Paternal Sunshine--Water World

Too Fast, Too Curious:  As we were starting the day, I looked up and somehow, in the blink of an eye, you were up in the big rocking chair.  I went real quickly to get my phone to snap a pic; somehow you were reading a book rocking really hard!  I’m a good father.  Promise.

"Can you get Kennedy out of here, please?"

Easy Rider:  We went for our usual stroll.  At the end, some Jack Russell Terrorists had gotten out of neighbor’s yard and were yipping at us in the middle of the street.  Kenz was surprisingly awesome as I shooed them away with my Pitching Wedge (I know, I should’ve gone with the 9 and taken a little off the swing).

Splash:  You played and played in the splash pad Gamma Evie got you.  And by “played”, I mean found a way to use all of the toys as cups from which to drink. ¡Salúd!

Then, we took a bath (photo not available) to wash off all our mosquito repellant.  Damn mosquitoes.

"This should be my last one.  I'm driving."

Feed (like Speed? Whatevs):  You did a pretty dang good job feeding yourself some mershed potatoes with a spoon!

Sensible bites....

HEBeing There:  A quick run to HEB, more cuteness, more non-inside-voice. Hey, lady, we’ll be as loud as we want.  What are we, in the Guggenheim?

A Fish Called Lola:  Off to The Y again to continue our swimming lessons.  You wanted to leave half way through, but when they brought out the plastic “baaws”, you got excited again.  This time, I wasn’t the only dude!  Another dad, Javier?, was there. BTW, the other babies’ names are Grace, Isabella and Isabella.  Hmmm…

Why don't you try and get a picture of this girl?!

Then home again for the usual shenanigans before bed, bath and beyond.  I love you so much!  You’re like a little person and you’re actually helpful.  As I put on your swimsuit, you started grumbling, “deesh!” and pointing to the diaper table.  I forgot to put on your swim diaper and you remembered!  I swear to God you remembered!  I love you so much, smart girl!

Paternal Sunshine--The Kid's Alright

I think I could get used to this!

Toy Story:  We pretty much just goofed around in the morning; playing with toys, putting stuff in & out of other stuff, and generally thrashing the living room.  You really know your colors and group things where they should go.  Barrettes with barrettes, blocks with blocks, kitchen stuff with kitchen stuff.  You love your kitchen!  “byeep byeep” when you press the buttons, “shhhhh” when you wash at the sink, stirring pots with spoons—then you serve us when it’s ready.

"Better than The Hunger Games."

Food Inc.:  After you killed your lunch, we met Mommy at work to go have lunch across the street from her building.  You were real good at the table and you ran through the courtyard when we got back to her building: “aaaahhh!”

Ava-Target:  We hit up le targét to get stuff for our trip to Port A!  You screamed your little face off and every time we saw a product with a dog pictured on the front (which was surprisingly often—look for yourself next time), you’d say “pyuppie!”

"They already put up back-to-school crap! NOOOOOOO!!"

Pine-nap-ple Express:  You took a two-hour nap in the afternoon!  More than two hours!  You took a one-hour nap this morning!  Crazy.

Just a little tired

Bathing Privates Ryan:  Before bed, you and Mommy took a bath together.  Sounded crazy fun!

Paternal Sunshine--The Life Aquatic

Long day, but fun!

Hairsplay:  did a pretty damn good chongo today if I do say so my damn self.

"Yeah, Dada, a ponytail pic.  That'll keep people coming back for more."

Lung Guns:  we’ve been needing you to get a chest X-ray for some time so your pulmonologist (that just means inhaler provider) can work on your baby asthma.  You were so awesome!  You just played and played in the waiting room while I filled out paperwork (I’m pretty sure I refinanced our house somewhere in that packet).  You even recovered like a champ after you fell off the stool.

The tech was blown away by how easy you were:  “Wow! One and done.” And I’m all, “Yeah she’s awesome!  What’d you expect!” And she’s all, “Well I didn’t know.” So I’m like, “Well now you know! We out!”  And you were like, “Peace, homes!”*

"look, lady, the strap goes under the arms"

Hope Floaties:  not only can you get yourself cleaned and have a good meal, you can also take swimming lessons at the Y-M-C-A!  As usual, you took to the water like a, um, fish to the water?  You were crazy and loud and shouted “BAW!” every time we did an activity with a ball.  Three more lessons left!

