We have a tooth!

Giselle 0.8 has been a bit grumpy over the past few days. As noted, we thought it sounded like teething. Well, wonder no more. A small, white object is now peeking through her bottom gums. A tooth!

Giselle isn't nearly as excited as Kali 3.5 and I were to find it, but she'll get over it soon enough.

Computer time........

Kali teaching Giselle how to use the Barbie computer........

Teething monster alert!!!!!!

Giselle 0.8 is looking for anything to bite or chew on right now. She's got the occasional grumpies (which are rare for her) and voices her displeasure when there isn't a chewing object available. Mrs. Lime just ran to the store to pick up some Ora-gel for her gums. She's going to grab some teething toys to put in the freezer as well.

Until then, I get to try to convince Giselle that it's not a big deal. Early returns say she's not buying what I'm selling.

Girls, girls, girls........

Kali 3.5 at dinner...........



Giselle 0.8 in the bouncer.............

Giselle version 0.8!!!!

Hanging out on the couch.......











She likes to eat!!!!!!

We have mobility!

Been really busy the past week with the winery and a brief vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks, but we're finally back.

I see trouble in my future. I sat down Giselle 0.7 on her play mat on the floor this evening. I went into the kitchen for maybe two minutes at the most to help Kali 3.5 get a snack. When we returned to the living room, I found Giselle and Tinkerbell 1.9 nose to nose. Only one problem........Tinkerbell hadn't moved since we went into the kitchen, but Giselle had somehow moved eight feet across the floor!

Determined to figure out the cause of this eight foot movement, I placed Giselle back on the play mat and sat back to watch what happens. Over the next three minutes, I saw Giselle scoot and roll over the same eight feet to Tinkerbell to play with her paw. Tinkerbell was very well behaved other than the occasional big wet kiss that a Saint Bernard can hand out.

End result is that my daughter can now move. Time to put up the baby gate on the stairs!

Profound wisdom............

In the backyard...........

Me: What are you doing?

Kali 3.5: I'm blowing with my mouth to make wind so the trees move.

Me: That's crazy. You can't do that.

Kali: You don't understand, Daddy. I can use my mouth and my lips to blow air. See? (points at limbs that are moving 40 foot up the tree)

Me: I stand corrected. You've done a fine job of making wind.

Pushing the buttons........

I'm still learning this whole parenting thing, but I'm getting better slowly but surely. I'm baffled why I push all the right parenting buttons with ease at some times while I screw it up royally at other times. I have learned a lot about body language and non-verbal information when interacting with other adults and older kids. But none of that works with a three year old. It can be very frustrating.

There are some times that things work great with Kali 3.5, who is blessed (or not) with being my first opportunity at parenting. I use the right positive/negative reinforcement at the time that draws out the exact reaction I'm looking for with my comments. It's fantastic to find that sweet spot and both Kali and I both are happier when that happens.

When I do a lousy job, we both end up frustrated. At the time, you get so frustrated that you're not pushing the right buttons. It's not necessarily anyone's fault. I'm just not very good at reading the needs and emotions of a three year old girl. It's the thing you say will never happen to you as a parent, yet here I am trying to put the whole puzzle together.

Hopefully Kali doesn't get too damaged by my futile (at times) parenting efforts. Giselle 0.7 should have a much better time of things. I'll have it all figured out the second time around, right?

TP! TP!

How much toilet paper can a home full of women use? It sure seems like a lot. I try to purchase a large quantity of toilet paper so I don't have to make supply runs too often. Yet it still seems (much like tonight) that the supply dwindles to nothing in no time at all.

Our saving grace is that we don't have a cat in the house that unrolls all the toilet paper rolls. That would increase our problems dramatically.

Phrases my daughter uses now........

You're the boss, applesauce.

That is correct.

OK, Mr. Silly.

Holy moly.

Oh my goodness.

What did you say??????

Giselle's not screaming, she's talking!

I had to wash my feet because Papa's buildings are dirty!

I pulled a weed, I fell down and I can't get up (Papa says this phrase applies to him as well).

Papa needs railings on his stairs. It's dangerous!

Smarter than she should be.......

Kali 3.4 has a pretty advanced mind for her age. She thinks on the fly really well. The other day she was writing people's names on paper. We worked through a few different names that she asked me how they were spelled. After that, she wrote down a name all by herself and brought it over to me. I read it and couldn't figure out what it said. I told her that she must have spelled it incorrectly.

Her response: "No, it's the name of a stranger that you don't know. That's why you don't know who it is!"

