Do you need a Q-tip

So much of life with kids happens by surprise.  What I mean by this is that you can walk into a room and see something you were never expecting to see.  On the particular day in question, all I had to do was open the shower door and I saw something I never expected to see.

Kendel was out running errands and left me home alone with Taylor who was 1 1/2 at the time.  Erin was not yet with us although she due to arrive in a couple of months so technically, she was out with Kendel.

I had locked Taylor and I in the master bedroom while I wanted to take a quick shower which gave Taylor only two rooms to entertain herself but also, and more importantly, limited the damage that she could do while I was showering.  I was in the shower for about 5-10 minutes and I could see Taylor on the other side of the door sitting on the floor which I thought was great because she was quietly playing with one of her toys and I didn't need to worry about what she was up to in the other room.  The flaw in my thinking was that although we have a glass door, it is a glazed door and you cannot really see what someone is doing on the other side of it.  You really only know that they are there.

When I opened the door to grab my towel, what I saw was so amazing and surprising that I immediately went downstairs to grab the camera pretty much still soaking wet because I didn't want to miss the photo opportunity. Luckily, Taylor stayed on the floor playing with her "toys" while I went downstairs so I could take this masterpiece of a photo for record keeping.

Enjoy.

I love the look on her face.  It is as if to say, "what, is there a problem?"  I have plenty of other photos like this with Taylor that I will post later to add to this story.  She has always been quite mischievous!

Towel over the head

This story happened a long time ago and to be honest, I can't remember exactly when it happened but it was definitely when Erin was walking/running and I need to write about it because it was very funny.  It was definitely in the early days of the walking/running which probably puts us in the spring of 2009.

And off we go.

Erin has always been more of a goofball than Taylor and has a tendency to put things on her head which is no real surprise for a kid to be doing.  The problem sometimes lies when by putting something on your head, you lose you ability to see anything and then try to do something.

One night I was in the kitchen by the fridge getting something to eat and Erin was near me but more towards the hallway so she was on the other side of the island.  She had a towel in her hands.  Kendel and Taylor were in the other room on the couch watching some TV.  Erin was in a very goofy mood and kept putting the towel on her head and taking it off and laughing.  She might have been playing peek-a-boo with me or something but that detail escapes me and isn't really important anyway.

As I was getting something out of the fridge and not paying attention to Erin for a couple of seconds she put the towel back on her head but this time decided to run as fast as her little legs would carry her.  Did I mention she had a towel on her head which completely covered her face?  She was headed into the TV room but the only problem was she was a little off course.  If going into the TV room meant she needed to proceed on a straight line, she was headed about 15 degrees off that line to the right.  Problem number 2 was that she was breaking land speed records.  There was no way for me to catch up with her by the time I realized what was about to happen.  The only thing I could do was either to wager on whether she would hit the table or the half wall entering the room and start to warm up the car for the trip to the emergency room.

I did all I could to prevent what was about to happen with the only action that I could take and screamed "ERIN, NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo".  You need to picture this like in the movies and in slow motion because that was what I felt like at the time.

My actions were of no help.  Erin ran straight into the wall at full speed which I estimate was 65 mph.  It was fast.

The aftermath is a blur.  There was some screaming, crying, praying, asking "why me?" and that was just from me.  Actually, I honestly don't remember the aftermath but much like whether Erin was playing Peek-a-boo with me or not, it is irrelevant to the story.  She was ok after some crying on Mommy's shoulder and no trip to the emergency room was needed.  The towel required stitches but was ok after a couple of weeks and some rehab.

As for me, I will never forget seeing her run across the kitchen and straight into a wall.  It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen and I can say that now looking back on it  :-)  At the time it wasn't so funny but the events of that night have helped me realize that as an adult, you can never understand the thought process of a 1 year old or any child of any age for that matter.

Girls Night

Oh where to begin.

Taylor, for some time now, has been spending "girls nights" in Mommy and Daddy's bed on the weekends.  I am not sure how this got started but things like this usually happen when the girls are sick, sad, scared or something to that effect and then they don't want to be in their own beds.  Anyway, Taylor loves her girls nights and looks forward to it all week.  She actually starts asking for it on Monday and every night of the week until the weekend arrives.  I have tried to teach her the concept of time in terms she understand like "Girls night will not be here until you go to school twice this week and you haven't gone yet."  This approach doesn't really work as I still get the question every night although she is understanding it better now.

