Cleaning the teeth......

Kali 3.1 went for her first teeth cleaning at the dentist. She first sat down on her own and was OK with it all since there were no tools and there was a TV with cartoons at the end of the chair. Once the cleaning tools came out, she was leery of it all.

So I laid down in the chair with Kali laying on top of me and that seemed to ease the fears quite a bit. The dentist looked around with a mirror and Kali did well. She then used the spinning polisher on Kali's teeth. She did pretty well with an occational noise signifying that she wasn't terribly pleased with the situation. She got most of her teeth cleaned and then decided enough was enough. Dentist said no big deal and Kali got a Dora toothbrush and some SpongeBob toothpaste for her troubles.

I got my teeth cleaned as well after that while Kali watched some cartoons. Giselle 0.4 decided after babbling at the assistant for awhile that she'd take a nap. I was glad that she took that option, because I wasn't terribly happy with the assistant baby-talking to Giselle while holding sharp instruments in my mouth. It seemed like a really bad idea, but it's hard to voice those complaints with the sharp instruments in your mouth.

Mrs. Lime was shocked that Giselle wasn't a problem while in the dentist office. I had no concerns about the situation, but Mrs. Lime was nervous that I didn't have a babysitter and that Giselle would fuss and cry the whole time. I think mothers don't have a full understanding of just how smart these babies are even at this age and how much they manipulate their moms and their emotions. Giselle knows that she can fuss at any time when Mrs. Lime comes around and she'll instantly get some milk from Mommy. She abuses it at times, but there's no way Mrs. Lime is letting that little baby go without anything.

Meanwhile, Giselle and I have a much different arrangement. There are times when she fusses a lot and I can tell that she's hungry. There's another form of crying where I know she's just turning up the volume hoping her mom get suckered into the room. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. The amusing part about this crying is that Giselle knows that Daddy knows what she's doing. So many times, I'll stand there and watch her and she'll smile while screaming. She knows that Daddy's not buying what she's selling and that's pretty funny to her, but she also knows that if she keeps fussing, she's got a shot at drawing Mommy's attention.

I should note that Giselle is an excellent baby overall. She only breaks out the fussing on rare occasions. She maximizes her fussing opportunities.

Checking out dancing........

Mrs. Lime and I headed over to a dance studio that some friends use for their girls. We told Kali 3.1 that we were going over to look at a place she can dance to see if she liked it.

I knew we were in trouble as soon as we hit the parking lot. There were girls giggling in the parking lot for no good reason! Just goofing around. I even noted the situation and vocalized to Mrs. Lime what I was seeing. She just laughed at me.

Then we entered the building. It was all over. Girls and moms EVERYWHERE! Pinks and purples galore! Girls down below were warming up for an acrobatic dance class. Good God. Of course, Kali ran right to the railing and giggled while watching the girls do flips and other things.

Mrs. Lime asked Kali if she liked the place. Her response was that she had forgot her ballerina pajamas at home so she didn't have anything to wear. That's right. While Mommy and Daddy were just coming to see if Kali liked it enough to take summer classes, Miss Kali was ready to jump right in and get started. Worse yet, she then spotted the dance costume wall and got the bright idea that she could just get a costume now and get started.

We got the info for the place and got on the mailing list. She said they'd probably have new classes in June, so Kali will have to wait a couple of months to get started. On the way home, Kali noted that boys don't take dancing classes. She said that boys take 'dragon classes', an apparant reference to girls be princesses. She made sure to tell her Papa the same thing later that night on the phone when he asked if she was going to take dancing classes like Papa.

"No Papa. Boys take dragon classes."

So says the aspiring dancer.

Where's Limelicker?

Geez, has it been nearly a week since I posted? What have I been doing? Too focused on basketball and the inevitable hangover once Mizzou's season is over I suppose.

I'll be sure to rectify the situation promptly.

Tourney time!!!!!!!

It's that time of the year again. The NCAA Basketball Championship begins TODAY! Woohoo!

Really excited for it to get started. Love to watch or listen to all the games I can. Hoping that Mizzou can win their opening game and get a shot at the higher seed. My bold prediction is that MU will win their second game if they can find a way to beat Clemson. We'll see how it goes.