I stand corrected.

Cute baby wins.............

We went to Worlds of Fun a couple of days ago. We met a few friends there and they were checking out Giselle 0.7. No problems finding someone to take care of the baby if I was riding a ride.

As we walked through the park, Giselle was the center of attention. Teenage girls were tapping their friends on the shoulders to show them the cute baby who was smiling and bouncing her legs in excitement every time someone noticed her. Moms and dads with grown kids were pointing at the cute chubby baby.

Kali 3.4 had a fun, but rough night. She was playing chase with another girl and managed to take a header on the sidewalk, leaving a nice round bruise on her forehead. While initially upset, she was more embarrassed than hurt after a few minutes. She blew it off and got back to riding rides as quickly as possible. Tough girl.

Who's louder?

Kali 3.4 always has plenty to say. She's three after all. But of late, there's a new mouth in town.

Giselle 0.7 has decided that she should have a say in all conversations. When I say all conversations, I do mean all. She's constantly making sure that any conversation involves her. She'll interrupt the chatter with a scream, babble, giggle, or anything else that gets everyone else's attention. Once someone turns to acknowledge her chatter, she just smiles back. She's always very happy to see someone else paying attention to her.

Hopefully Kali doesn't pick up on that and use it for attention as well. We can only stand so much noise in the house.

Pruning, pruning, and more pruning.......

I went through the vineyard today and did a ton of pruning of all the vines. Too many leaves and vines surrounding the grapes are a bad thing, so we have to take out a lot of the extra foliage that isn't producing any grapes. The good thing was that the weather cooperated. 85 degrees and sunny isn't bad at all. I never have minded the heat too much as long as I'm busy doing something.

Beauty (Papa's horse) has been playing games with one of the workers who fills her water. She's been knocking over the water tank so he has to come into the pen and put it back up. I think he's going to bolt the tank to the wall to try to stop her. I'm thinking the Clydesdale may win.

Very perceptive.........

The other day, we we're packing up the family to head out to dinner. Mrs. Lime took Kali 3.4 and put her in the car. I came out a minute later with Giselle 0.6. As I was approaching the car, I realized that I was carrying Giselle and didn't have her car seat. I said 'whoops' and Mrs. Lime chuckled at me. When I went back in the house, Without anything being said by Mrs. Lime, Kali turned to Mrs. Lime and said, "Daddy forgot Giselle's car seat".

She's getting a bit TOO smart for her age.

Short on time and pounds.........

I'm getting the 'short timer' comments around work pretty often now. I'm being sent off to the non-IT world. I'll soon be managing a three year old and a six month old. Now THAT'S a challenge.

I've also been working on getting into better shape. I'm not sure it's even a diet. I've just cut my fat intake, eat mostly chicken and turkey, and exercise on the elliptical for 15 minutes a day. Really not a huge sacrifice, but it's paying big dividends. I'm down 17 lbs. in 3 1/2 weeks and only about 8 lbs. from a good weight for me. Not bad at all. I'll be doing more manual labor over the next couple of months, which should help build more muscle and lose a bit more weight.

Ma'am, your headlights are on......

You know, there are some days when you really want to tell that 75 year old woman in your office, "Did you know that 30 year old shirt that you are wearing clearly allows people to see your bra?"

I restrained myself from saying it, but it was difficult. Good thing I'm on my best behavior today.

It's not that difficult to follow the rules.......

At my current workplace, they have a pretty simple dress code. You can wear jeans and a button-up shirt if you're a guy. You can wear just about anything except halter tops and flip-flops if you're a lady.

So what do several of the ladies do? They wear flip-flops and halter tops. As a result, management is going to crack down and issue a much tougher dress code. It would have never changed had everyone stayed within the rules. Now, it's going to be dress code armaggedeon and the same people breaking the rules are now going to complain about the new rules. Mindless, I tell you.

Well that went surprisingly well......

My regional manager just contacted me and said that if things don't work out for me in my future job that I'd be welcomed back to work in the company. Always good to have options and avoid burning bridges.

So I just turned in my resignation.....

My manager is about to receive a pretty big shock. I just sent him my letter of resignation. He's already saddled with resource shortages and me leaving is only going to make it worse. Thankfully, I've helped him out quite a bit, so he won't have any ill will towards me. It should make for an exciting Friday!

Lights out!!!

