Daddy Tree: Tiny Footsteps

One of the wooden blocks was missing, so Willow created a search party made up of Willow, CPK Baby Kayleigh, Baby Monkey and Daddy and started on a journey to FIND THE MISSING BLOCK!!! The search party looked high and low, as high as the ever-high balloon and as low as, er, under the couch. But Block O' Letter Q was nowhere to be found. The search continued, with Daddy bellowing, "Oh, Blo-ock!" And Willow skipping alongside, squealing, "Oh, Bro-ock!" The block did not answer. Finally, after much searching, and after Willow gave Daddy a scolding or two for breaking off from the search to make the bed and clean off the breakfast table, the search party found the block! The block was hiding away behind the Disney Little People Princess Palace (Willow thinks Block O' Letter Q was just trying to find a good and quiet place to poop, but Daddy suspects the block was peeping on Cinderella). Willow triumphantly return Block to his spot in the wooden block string-pull...

Willow hasn't seen much snow in her short lifetime. Actually, I don't recall any snowfall of any fun depth during the past two winters (I do recall taking Willow to the park nearly every day last winter). That's OK to me because I'd prefer it stay warm all the time, and I like taking Willow to the park and the zoo. So Monday morning's snowfall, even though it wasn't much more than a dusting, came as a surprise to us. The snow wasn't much to play in, but Willow never has played in the snow, so we made the most of it that we could. I put Willow in her snowsuit, which she's never donned, and we headed to the back porch, where the snow measured probably a good inch. And Willow didn't care. Nope. Not one iota. She liked putting on the snow boots and the snow suit. She liked the mittens and the knit cap. But, really, all she wanted to do was ... SWING!!! Swing. Swing. Swing. Swing. Swing. She insisted, so I buckled her in, covered her face the best ...

In January Cherish and I got off to a grand start potty-training Willow and beginning her transition from the crib to the toddler bed. We have to make way for our second daughter, you know, in the crib AND in the monthly diaper budget. Then we got sick. All three of us. Then we got sick again. All three of us. Then we got sick again. All three of us. These sorts of things are well documented on Facebook by families all across the world, so I won't bore you with any details, but we were sick pretty much all of February and half of March (and March is only just half over!!!). Anyway because we all three were sick, it was much easier to put Willow in the crib for bed instead of chasing her all over the house and, um, reapplying her to the toddler bed. And, of course, it was much easier to let her do her thing in the diaper than giving her on-the-potty pep talks. But we're all three healthy now (I'm knocking VERY LOUDLY on you, wood), so Cherish and I have gathered up the...

Toddlerhood is in full swing. And I'm tired. But enough about me! We have few problems with Willow, but one big one we've had to face recently (and one in which Willow is thoroughly kicking our butts) is the matter of her throwing food during lunch and supper to the floor. This happens nearly every day and usually goes down like this: She eats a little of her food, then -- WHOOSH -- she flips the plate to the floor, and, most of the time, the food flies in all sorts of directions. This sort of behavior is why we have little pinto-bean spatter spots all over one of our walls in the dining room (it looks like we tried to cover up a murder in there ... badly). We read in one of our parenting magazines that toddlers do this sort of thing because they're learning about physics. "They're little scientists!" I recall the magazine chirping. The tots throw food because they're experimenting on what kind of "plops" they can make, or they're gaugin...

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 ...