Average Grod's Average Blog

Emma! Shanna and I are having a LOT of fun with her. The guys at the manor will attest and I am hoping that someone will let me know when new pictures of her have been posted. I just received a package of Ethernet cables today and I will be setting up my home network. I have a lot of hard drive space now so I can get to work setting up some videos of Emma. Soon you guys will be able to see her in action. She is clapping her hands now and she is singing along to certain song such as her favorite, Old McDonald. She is still reluctant to walk on her own since crawling is so much quicker (and safer) but she did take a couple steps today on her own. She looks like Frankenstein stumbling around! She has figured out how to turn off the TV and we were having fun playing wait til dad turns on the TV to watch it and then turn it off. If only I could get her to turn it on for me I would be set. I can handle the turning it off part. She watches Sesame Street with me for about 15 minutes each day. She seems to get bored after that. Her favorites right now are Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. I think it is because they are the biggest, brightest, and most animated of all the characters she has seen. She seems bored with Bert and Ernie and the Count. Sad because I am partial to them.

Funny how it has only been this last month that Emma hit the point where she has spent more time in the world than in the womb. Pregnancy seems so far away and I think we are closer to the next pregnancy than the last one (DON'T get your hopes up, get excited, or spread rumors as we still have no plans for that sort of thing yet). My point is that we have only had Emma for 10 months. 2 of which I wasn't working or participating in her life all that much. That leaves me with a short span of just over half a year with her and yet I can't even imagine my life without her. In fact I can barely remember it that way. I think the biggest change, and this has much to do with the way Shanna and I have arranged our work schedules, is the loss of personal time. Alone time does not exist. It's possible but I have to trade sleep for it. I wake up to Emma every morning and I love it. Sometimes I roll over and beg for another 10 minutes but I always go upstairs and get her. The really odd thing here is that no matter how little sleep I am operating on I am never mad. Never upset at her. This isn't just me trying to be a good dad either. That kid has honestly changed me. I still get mad at people, just not her. Not yet anyway. It is hard too get upset with her waking me up because I really make her morning by opening her door and letting her know I love her and I am there to take her out of the crib and give her a bottle. We play til I go to work. When I come home Shanna and Emma are asleep. If I want to do anything by myself it has to be done between 12-3AM. Sometimes I can do stuff during Emma's nap but you never know how long that will be and I like to nap then since I have usually been up the night before. I need to work on my patience with other people (my uncle says the problem with being above average is at least 50% of the people you encounter are dumber than you and I think that is part of my problem) but this kid is helping out with that a lot. Some dork once said that everything he really needed to know he learned in kindergarten. I learned three things in kindergarten:How to flick pencils off of a desk, the barrel of monkeys isn't as much fun as you think it is, and remember to bring your mom on field trips cuz she might be able to save someones life but don't let her drive because she might close the car door on your teacher's fingers. As insightful as all this might seem I have never put any of it to good use, except for the pencil thing. I am however learning an awful lot from a little girl who is a long ways from kindergarten.