Go Tigers!

The logic of a three year old...........

Mrs. Lime and Kali 3.1 were engaged in a conversation about our trip to Disney in Orlando next month. I'm paraphrasing from Mrs. Lime's account since I wasn't present........

Mrs. Lime: We'll ride the Teacup ride.

Kali: With Mommy and Daddy?

Mrs. Lime: Just with Mommy. Daddy gets sick on the Teacup ride.

Kali: Does Daddy like lemonade?

Mrs. Lime: Yes, Daddy likes lemonade.

Kali: Can we pour lemonade in Daddy's teacup so he doesn't get sick?

She just doesn't understand.......

Me: I'm going to be home around noon on Friday.

Mrs. Lime: OK. Any certain reason?

Me: Mizzou is playing around 1:30 PM.

Mrs. Lime: (laughs)

Me: What? It's tournament time! I can't miss the game. You're making fun of me!

Mrs. Lime: No, I just think it's funny. It's your vacation time. You do what you want to do.

Me: (stern look)

Mrs. Lime: (laughs)

MU back in the NCAA tournament.......

There were a few years before the last two years where Mizzou didn't make the NCAA Tournament. It was a four year drought to be exact. It was so painful to watch the selection special and not have Mizzou as part of the excitement.

Now, Mizzou has its second straight NCAA bid in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Next year, we have some high-level recruits coming in that should allow us to continue to improve as a program. It's so exciting to have Mizzou playing well again and we have Coach Anderson to thank for this resurgance in the program. Hopefully we continue to keep going in the right direction and we never have to deal with another four year drought like that one.

Go Fish!

Kali 3.1 has been working on some new games. Her latest conquest was learning how to play 'Go Fish!' We've actually had some good contests early on. Of late, she's gone to cheating and I've had to call her on it.

1. She likes to ask for cards that she doesn't have in her hand.
2. She says she doesn't have any of a particular card in her hand even though she does.

So we're working through the process of learning how to play the game without cheating. I think once she gets over the thrill of saying, "No, I don't have that! Go Fish, Daddy!", then we'll have some games that are a bit more competitive. As it is, she tends to win a bit more, but I suppose it allows her to have a bit more self-confidence.

Why?

I saw that Corey Haim, a child actor who had no real health issues, died of a drug overdose this morning. While I don't have any real connection to him in particular, I find it totally baffling that someone who is given a wonderful gift of life decides to lead themselves down such a self-destructive path.

I'm sure that not everyone agrees with every facet of my life or my decision making. That'll never happen. With that said, I've always tried to do what's right and make good decisions, even when I fail to do so. So to see someone toss caution to the wind like Corey did just seems like such a waste.

I've already told Mrs. Lime before that I feel like my life is a success at this point and any good things that come to me from this point forward are just gravy on top. I have a wife that far exceeds my wildest expectations and two girls that allow me to remain grounded on what's most important. I wish that everyone could say that about themselves, but stories like Corey's illustrate that's not always the case.

Oh, and when I do kick the can in 50 years, someone needs to remind my family to play 'Time Of Your Life' by Greenday at my memorial service. It's now formally in writing so no one can forget. It's definitely not a normal song request for a memorial service, so best to mention it now.

Giselle 0.3 picture blowout........

Probably only a mini-blowout, but thought I'd toss a few up.....







And some pictures hanging out with Tinkerbell 1.5. Tink's not the brightest dog, but she loves being with the girls.........

Hello?

I get a call at work every day from Kali 3.0. She likes to call me and tell me all about what she's doing that day. It's generally entertaining and it's probably a good social/verbal exercise for her. When I can't understand what she's saying, Mrs. Lime usually chimes in to help me stay on the right path.

Today I got a call from Kali. She was telling me all about her breakfast and that she and Mrs. Lime were going to play some games together. I wasn't able to understand one of the statements, so I asked Mrs. Lime what she had said. Only one problem.......Mrs. Lime wasn't there. Kali had found my name in the phone book and tapped it to call me all on her own. Mrs. Lime came down after a while to find Kali and I having a conversation and inform me that Kali had called me by herself. Kali was pretty proud of herself.