The reason that they are called girls nights is because Taylor goes into our bed and watches "Sprout" (a kids channel with terrible shows she loves) and then Kendel goes up later while Taylor is still awake.  By the time Daddy comes to bed, Taylor is asleep so the fact that she never sees me means that it is a girls night.  I have another names for this night too.  It is called Daddy time where I get to veg on the couch and watch whatever I want so I love girls night as much as she does!  However, Taylor eventually starting telling Kendel not to come up so girls night turned into girl night which has subsequently affected Daddy time.

Erin never gets a girls night for a number of reasons.  First of all, I don't think Taylor would allow it as she sleeps with her door open and would never stay in her room while Erin was in our bed watching TV.  I can visualize the tantrum already.  Another issue with Erin is that she is a very strange sleeper.  We have a video monitor in her room and enjoy watching the party that she will have until 11pm at night or later sometimes.  The 2 or 3 times that we have had her in our bed since she was born and in her own room have resulted in massive parties and little sleeping as she bounces around the bed.  The only other option would be that girls night would be Taylor and Erin in our bed but that would involve very little sleeping and therefore very cranky kids the next day so that is not an option either.

So, right now, Taylor is the only one getting girls nights.  What is funny to watch though is that we tell her she is not allowed to tease Erin about it or really talk about it in front of her.  Have you ever seen a 4 year old try to keep a secret?  She will whisper to me as we are getting ready for bed upstairs, "Erin is going to go into her crib and then I am going to go into Mommy and Daddy's room for a girls night but shush, we can't tell Erin".  The only problem with a 4 year olds whispers at times is that the neighbors can here them.  On a side note, Mommy and Daddy's room used to be called "Mommy and Scaddy's room" for a long time.  I used to laugh because it made me feel like I was a disease or something.

This brings me to today.

Lately, Taylor feels Girls Nights should be every night.  This happened the other night for the first time when Kendel was out enjoying a dinner/movie or enjoying it as much as a 37 week pregnant woman enjoys anything.  I was putting the girls to bed and Taylor was insisting it was Girls Night on a Tuesday.  All of this was because the prior week she got a Girls Night on a Thursday for some reason I can't remember.  All I know is Kendel is to blame for this issue.  She allowed Taylor to pick 2 or the 3 days from Thursday to Saturday and Taylor chose Thursday and Friday.  Since then when I say Girls Night is not until the weekend, she replies "but it wasn't last week."  Kendel got to have this argument for the first time last night and I think realized the monster she created. :-)  I think we have weathered the storm but we will see what tonight brings.

You're not my Bes Fwiend

Life with 2 girls has been very entertaining.  It has been very interesting seeing where the girls are very similar and where you might think they came from different parents in different parts of the world.  A great example of this is their approach to confrontation which happens quite often at this age and some days, it seems to happen almost every 5 minutes.

When Taylor gets upset with Erin, she usually runs to mommy or daddy and rats out Erin for whatever she has done which usually involves taking something that Taylor was playing with or sometimes just thought about playing with.  The best days are when they start fighting over stuff they thought about playing with but were not actually in physical possession because when that starts to happen, the day usually goes downhill pretty quickly.  The only hope for days like that is nap time or bedtime!

Anyway, Erin has a very different approach to confrontation.  It usually involves her going up to Taylor and hitting her in the head and is often followed by "Tawa, you're not my bes fwiend".  I think she would give Mike Tyson a run for his money.  Anyway, if you follow the logic of Taylor's approach to confrontation, she usually takes the hit to the head and then comes and tells mommy or daddy.  God help us when she realizes she is bigger than Erin and hits her back!

