Video Saturday! Now With 1000% More Adorableness!

Laura captured a short video from yesterday's morning workout.

I think I'll try to do Video Saturday more often. She's adorable and it can't all be captured just in pictures!

Picture Day! Adorableness and Exercise!

This morning I tried to do some crunches as part of my daily workout routine.

Lois decided I looked like a great pillow.

 She thought it was great fun when daddy continued to do his crunches. She thought it was hilarious.

It was even funnier when she kicked me in the face. Her laughter echoed throughout the entire house at that point.

She's an adorable stinker.

 Eventually I just ran with it and started doing bench-presses with her.

She went limp like this throughout the entire thing but kept laughing.

She's my goofball and I love her very, very much.

A Small Digression

Good morning.

Pardon me a moment or two. Please, go about your daily business for the next few seconds while I get my mind in the right gear.

...

Right. Thanks.

I had to look at some of the adorable photos I've put up of Lois.

See, I had to remind myself of the adorableness.

Because last night? Last night.

Lois cried from 11:30 PM to 3:30 AM. Nothing was wrong except that she wanted to be held. When she was being held she wanted to play. When she wasn't being held everything was wrong with the world.

It wouldn't have really been that bad, most days.

Today? 2.5 hours from right now?

Laura is defending her PhD in Materials Engineering.

Last night was rough.

I know Laura will do amazingly today because she is amazing. By the end of the day she will be Dr. Laura and it will be awesome.

But this little girl, last night?

Pardon me. I need to go peruse the Friday Picture Posts, recent videos, and other adorableness.

And then I have to go wake Laura after only about 4 hours of sleep so she can get ready for her PhD defense.

Little girl, if you're reading this some day in the future, know that we love you, very much.

Otherwise last night we would have looked for a roving band of Romani to pass you on to.

A Brief Conversation

Laura: "How did we get a ridiculous baby?"

Me: "Hmm. Let's think about this. Your genetics, me being around her essentially 24 hours a day since her birth? If she weren't ridiculous I'd be amazed."

Laura: "You're saying it's your fault?"

Good Morning

This is a very old photo. Just so you know.

Lois is almost over her cold. How can I tell?

I can tell because I'm not completely exhausted this morning from being woken every couple of hours last night.

I can tell because it's after 6:30 AM and she's still asleep.

I can tell because I'm a dad and I'm psychic.

One of those three reasons may be a lie. You decide which.

For the first time in about a week, I was able to sleep almost through the entire night without being woken up, which is awesome. Don't get me wrong: either me or Laura are there for her when she needs us, even in the middle of the night, and we don't begrudge her that since she doesn't yet understand how much everyone needs to sleep.

That being said, the other night when Lois was awake every-hour-on-the-hour, we were trying to figure out if there were any roving Gypsy bands around here.

Kidding!

We were just going to see if Aunt Julia or Auntie Amanda wanted to adopt her.

Kidding!

Mostly.

Things I Was Too Busy Laughing At To Photograph

• The little one has had a cold lately, which sucks for everyone involved. That being said, she's pretty adorable when she sneezes and then follows it with three or four fake sneezes. She seems to love getting "blessed."
• Dropping her book off the chair she decided she could pick it up without getting out of the chair. She lay on her belly and reached down as far as she could. I watched, knowing what was about to happen but decided that she had a very low possibility of getting hurt. She leaned forward until her weight pulled her straight off the chair, onto her head, and into a somersault, landing her flat on her back. Today she learned about gravity.
• Lois ran at the cat, shouting "Kitty!" The cat, startled and not at all a fan of Lois, took off but got stuck momentarily in the corner. Lois then charged forward, arms out-stretched, and yelled "Hug!" The cat literally jumped over her head and sped away to a safe hiding place. Lois tried to keep up, yelling "hug" several more times.

Whoops! "Picture" Friday

I kind of forgot to use the camera as much this week as I normally do so instead I'll put this short adorable video. I'm probably going to start putting up more videos of the little one as long as I keep getting good things to share!