She's still not getting a cell phone any time soon.

Holy moly......what a week.

Well, it's been an interesting week to say the least. Went in for my vasectomy and came out with some 'issues' that have created a month-long recovery time. No lasting effects, but a bit more painful experience than I was hoping for when I went in to have it done. The doctor said my situation rarely happens and he was pretty upset that it happened in a patient he knew. Thankfully, I have a prescription to assist with pain management and I should be good to go soon enough.

I can't complain too much. This was my first surgery and my complication isn't terrible. Most people can only wish for that kind of health through 35+ years. I'm very lucky.

Who's left?

We were sitting in the living room watching TV. There was:

Kali 3.0
Giselle 0.3
Mrs. Lime
Me
Grandma
Grandpa

At some point, Grandpa decided to head to bed. Kali enquired where he was going and we told her. She then said that "it was up to Grandma, Mommy, Daddy, Giselle and me".

Grandma then decided a bit later to go to bed as well. Kali said that "it was up to Mommy, Daddy, Giselle, and me". Mrs. Lime asked what it was 'up to us' to do, but Kali just repeated her previous statement.

I was a bit under the weather and decided I would head to bed. Kali said "it was up to Mommy, Giselle, and me now". I finally figured out that she had either seen on TV or heard us say that it was "down to" some number of people and she had mistakenly kept saying up. Mrs. Lime told her that we were actually down to Mommy, Giselle, and Kali. Kali agreed.

Translations are key with a three year old.

That'll teach me to watch a game at my sister's house......

We went over to my sister's house last night to watch the Mizzou-Iowa State game. Kali 3.0 and Gwen 2.9 were playing, screaming, and bathing together while we watched the game.

The game eventually went into overtime. I was standing up watching the ending. Zaire "Big Shot" Taylor went from one end of the court to the other in six seconds and tossed in the winning basket. I jumped up in excitement. Only one issue........their ceiling is only eight feet high. I slammed my knuckles into their ceiling, taking the skin off a couple of them.

My brother-in-law remarked that he was just glad I didn't put a hole in the ceiling since they were moving out in a couple of weeks. Thankfully, their new home is supposed to have vaulted ceilings, so I should be able to watch games at their new house without fear of injury.

If you're reading this........

it means that I have officially been removed from the ranks of fertility by a scalpel and scissors at the hands of my urologist.

I'm officially infertile barring the 1 in 400 occurance where the tubes grow back together on their own. So if Mrs. Lime suddenly is pregnant at any point in the future, you know that I've hit the jackpot in all the wrong ways.

See Daddy!

Kali 3.0 has been looking at an old engagement photo of Mrs. Lime and I over the past few weeks. Yesterday, she brought it over to me. She pointed at my head on the picture and said..........

"See Daddy? You've got hair there!"

That's right. My ever-so-honest daughter just pointed out I'm going bald.

For what it's worth, I'm likely going to give my head a good buzz in the coming months to remove all doubt, but Kali was nice enough to confirm that aging is actually taking place.

Discipline...........

Last night, we were hanging out in the living room. Kali 3.0 was playing on the couch across the room from me. At some point, Kali starting doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing.

Me: Kali, you stop that right now!

Kali: No, you stop Daddy! 1! 2! 3! 4! 5! You stop!

Yes, that's correct. I just got a warning count from my child. Kali ended up being the one in trouble, but I suppose she took her pound of flesh in the process by counting at me.

My monthly political post.........

I'm annoyed far too often by the need the news networks have to focus far too often on the extreme kooks of the political spectrum.

Religious right says something stupid? You can be sure it'll be shown.

Glenn Beck saying something stupid? Yep, it'll be on TV repeatedly.

Any Hollywood political wanna-be's make a dumb statement? Oh, it's definitely gonna be on.

While we're presented with all of the various forms of stupidity on both sides of the argument, there are solid, well-informed arguments that aren't presented at all to the public. Why? Because they're solid, well-informed arguments that require far too much thought to properly assess. Who wants to waste time thinking through the possible solutions to the problems facing our country?