Mrs. Lime and I went out with some friends last night. One of our friends at the party got a text from their babysitter saying that the power was out in our neighborhood. We had left the girls at home with a babysitter too. Mrs. Lime got on the phone to check on things. Kali, after the initial scare when the lights went out, was now painting by flashlight. Everything was well.

We got home to find the power still off. Kali ran right to us to tell us all about the lights going off. After all, it was her first big power outage! Giselle hardly noticed and decided to sleep through it. We got our power back about 20 minutes after we got home. The world was back to normal.

Dancing and making noises

Kali 3.3 heads over for her second dance class today. She was VERY excited to go. I'm sure that she'll get to meet more new friends and learn more dance stuff.

Giselle 0.6 is quickly becoming the talker in the family. She's yapping all the time and is pretty sure that you understand every word she's saying. She's also learning how to interact more. Mrs. Lime caught Giselle leaning over to blow with her mouth on Mrs. Lime's arm. She was trying to make noises, much like we do when we blow on her tummy. Smart girl.

She's a comedian and didn't know it........

A few days ago, I went out into the backyard to grill some steaks. Kali 3.3 went out with me. I turned on some music in the backyard, which is output through two speakers that look like rocks in our flowerbeds.

Kali: Daddy, what's that noise?

Me: I think it's music.

Kali: Where's it coming from?

Me: I don't know.

Kali: I think it's coming from that rock.

Me: Really?

Kali: Yes, it's coming from that rock, Daddy!

Me: Rocks can't play music.

Kali: Yes they can! It's a real rock music instrument!

**rimshot**

Kali 3.3's first bowling outing............

Kali went with me to bowling a week or two ago. Thought it would be fun to see how she liked it. We got there and even managed to get our own lane with bumpers already set up. For the uninitiated, the bumpers are rails that pop out of the gutters and keep the ball from going into the gutter. The ball just bounces off the bumpers until it reaches the pins.

Can you guess which color ball Kali picked?



Down the alley it goes......



Success!







Posing for the camera...........





You see that third frame next to Kali's name? That's a 'X'. Her first strike! Note the blazing speed of 4.2 MPH on her ball (Daddy was throwing around 16-17 MPH for comparison).



Kali's final score. Not bad at all.......

Flower planting!

Mrs. Lime and the girls did some flower planting about a week ago. Here's some pics of Kali 3.3 helping out.....





Giselle 0.6 decided all this work was for the birds and hopped in her car where she could supervise the process.......

Plowing through the vegetables...........

Giselle 0.6 is making her way through all of the forms of blended vegetables that Gerber has to offer. A brief summary.....

Peas - "I've tasted better."

Squash - "That's what I'm talking about! Those are good!"

Carrots - "First bite wasn't too good, but it got better as we went along."

We've got green beans coming later this week. I think she'll like them.

What is that?!?!?!

Giselle 0.6 got her first taste of vegetables tonight. She got to try out some peas.

First bite: gag reflex
Next several bites: not sure
Final few bites: I think I've had enough of this stuff, Dad.

Mrs. Lime forgot that Kali's first dose of veggies ended in her throwing up, so I think we'll cut Giselle some slack. It's no small move from rice cereal to peas.

Giselle version 0.6!!!!!!

Final measurements are in from the six month checkup.

Height = 50%
Weight = 90% (!)

Doc says that breast-fed babies thin out after 6 months. If so, Giselle should see a downward trend from here on out. Right now, she's just healthy!

Only a week to go.......

Next week, Kali 3.3 starts up her first dance class. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to the class environment with other kids. I know she'll be fine, but it's always a new experience when she gets to do something different for the first time.

Giselle 0.5 is talking quite a bit more. If a babble can be interpreted as opinionated, Giselle is opinionated. She loves to make her presence known and is very frustrated if you aren't paying attention to her words of wisdom. She also is quite frustrated at how her legs and arms don't get her anywhere. She's doing a lot of kicking and grabbing, but the balance isn't quite there yet to sit up on her own. She'll be happy when she can keep up with her sister and/or the dog. I think she'd take either at this point.

The gift that keeps on giving.......

A few months ago, I went down to the cafeteria to get my morning shot of caffeine. When I went up to pay, there was a lady who had her breakfast but forgot her money. I offered to pay. She thanked me and told me she'd repay me. I told her it wasn't a big deal and not to worry about it.

Ever since then, if this lady is down in the cafeteria when I go down in the morning, she leaves the exact amount for a refill with the cashier so I don't have to pay. I think we're about even by now, but she just keeps on paying. I'll have to pay for her breakfast soon before she gets too far ahead.