With all that said, the girls get along great most of the time and like normal siblings, they have their moments.  And, for the record, Erin has told me that she is not my bes fwiend a few times as well.  My favorite example of this was at the dinner table one night when it was just the two of us.  I had asked her to sit in her seat to eat and I was just about to sit myself when she lowered her head, extended out her lower lip, started crying, said she was not my bes fwiend and proceeded to run out of the kitchen and go upstairs.  I was dumbfounded and quite entertained at the same time.  That was one I wish I had on video :-)

Santa Update

So Kendel is out tonight and I was giving the kids a bath and thinking about the Santa debacle the other day so I figured I would talk to Taylor about what happened and more importantly what she is thinking about what we do next.  Here is a brief rundown of the conversation:

Me: "Taylor, when are we going to see Santa again?"
Taylor: "Um, maybe before my birthday."
Me: (trying not to laugh and wondering if she realizes her birthday is not for another 5 months) "Are you going to sit on his lap or in the chair next to him?"
Taylor: "Um, I'll stand in front of him"

Oh boy.

It ought to be a good negotiation from here on out as I try to wear her down and convince her that sitting with Santa is a good thing.  However, I realize that even if I get her to agree to sitting in the seat or on the lap from at home, it will be a different story once we are standing in that line again.

I am not sure I am even going to bother with Erin unless she starts to talk about Santa herself.  I think she is a lost cause given that she saw the pictures from the previous post and had some choice words for Santa.

This is still my favorite season by far though as they are so much fun to watch.  It is the first time that they have really been in to Santa even it it means as long as they don't have to talk to him or sit anywhere near him.

Christmas with kids through the years (pictorial)

2006 - Taylor - 7 months

2007 - Taylor - 1.5 years

2008 - Taylor 2.5 years, Erin 10 months

2009 - Taylor 3.5 years, Erin - 22 months

Christmas Season part 1 of many

I decided to create a blog to provide insights into the life of a Dad with two girls (who have lots of opinions) and another girl on the way due to arrive in the next couple of weeks.  I am hopeful that this will be something that my kids will enjoy reading in the years to come as I document the adventures of being their Dad which is a job that I love very much.

Today is Dec 6th, one day before their mother's birthday which she has been reminding me about for a month now.  Taylor and Erin don't seem to care at all because they are very focused on Christmas this year, more so than ever before.  We went to the mall the other day to get the girls a haircut and Taylor saw Santa and immediately wanted to go and talk to him.  Erin was fine seeing him from a far and the other side of the rope was about as close as she wanted to get.  We convinced Taylor that we could come back after her haircut and talk to Santa then and were very happy that she did want to go up to him because she was much like Erin in previous years.  As a matter of fact, my favorite Santa photo so far was one of Taylor on Santa's lap screaming about as loud as her lungs could foster.

Anyway, we went and got their girls haircuts which was entertaining; some screaming and "I don't want to go first, let Erin" and afterwards we headed back to see Santa.  They had to finish their pop pops (lollipops) that they got from Mastercuts first but once that was done, we got in line.  After the boy ahead of us sat nicely on Santa's lap and smiled for the picture, it was our turn.

Let the drama begin!  Erin clung to the back of my leg as if there was a ferocious bear in the big red seat and Taylor went mute even though she said she wanted to talk to Santa.  Eventually Taylor agreed to sit on the box next to Santa's chair but on the side furthest away from Santa himself.  Picture a big box next to Santa's chair and Taylor on the end furthest away from the armrest and you'll get the idea of what we werre dealing with.  That would have been ok if I could have gotten Erin to sit between Santa and Taylor but she wanted none of it.  I turned my attention to trying to get Taylor to sit closer to Santa but I think I might have had better luck winning the lottery at that point in time.  We decided to leave and come back another night when we could dress the girls up for the picture since they were a little bit of a mess that day anyway.  Of course, as soon as we got out of Santa's sight, Taylor found her voice again and started screaming because she really did want to get her picture taken even if you could have parked a car between her and Santa.

We left defeated and to be honest, I wish we had gotten that picture because it would have been funnier than the screaming Taylor picture from a couple of years ago.  Maybe when we go back, she'll still sit as far away again and we'll take the picture then which will be better anyway because she'll be dressed up this time :-)

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls with Santa.  As you can see, they were very happy!

Taylor - The picture was taken in 2007 so Taylor was about 1 1/2 at the time.

Erin - Coming up on 1 year old in this photo.  Notice how much Kendel was concerned about Erin being upset.

Looking at these 2 photos, these girls kind of look like twins separated by a couple of years which isn't surprising since we get asked all the time if they are twins.

I am going to try and find some more now of the girls over the years at Christmas time.