Sad Days....

Well, it's a time that had to come. Mom had noticed and pointed it out to me that Emily Grace no longer travels with her babies or stuffed animals. She took them on vacation over the summer, Pink Baby loved Canada; but once school started the babies and animals have stayed home. They still get up in the morning to watch TV before school with Emily but on the couch they remain as Emily heads out the door. Sorry babies.

Love,
Dad

that's a problem

I don't think the terrible two's are as much of a problem as Emily Grace's prodigious language development (hey, let me brag for once). The problem is that she can only pronounce, (recognizable to most adults) about 200 of the 2000 words in her vocabulary. How many babies ask for sentimental trinkets to mark the second anniversary of her birth? Just Emily Grace.

Love,
Dad

It's just another sign that she's not a little girl anymore. She used to have "cute" names for her grandparents-Nanna and PopPop. Those were hers; not prompted or taught to her by adults. The adults also referred to them that way to acknowledge her "speak". They were unique to my parents and we always knew who she was talking about. Well, just this past week things changed. I told her Nanna was coming in the morning to get her and she looked back at me and said, "Grandma coming?" I was too sad to even answer her. She still goes back and forth, but each day it's becoming more "Grandma/Grandpa" and less "Nanna/PopPop". Being a parent is crazy. You are so glad she is becoming more self sufficient and independent while at the same sadden that she's no longer a baby...she's a big girl!

Love,
Mom

The physical toll of Emily Grace, or "I'm not getting any younger."

I like to run in the annual Gasparilla 5K every year; Emily Grace was there to cheer me on as I crossed the finish line last year. To prepare for this year's race I decided that I needed some new running shoes and Emily Grace and I went off to the local Sports Authority where they were running a promotion, buy $75 in Nike running gear and the race fee ($25) is waived. I like the Nike Free 5.0 running shoe, even though I don't think I'm supposed to race in it but that's what I wanted. While Emily Grace was busy pulling random boxes off of the shelves and looking inside, I tried on a pair of the Free's (or as close as Sports Authority gets to them) when the sales associate came by to see if I needed help and saw what I was trying on he asked what I planned to do with the shoes, guess I've lost that runner's physique, I told him tennis. I was not sure about the shoes so I went to check for some new shorts, Emily Grace played hide and seek in the racks of clothes. No luck. Went to give the shoes another try. A new clerk came upon me trying on the same Nike shoes and asked me the exact same question. I told her they were for swimming. I ended up buying the shoes and I really like them. If I have one complaint it's the insane shade of green that Nike uses on these shoes. It looks like I'm running with a couple of fire engines on my feet. Of course, none of this is as bad as when strangers stop and ask me how old my granddaughter is.

Love,
Dad

A little background information

July 1st. that makes it 10 days and counting until Emily Grace's scheduled arrival. I think mom is ready now. We've crossed that point where fear of delivery is now outweighed by the inconvenience of being kicked every thirty minutes, not to mention the rolling around in there. I swear if the baby had a can opener she'd be out by now.

Here's the background: I'll be 50 in January and little Emily has now replaced my mid-life crisis; it's been rescheduled when I'm 90. Instead of a little red sports car I'm shopping for strollers. At this rate, just as the baby's coming out of diapers I'll be going back in. I mentioned to a friend that I'd be teaching Emily how to drive when I'm 65. They said that they hoped I'd lost my license long before then. Emily will be my third daughter her sisters are 17 and 19 respectively. I can hardly wait for her arrival.

Mom is ten years younger and just as surprised by Emily's imminent arrival. This will be her first child. Part of the joy with the arrival of Emily will be seeing my wife holding our baby. She never thought it would happen. My wife has spent the last 13 years working with pre-school children with disabilities. One of the major components of her program is to teach the children to be self sufficient and a lot of that involves helping the parents with parenting skills, i.e. saying no. Let the children do it themselves. My wife could never understand why the parents were incapable of following this advice. Now, when the baby comes home with us the shoe will be on the other foot, so to speak. I know what I'm capable of doing, I've already raised two daughters; although the general opinion is that I can't say "no." So watching Emily's mom cope with, deal with and love little Emily will be my greatest joy. I also work with pre-school age children with disabilities. I've been at it for five years. I'm hoping that this blog will be my and mom's running diary/journal of Emily. It's being written for family but if you've made it this far please feel free to come along for the ride. I'm going to do my best to update daily and I'll include pictures as soon as she gets here.

Dad