Daddy Tree: Tiny Footsteps

Willow didn't like the water hitting her in the face, but she loved the wet stuff everywhere else. Earlier this week, Willow got her first taste (really quite literally) of backyard sprinkler fun. It was a scorcher of a day (and we were back from the beach so Willow was craving some time in the water because I could see it in her eyes), so we headed out back, and I dug the sprinkler out of the garage and hooked it up to the hose. I turned on the water and waited for the fun to begin! But you know how a sprinkler is ... slow ... and never pointing at the right spot. Eventually, I got the sprinkler facing the correct direction, and I got Willow (the victim) in the right spot. And I waited for the fun to begin! But you know how sprinklers are ... slow ... and Willow walked off out of watershot. Okay, so eventually, I got everything aligned and ready to go. Et voila! Willow got a good spray right in the back of the head. She didn't care ... until she turned and the wa...

 At first Willow didn't like the sand between her toes. We're back! Willow, Che and I had a wonderful time at Panama City Beach with Katee, Aunt Coco, Gran and Pop. Willow absolutely had the time of her life. Thank you Gran and Pop for making the trip possible. One of the many, many highlights of the trip (venture over to my or Cherish's Facebook page if you want to see the dozens of pictures Che posted in addition to the ones I have here) was when Che and I took Willow down to the beach and the surf. Waterbaby Willow loved it! As with about everything she tries, her first taste wasn't that pleasant (she gets this from her mommy), but her second taste was cosmic and her third taste was divine. When her feet first hit the sand, a what-the-heck-is-this-stuff look flashed on her face. It's the same as when she tried grapes or peas or applesauce for the first time. But soon she couldn't get enough of the stuff. She buried her little footsies in it, then s...

As Willow, Che and I zip through this year's summer of dreams (we're getting busy, busy, busy!), it's getting harder for me to find time to drop by here and write a line or two, but I'm going to try to come by here as much as I can (but not on my two beach trips ... NO, NO, NO!!!). I've had a ton to write about, but I can't recall any of it, it seems, which is probably why I should stop by here as much as possible. So I guess I'll just write about today. Willow and I had to skip Gymbo's place today because our little angel started showing signs of a head cold yesterday evening. Her nose was running, then she got a little stuffy, then she coughed and sneezed a little bit. It's not a bad cold, but as you and I know, there are no good colds. Our trouper has been fighting on and playing with all her might, if not as loudly as usual. She had a tough time sleeping because, well, she's never had a stuffy nose in her life, so traversing her regular sl...

Willow has been opening doors. Literally. She's been closing doors for a while now, but on Wednesday, she waddled into the guest bedroom and shut the door behind her ... then she opened it. I was going to retrieve her from the room, and I saw the handle on the door turn downward, and the door opened a crack, then a lot, as Willow peered out and smiled. I can't rightly say if her smile was mischievous or proud, but I fear it was mischievous. She then closed the door. And opened it. Then closed it. And opened it. And so on. For a long, long time. See the video below. Before long, she was closing and opening doors all over the house. And on Thursday, she turned her newfound talent into lengthy practice sessions. Again at the guest bedroom door, she closed and opened it for minutes at a time before taking a break to play with a toy then returning to close and open and close and open. She did this for longer than an hour (I was fine with the closing and opening because it gave...

Willow and I ventured to the park Monday morning to feed the ducks some leftover pancakes from the weekend. When we arrived, nary a duck was in sight, but we made do with what we had: little and big fishes and little and big turtles. The ducks missed all the fun. Actually, I was going to hold on to the pancakes for another day when I spotted a behemoth of a turtle near the shore at the bottom of the pond we were at. This guy was huge, and he had a big head. I threw a piece of a pancake his way, and the fish (that were nowhere in sight when I pitched the hotcake) mobbed the food. The swarm captured the turtle's attention too, and he slowly rose to the surface. I can't say for sure what kind of turtle it was, but it sure looked like the huge alligator snapping turtles I've seen in aquariums (with the pointy shells and the big head and beak). Before long, the turtle was snapping up whatever came close to him, snatching pancake bits (and tiny fishes) from the surface of the ...

The Village Idiots tore up the 2012 Mudathlon course. This stay-at-home daddy trekked away from home this weekend to attend something crazy called the Mudathlon, leaving Willow and Mommy all to themselves. And Daddy, Mommy and Baby all had a blast. I don't know what Willow and Cherish did while I was gone mucking through the mud, but I'm sure it was all icky girly stuff that was much yuckier than my stepping knee-deep through the mud (I've attached the before picture to this post and I'll post the after pictures once we get them back from development). I also know Willow and Cherish had a great time (maybe even more fun than I had at the Mudathlon) because Che all too eagerly asked that I go away again so she could have another girls weekend. A deal has been struck; I'll be back in the muck!

Willow loves her water table. Two major events have happened to Willow in the past few weeks coinciding with her first birthday: the swift and large expansion of her toy universe and the growth in independence of her dining habits. These two events have truly changed her life. The fact that she's growing is obvious and unavoidable, and we can't do anything about it. First the toys, my God, the toys! In the past few weeks, Willow has obtained the following: A Cozy Coupe. This little doozy of a car has her zipping all over the house, with me pushing! A super-duper wagon. When I'm not pushing Willow in her Coupe, I'm pulling her all over her world in this souped-up wagon, complete with an umbrella to keep the sun off and a cooler to keep the drinks cold. A water table. Willow especially loves the lifeguard who came with this genius idea for a toy. She likes splashing the water and dipping her tiny lifeguard in the water (I think she's trying to drown her,...

As all good parents know, sometimes you have to do things on your own, take a little time for yourself. I'm carving out time for myself each morning by becoming a runner. I'm training myself up to a 5K, which I should be able to do by the time my family and I head to the Outer Banks in mid-July. I enjoy the time to myself, having a true-blue hobby all my own and getting fit (a state of being I haven't experienced since college, when I shirked studying for playing lots and lots and lots of basketball). I've lost almost 50 pounds here, people! But my racing career begins tomorrow with a truly and amazingly stupid thing, the Mudathlon, a 3-mile jaunt through woods and creeks and mud pits and lakes (with 40 obstacles to climb over and through to boot). I'll be running with Team Village Idiots out of Georgetown, Ky., a group made up of my sister and her husband and a few of their friends. The Mudathlon should be exhausting ... and a whole lot of fun. I should have a mu...