Eyein' the competition

Supper Troopers:  after swimming, we met Mommy at Doc’s for some burgers and memories.  Even though you were clearly exhausted, you were so easy and fun at the table.

Tired but hanging in there

Originally, this title was Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, but Mommy told me this is a pretty awful movie reference for any father-daughter relationship.  I should read more. 
A Long Day's Journey Into Night:  finally, we played at home with Mommy and then put your little butt to bed.  Busy day!

*pretty much none of this dialogue is true after the “one and done” bit.  Still.

Paternal Sunshine--Jungle (Gym) Fever

We didn’t take our usual stroll this morning because we had a blast at…

Floor-est Jump:  We went to “Little Gym”! (picture a Salvador Dali nightmare of pads and mats and rings and bars).  The “goal” for the day was to let the kids be independent—not cling to their parents.  Well, the way you slingshotted off to the equipment showed that this wasn’t gonna be an issue!  You hung from the bars by yourself, walked across the balance beam by yourself and you even stuck the landing! (unlike that little beyotch from Russia) Crazy fun!

...18....19....20!

sup?

"Now all that separates Lola from the Gold is the dismount."

Kid N’ Play’s House Party II:  We played around at home.  You definitely know your colors: matching them up on the caterpillar that Aunt Leyna got you.  You then “set the table” for me by putting out bowls and spoons.

File photo of Lola eating at the table. (c) Getty Images

You kept bringing me barrettes to put in your hair and pointing me to where they should go.  You got it!

Paternal Sunshine--Analyze This

A fun, easy day capped off with a psychological milestone? Prolly.

Easy Rider: Went on our quickly-becoming-daily walk.  More pointing, more cuteness.  When Kennedy gets ahead, you yell at her “Ba!” imitating my “back” command.  You’re really starting to boss Kenz around—I kinda like it?

(You'll notice the 9 iron in the stroller because of the packs of stray dogs that control most of the major cities in America)

Sleeping Beauty (awww….) : You took a beast of a nap!  I learned my lesson from yesterday and prepped dinner in the morning incase you didn’t sleep in the afternoon.  You didn’t sleep in the afternoon.

(Couldn't be more stimulated)

Mallbrats:  Since it was about 175^o outside, we, upon the advice of Mommy, went to the mall to, like, you know, walk around.  Idk, omg!  I ran into two former students buying stuff for college, you charmed their chones off.  You liked it when we’d run into to the mirror posts and go “booooom!”  Then, you stopped, looked at the mirror, and slowly, methodically removed your barrette.  Does this mean you have….

6^th Sense-of-Self: if you can tell that the barrette is on your head not some other damn baby, this means you know you exist!  Trippy.  How do we test this?  Classic. When Mommy came home we put some eye shadow (sorry, Piaget, they don’t make rouge any more) on your nose.  After playing with the sink faucet, you looked up and pushed down your nose!  Mommy shouted in shock, "She's GT!”  You're only 19 months, most babies don't have sense-of-self til they're two! (I didn't til I was a Sophomore)

Paternal Sunshine--The Oddfather II

Daddy Daycare Redux:  For last month of summer "Vacation" we got to spend a lot of time together (and save some scratch from daycare!).   Our time together started in earnest on Wednesday.

Easy Rider:  We started off with a "walk" around the neighbs, Kennedy in-tow. Kenz was surprisingly good, you babbled and pointed at everything we saw: "deesh [this!]!", "puppy!', and for some reason: "Turk has the bikini wheel." If you say so.

Swingers:  After we ran errands, we went to Garrison Park—it was bout 135 degrees, so we didn’t stay long.  You got your money’s worth, though.  Swinging with a “weeee” every time, doing laps through the playscape, sliding all by yourself, climbing all over the damn place.  I got my cardio in for sure.

Failure to Lunch:  Your hunger strike continues—you are clearly preoccupied with this Syria revolution thing.  What, Mommy’s broccoli mashed potatoes aren’t good enough for ya?  I thought they were delish!

Return of the Bed-I:  When we came back home you refused to take your afternoon nap—so I had to cook with you bugging me the whole time. (Remember, I love you). 

Great day, Lo!  Let’s do this the rest of the summer!

Bradley Reunion

Though we failed spectacularly at natural child birth (that epidural was goooood), we were invited to the Bradley Baby Reunion.  Our natural birthing classmates all met to get those little babies together.  There were eight couples in the class, and eight healthy babies were born since we all last met in December.  Beautiful babies! Lola has a ready-made pool of birthday party guests! At only five months!