Daddy Tree: Tiny Footsteps

On Thursday Willow and I lay in her big-girl bed, reading a book and listening to her glow worm chyme its lullaby music. Willow was sleepy, I could tell, and she was ready to drift off to sleep. I could have left her in the bed, and I think she would have fallen asleep by herself, but I was enjoying myself and decided to lie there with her. Willow was lying parallel to me, her head in the nook where my left arm met my chest, turning page by page or her book. She rubbed her right eye then looked up at me. She reached out her right hand and patted me on the cheek. "I happy, Daddy," she smiled. "I happy." "Me too, Willow." Seconds later, she fell into her slumber, and I slipped from the bed. My heart beat calmly in the rhythm of "I hap-py I hap-py I hap-py ..."

Big news, people! Willow slept the entire night by herself in her toddler bed. We didn't plan it, but I guess Cherish decided to give it a go last night. She cuddled up with Willow in the toddler bed, and both of them fell asleep. When I was ready to go to bed, I slipped into the room and shook Che. "Is she asleep?" Cherish said. "Yeah." Now, I'm venturing into some dangerous territory here, I realize, but Cherish didn't exactly sneak out of the toddler bed. Cherish is, what, six months pregnant now, and pregnancy has its own, um, gracefulness. Che was graceful enough because Willow did not wake up. And Willow didn't wake up until after sunrise, which is her typical time. This morning, however, was much different than usual, though. I lay slumbering in bed, and Che was drying off after her shower in the master bathroom. Che opened the bathroom door, and ... "Eeek!" Che squeaked. "Oh, you scared me!" Willow was standing...

Willow and I attended our first Zoo Tots class at the Nashville Zoo on Wednesday, and Willow had a slithering good time. Zoo Tots is a six-week, hour-long class for kids (18 months-5 years old) to spend time with their caregiver learning about the animal world. The class includes visits from zoo critters, crafts, stories, songs and a walk to an animal enclosure each week. This week's theme was "Reptiles Rock!" I'm guesssssing you can gather from the theme that snakes and lizards played a big role in this week's class. (For ever-fearless Willow and me, it wasn't a big deal, but I noticed some of the moms and grannies in the room squirming throughout the class). Willow and I started off the class coloring on the paper-covered tables, then we gathered with the rest of the group in a semi-circle to see the class visitors. This week the skink Victor and the sand boa Bonnie made the rounds. Both reptiles were calm around the children, and each kid got to pet the ...

Willow isn't a lovey-dovey, cuddly girl. I'm not saying she isn't an angel. She is. But she doesn't like to snuggle up with you, and she doesn't share many kisses or hugs with you (that makes the hugs and kisses you can steal that much more valuable). Note: None of this applies to Pop (Cherish's father); Willow will cuddle up and smooch and hug on this guy all the live-long day! I don't want you to get the wrong idea, though. Even though Willow doesn't want to snuggle much, that does not mean she doesn't want to be around Cherish or me. Quite the contrary, Willow wants to be with us, to shadow us, nearly every minute of the day. She wants to be with us. To play with us. To watch us. To eat what we eat. To do what we do. To help us. TO SUPERVISE US. But Willow, generally, does not want to hold us (or vice versa). All of this sets up a surprising moment I had with her on Monday. I was picking up Willow at the YMCA's babysitting service after m...

I awoke when the winds howled outside our bedroom window. The winds had been whipping since our going to bed, and that was unsettling, but this wind, the howling wind, had much more malevolence. I was not unsettled. I was scared. I hopped from the bed and started off to do something, I don't know what, maybe save the world. I didn't have my senses with me yet. I stumbled to the front of the house and looked out the window. The only way I can think to describe what I saw was it looked like a hurricane had settled over us. White sheets of rain blasted sideways across our yard, and the trees gripped the earth in terror. I heard broken limbs bouncing off the roof. "There's a tornado warning," my wife snapped into my trance. And the city's sirens started to blare. We sprang to action. I grabbed the emergency radio and flashlights, and Cherish grabbed Willow. We huddled in our safe spot, the garage stairwell that drops alongside the base of the house. But by th...

My stay-at-home daddy adventure feels like it has reached a feverish pace. Willow is in her toddler prime, which means she has become a world-class mess-maker. I haven't spent much time around other toddlers, so I don't know if they're all world-class mess-makers, but I'm guessing they are. I'm guessing it's a requirement for being a toddler. On any typical day, I feel like I'm that short cleaning robot in "Wall-E," the one who uses its scrubber attachment to chase down and clean up "foreign substances." Throughout the movie, that guy is rolling around cleaning mess after mess after mess. I spring into action much the same way. I roll over to the mess and start scrubbing it up. Meanwhile, our toddler angel is off making other messes. A whole bunch more goes into my job, but, really, I can say with all honesty that being a scrubber robot chasing around mess-making Willow dominates my days. I am not complaining. I have the best job in t...

Willow, Mommy and I went to the Y's pool on Sunday to take advantage of our membership and to do something summery in this dreary and cold weather. We had so much fun swimming and splashing, Willow and I went back on Tuesday. On Sunday, surprisingly, nobody else was at the pool, and the lifeguard seemed resigned to having to sit boringly in her stand. I have no problem with having an entire pool and a lifeguard all to myself, but, again, I was surprised nobody else was there, except for a few exercisers coming and going to use the steam room and the sauna (and a couple of guys hopped in the whirlpool for a few minutes). When Willow and I went on Tuesday, several people were in the pool, but they quickly scattered when the tot and I entered the pool. Maybe their time in the pool had come to a planned end. Maybe they didn't want to be in the water with someone who might pee or poop at any moment. After the initial scattering a couple of men came into the pool area and swam qui...