You can start feeling sorry for Lucy now

When I was a teenager, we had a dog named Taffy. At that time, my nephew, Matthew, was a baby and terrorized that poor dog. Back in my Heavy Metal concert days, I caught a couple drumsticks [Krokus, Great White]. Matthew got his hands on those sticks and chased the dog around the house with them. On one occasion, I was "playing" piano while Matthew and the dog were sitting quietly on the floor right below me. I started hearing this high pitched whine. When I looked down, Matthew had Taffy's ear wrapped around one leg of the piano bench and was pulling with all his weight. The dog never so much as threatened Matthew. She just looked up at me saying, "Why, in God's name, aren't you helping me?".

I'm not sure Lucy has that kind of patience. The video below is proof that I'm not helping matters. As I mentioned in the previous post, you'll notice that Charlotte is standing now. Crazy!

My apologies for the darkness of the video. I have to learn to brighten all my indoor video before uploading it to Google.

Who brings their 5 month old to an air show?

Me. That's who.

Before I continue this story, I should clearly state that I did bring ear plugs for Charlotte. Unfortunately, they didn't fit. Also, there were many other children her age there. So, I'm not the only crappy parent.

Overall, Charlotte really enjoyed Airfest. She's a people watcher and loves to show off for those around her. She's standing now [video later] so she can get up and enjoy the crowd. Until, the F-16 started it's show. Understandably, Charlotte was hysterical. The aforementioned ear plugs I brought didn't fit. A gentleman behind me offered me a pair that were smaller on one end, but by this time, Charlotte was so upset, she was having none of me trying to put them in. A well meaning woman in front of me motioned that I should try giving her a pacifier...because apparently she thought I hadn't already tried that. Eventually, we ducked behind a larger plane...not that it helped, but getting up and moving made her feel better. "Luckily", the F16 had mechanical problems and had to end it's show early. Needless to say, we didn't stick around for the Blue Angels. I'm not sure who was more traumatized, Charlotte or me...but I know who the people around me felt more sorry for.

What did I learn from this experience? First, if you insist upon bringing your 5 month old to an air show, get her a pair of those ear muff type ear protectors. It may not make it less scary when the ground shakes, but at least she'll be better protected. Second. No matter how loud a jet may be, people can still hear a screaming child above it all.

Mother's Day

Kaye had her first mother's day this weekend [more pics here]. We had a little brunch at Forest Hills on Sunday. Ok, I had a lot of brunch. For the most part, Charlotte and I tried to make it a fairly restful and relaxing weekend for Kaye. It didn't turn out that way, but we tried.

I learned that Mother's Day creates yet another one of those Fatherhood Inferiority Moments [FIM]. FIMs are those moments, as a man, where you are trying to do the right thing...trying to do right by your wife and family...and things just don't live up to what you had hoped for. Let's face it, by marrying me, we hope that Kaye has some pretty low expectations. We don't buy each other a lot of expensive gifts [if any at all]. But, there are moments where I try to do little things to make things special for Kaye. Typically, they don't work out.

Long story short, making breakfast in bed for mommy is hard to do with a kid that is making enough noise to wake mommy up. When mommy gets a cold-a really bad cold-even a restful weekend turns into an unpleasant experience. Maybe next year we'll try a trip to the races.

An odd couple weeks...

All's well that ends well, I guess. A couple Sundays ago [4-22] I called my mom to ask her if she'd be interested in visiting...and baby sitting for Charlotte while we celebrated a friend's 30th B'day. Mom politely explained that she wasn't feeling well and blew me off. By that Tuesday [4-24], she had checked into the hospital with a bowel obstruction. Thursday they operated and she wasn't released until a week later [5-4]. My sister and I spent most of that first week in Waupaca with her and then returned late last week when she was released. Charlotte and Kaye also payed a visit along with my Nephew Mathew and his girlfriend [Kudos to them for driving Kaye and Charlotte over].

Mom is recovering nicely at home and will probably be out of work for at least the next 3 weeks. People keep asking what a bowel obstruction really is. I don't have an answer so I just keep telling them she swallowed a quarter.

Charlotte's got something to say

I shot a little footage of Charlotte the other day when she was in the mood for talking. She hasn't been cooperative, though. I've been trying to get something similar since she started "talking" but, without fail, every time I grabbed the video camera, she clammed up.