So, win-win for all of you, I suppose?

That's My Daughter

Lois decided that it was time to wear a boot. Because boot.

She put it on, walked around, walked out of it, put it back on on the other foot this time.

I didn't have my regular camera on me but my phone has a thing it calls a camera so I used that instead.

 A little while she got onto her Y-Bike (which she absolutely adores) and tromped around, using only her booted foot push herself around.

The cat was not impressed.

My daughter is ridiculous. Adorable and ridiculous.

Your Daily Dose of Adorable

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There's nothing I can say here that'll make this any cuter.

Doing Something Right

Every now and then I get something right.

Don't worry. It's rare.

One of the things I'm doing right is that books are an "anytime" toy. No matter what I'm doing I will stop and make time to read to Lois if she brings me a book.

It's even easier now that she walks over, hands me the book, and says "Book!" It's adorable.

I think one of the greatest kids magazines out there is Highlights. I grew up with it and now Lois will grow up with it too. She's already started with a subscription to Highlights Hello. The stories are short, matching her current attention span, and each story has a little blurb at the beginning to help parents stretch it out into something more fun if their little one seems to be drawn to it.

I think reading is one of the greatest things any child can learn to love and I know that I want to do everything in my power to ensure that Lois loves reading as much as I do. Books being an "anytime toy" seems to be a good start. Once she starts getting older though I kind of wonder what I can do to help her keep loving books without overdoing it.

I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have. What did/do you do for your children to get them to love reading? What worked/works best in your experience?

How do I make her love reading without her realizing that I'm MAKING her do it?

The Little One Starts Arts

 Ever since Christmas I've been drawing, using the art supplies that Laura bought me in one of the best gifts I've ever received.

Lois has watched stoically as I make my marks on the page and then she started demanding I give her the charcoal so she can do the same thing.

Yes, her hands get a little messy when I let her use the charcoal but today we started incorporating the crayon sticks as well!

She picks out her own colors, puts the ones she has used back in their place before choosing a new one, and makes her marks on the page.

She still likes the charcoal more but lets me know when she wants to add the color.

It's really pretty awesome!

This is me.

At the end of each drawing session she usually points at her creation and says "Lois!"

Today, she drew this drawing over the course of half an hour or so, pointed at it, looked at me, and said "Daddy!"

It's the best drawing I've ever seen.

EVER.

Father Fails Friday: A Picture Guide

 It's been a rough week for everyone.

Laura's in her final couple weeks of her PhD, I've had a nasty cold, and Lois has to deal with two parents who aren't as attentive as they could/should be.

We're trying; it's just a rough week.

Peek-a-

BOO!

She has a love for all things not hers, especially if they're electronic and breakable.

She hasn't called 911 on our phones yet but I wouldn't be surprised if we have an officer come to our door some day to talk about mysterious hang-ups from our location.

In advance, I apologize for wasting your time, officer.

I really like this photo.

Lois gets very snuggly in the morning, especially when she's been awake all night keeping us awake.

 For my birthday I bought myself a keyboard and Lois absolutely loves it. She especially loves trying to climb on it but we're going to pretend that's the first step to being a musical genius.

She gets very serious sometimes, starting off into space (or at the tv).

 Here you can see her "Dad, put the camera down" face combined with her "Daddy was the one who dressed me today" socks. It's a winning combo!

BELLY BELLY BELLY BELLY!

Mood Swing, or Father Fail?

Toddler moods are strange.

Sometimes they're rolling along, happy as a clam in a ditch, without a care in the world.

They won't stand still long enough for the camera to snap a picture of them because they have ENERGY and they need to MOVE and they're HAPPY. YAY!!!

And then, for no apparent reason, things change.

Sadness. Crying. Tears.

What could possibly make such a happy child go from happy-go-lucky to screaming and cursing the world that we live in, tears the size of an elephant and a look of hurt indignation? It happens without provocation, instantly!

Well, sometimes there's provocation.

Sometimes.






It's possible this last picture was taken between the first and the second picture.