With that, I present a speech by George Will. You don't have to agree with what he's saying to know that he's done a great job of assessing the problems and presents his ideas about those problems in a well-reasoned speech that still provides sharp wit to keep the audience's interest. It's a 30 minute speech, but it never is boring. Would it be too much to ask the gossip-like news networks to present more of this instead of the stupidity that they currently circulate?

George Will's Speech

She's kinda smart (Volume 1)........

Kali 3.0: I see it Daddy! There it is! (Points to Taco Bell)

Me: That's right! We're going to get tacos, aren't we?

Kali: I see it!

Me: OK, we're going to get tacos!

Kali: Turn left, Daddy! Turn left!

Me: Would it be OK if I turned right so we could go to Taco Bell?

Kali: Yeah, turn left.


So she knew where the place was. She just didn't know left from right. We can't all be perfect.

She's right (Volume 2)..............

Kali 3.0: Daddy, can you put the tops back on the castle towers?

Me: Sure. (Starts to place cones on top of cardboard castle that she's been coloring)

Kali: Daddy NO! You're not putting it on right!

Me: I'm putting them on top of the towers.

Kali: No DADDY! You're putting them on the short towers. They go on the tall towers. (points to the taller two towers)

Me: Oh, you're right. Sorry about that.

Kali: See, I told you so.

She's right..........

Kali 3.0: Daddy, I want an egg please.

Me: OK, do you want a color in your egg?

Kali: I want PURPLE!

Me: Hmmm, I don't think we have purple.

Kali: Yes, we do.

Me: I don't think so. Let me see what colors we have.

Kali: Yes, we do.

Me: No, we have (pointing at bottles as I say the colors) blue......green.....pink......and purple. Oh, I guess we do have purple.

Kali: See, I told you so.

Spring weather?

We had a hint of warmer days to come. It was around 50 degrees outside today. After a punishing winter (it takes a lot for me to dislike winter) where we had several days where it barely got above zero, we're finally closing in on spring. We're also in the last part of February, which means that March Madness is right around the corner. It's my favorite time of the year. Can't wait to get the conference and NCAA basketball touranments started and see what happens. Hopefully we receive another March surprise from Mizzou again this year!

The Queen of Heat

Mrs. Lime was shocked at my previous post that I was getting hot while she was pulling extra blankets out to keep warm the other night. She said she was so cold that she was considering moving to Kali's room where it was warmer.

I told her I'd just sweat it out. I've got plenty of t-shirts to soak up the perspiration.

The great thermostat debate........

We've got issues.

My wife can't keep warm enough. I sweat profusely if the thermostat is set anywhere above 68 degrees. Never was that more evident than this morning.

I was rolling around in bed feeling hot and sweaty. I was peeling back the covers and trying to keep cool. Finally got up when the alarm went off and took a shower. When I was done and came back out into the bedroom, Mrs. Lime had already got up and got a heavy blanket out of the closet and put it on top of our duvet. I double checked the thermostat: 70 degrees.

This will be a "Til death do us part" issue. I don't see any resolution.

Yeah me!

I did it!

First time ever that I've managed to put Giselle 0.2 to bed by feeding her a bottle and having her fall asleep while feeding. Big milestone.

I have no idea how long she'll sleep, but I'm focused on baby steps. The glass is definitely half-full.

Kali 3.0!!!!!!!!

Today is Kali 3.0's third birthday! Woohoo!

She's got a big day planned. She's requested to go eat over at the "dinosaur place". That's code for T-Rex, which is a restaurant with large automated dinosaurs and huge fish aquariums. It's a great place to go eat. Plenty of stuff for a three year old to look at while waiting for the food to show up.

When we get home, she's got a birthday cookie ready to eat. It's got pink icing on it (go figure) and she's already picked out a Little Mermaid candle that she wants to put on top of it. You can never have enough princesses in the house.

Happy Birthday Kali!!!!!!

Holy information overload!!!!!!

I went with my family and my wife's family to Lake of the Ozarks this weekend to go to a grape and wine convention. Learned tons of stuff about the industry and about wines. Great stuff.

