigger kids do. Willow's favorite activities at Gymbo's (the classes are led by an instructor named Rachel and her puppet sidekick Gymbo, a clown who runs the place and, I think, has all the instructors brainwashed) are rolling the air log, going through tunnels, being showered in balloons and dancing with Gymbo. Willow lov...

I weigh 202.5 pounds. This is big news from where I'm sitting because the last time I weighed that few pounds was at least seven years ago. And let me give you more perspective. I weighed 235.5 pounds at the end of July, 8 1/2 months ago. I recorded that weight during the last week at my job before quitting to become a stay-at-home dad. I didn't really set out to lose weight. As a matter of fact, before the big weight loss, I told my wife to ditch the smaller clothes I'd been holding onto in case I lost the weight again. I thought I'd weigh around 230 the rest of my life. But when I started staying home with Willow, I immediately became more active, going to the park and walking and playing with my infant girl. By January, and without much intention on my part, I'd lost 10 pounds. So I was around 225, which is where I've been almost all my adult life. I was content with that and prepared to stay there. But then I read a column on the opinion pages of The ...

This past weekend, Mimi and Papaw ventured down to Springfield. Their mission: Babysit Willow for the weekend while Che and I went off to Lake Barkley State Resort Park, where we got married, to celebrate our fifth anniversary. The trip, of course, was wonderful. We came, we saw, we played ping pong (and please don't say, "Oh, is that what the kids are calling it these days?"). We also hiked, ate, played putt-putt, ate, sat looking at the lake and ate. We really enjoyed ourselves. Despite thinking about Willow every single minute. We'd been away from Willow for one night before, but this was the first extended stay away from her. You're probably guessing this already, but, yes, we came home a little earlier than planned (just by an hour or so), but it's a good thing because Willow was walking practically all over the place. How is it a kid can grow so much in two days?

For a few weeks now, Willow has been like a baby bird airing out its wings, getting ready for that big leap from the nest. Willow has been letting go, in other words, releasing her white-knuckled grasp of furniture and parents and stepping out into the void, the wide open spaces of the living room floor. When she started this three weeks ago, I don't think she knew what she was doing. The first time I spotted her, she let go of my legs and walked about three feet to a nearby ottoman. Moments later, she walked from the ottoman out into the middle of the living room before falling to the floor; that was about four feet of walking. As any good parent would, I grabbed a phone to record her breakthrough in walking, and as any good kid would, she stopped doing whatever was camera-worthy. No matter. I got onto the tallest mountain and announced that Willow was walking. But she didn't do it again, and I had no video evidence. Sure, she stumbled here and lunged there, and she cre...

Mornings with Willow are precious, but few have been more memorable than the one on Easter morning. She woke in an especially good mood, happy to see Mommy and Daddy, then the fun continued when she saw what the Easter Bunny brought her. Her basket included: A bottle of freshly made milk (very important!). A big yellow ball. Puffs (her favorite). Two sippy cups with straws. Fruity yogurt. And, second-most importantly to the bottle, three, new "Peanuts" (aka tumblers). The basket awaits. Willow wakes up bushy-tailed!  Willow goes for the bottle first. Willow plays with her big yellow ball Easter weekend.

Willow's world keeps expanding, and Monday was a big day for her. Willow and I ventured to Franklin, Tenn., to pick up Cherish and head to our six-month cleaning at the dentist (no cavities!). I went first while Che and Willow played in the lobby, then when Che went back for her cleaning, Willow and I headed to a nearby park, Aspen Grove Park near Cool Springs Galleria. Aspen Grove Park is tucked among all the shopping in the area, and it has a small playground and trail (it also has a brick fireplace for grilling!). We took a short walk then met up with Che at the playground for some sliding fun (Willow tried to eat some of the rubber mulch too!). There was no swinging because the park lacked swings ... odd, huh? We then drove up to Goodlettsville for a family haircut adventure. Willow had her first professional trim, and she seemed to enjoy the experience, sitting in Che's lap contemplating the kid in the mirror. The hair stylists got a good cackle in when Willow broke out...

It happened in a blink of an eye. A split second. A moment in time. I felt Willow slipping away. My daughter, all 10 months of her, was playing across the room with a boy named Max. The two were handing balls back and forth to each other, and after the boy named Max gave Willow a green ball, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Yep, the big smooch-a-roo. Right on the cheek. Right in front of me. Willow's first kiss. The kiss caught the boy named Max's mom by surprise too: "Ah, he kissed her!" She thought it was cute!* I, however, had not-so-adorable feelings about the, er, encounter. The boy named Max is two weeks shy of a year old. He's the older man, the college kid nipping at my innocent girl's vulnerabilities. I don't like the boy named Max, and his pompous moves. Max is robbing my Willow from the crib, right from under my nose. And I'm sure he's thinking about just plucking her from my grasp and putting her in the trophy ...

I had many, many misconceptions about what my life would be like when I became a stay-at-home dad (and I'm sure I still have many about what the future holds as Willow grows). I'm not going to lie to you, I couldn't wait to shed that grueling job I had, but I fretted over it because of the lost salary and the sidelined career, and related to that, I feared I was entering a life of tedium (my wife still chuckles at me for stockpiling video games last spring in preparation for the hours of boredom I expected; I haven't played a single minute of a single one of those games, and now I know I never will). In truth, I haven't felt any pangs of loss over the job or the money or the career. That was another life. This is a new life, and the terms are, well, just different. Having a baby changes your life and your home. Having a baby changes you, and your loved ones, to the very core of who you are and who you were and who you will be. And having a baby is not at all wh...