Kali 2.11 and Giselle 0.2 both had a lot of fun playing with their Grandma and Grandpa while we were down there. Giselle was constantly trying to talk with Grandma and the rest of the people. She sees everyone else (especially Kali) chattering away and wants to get involved. She has started waking up around 3:00-3:30 AM to eat of late, but I think that has more to do with her growth than anything else. The girl likes to eat!

Kali had an early birthday celebration with the family and got to open a few birthday presents. She also read a lot of books with Grandpa. She was really wound up all weekend long. All those grandparents along with Mommy and Daddy aand Giselle created a lot of excitement.

Back to the daily grind today. Gotta make some money.

Ready to go already........

Kali 2.11 has been awfully excited over the last couple of weeks since we told her that we're going to DisneyWorld in April. She's constantly focused on it in her mind. Anytime you ask her where we're going tomorrow or something like that, she immediately responds "DisneyWorld!". We then have to talk her down and help her understand that isn't happening until April. Unfortunately, telling a 2 year old that it will be two months doesn't really register on the time scale.

She's pretty fired up about eating breakfast at Cinderella's Castle. I told her we could go over to Cinderella's place on one of the mornings and eat breakfast. She gets all starry-eyed thinking about what it would be like to go to Cinderella's house. It's sort of odd in that, to us adults, it's a fun fantasy that you engage in when you go to DisneyWorld. But if you're a two year old who watches Disney movies, it's all real. She's going to walk into Cinderella's Castle, sit down for breakfast, and Cinderella's going to wander by our table to say 'Hi Kali!'. Kali, after having a mind meltdown at the sight of one of her favorite characters, will be very shy and hopefully be able to pull herself together enough to take a picture with Cinderella.

Crazy stuff. She'll likely talk about this trip for months.

The new kid..........

We're slowly learning the personality of Giselle 0.2 and how different she is than Kali 2.11.

One big difference is that Giselle isn't terribly interested in a pacifier. If I'm in a pinch and Mrs. Lime will be available in 15 minutes to feed Giselle, I can sometimes hold the pacifier in place and Giselle will reluctantly suck on it. But she'll shoot it out within 15-20 seconds if you aren't holding it in place. It makes for a bit more crying when she's hungry. The good part is that you don't have a kid crying because she wants the pacifier, which can sometimes be a mixed signal when they're young.

Giselle is also big on motion. She likes to swing or walk around a lot. She will sit occasionally if you get her upright, but even that has its limitations.

I also button up my shirt all the way to the top when holding Giselle. She grasps a lot with her hands when she's hungry or upset. As a result, she often reaches right for any chest hair around my collarbone. There's nothing more painful than a irritated child who doesn't care if they harm you in any way.

Giselle is a very happy baby. If you're talking to her or she spots certain things that she likes, she'll smile away. I spent 15-20 minutes with her sitting on my stomach last night before I put her to sleep. Just chatted with her. She grinned the whole time and thought it was just the best thing ever. She also thinks Kali is very entertaining. She'll sit and watch everything Kali does and soak it all in. I think Giselle is going to progress much faster than Kali did just because she's going to learn a lot of things from playing with Kali.

Giselle also sleeps through the night and has for a month. I can't tell you how much easier that makes it for us as parents. It's so much easier to function during the day when you're not getting up 2-3 times every night. We're extremely fortunate to have a child that has differences from the first child that are all generally positive.

Computer geek 2.11.........

Kali 2.11 has a Sesame Street game on the computer that she likes to play. She has Mrs. Lime or I start it up for her and help her out with doing the different activities.

Last night, Mrs. Lime and I were sitting on the couch watching TV when we suddenly heard the familiar music from the Sesame Street game. We both quickly realized that neither of us had started up the game for her. She was sitting over in front of Mrs. Lime's computer grinning from ear to ear at us.

Kali had:

-Opened up the computer
-Turned it on
-Moved the mouse pointer over the Sesame Street icon
-Double clicked on the icon to start the game

Mrs. Lime told Kali that she was so proud of her for starting up the game all by herself. Kali simply smiled and said, "I'm smart!".

I'm not sure whether to be proud or frightened at this point. I'm thrilled to have a smart child, but.............