Tag: Kayleigh

This blog goes to 11

A friend of mine pointed out that his blog turned 7 today. I was surprised because it was so close to my own “blogiversary.” (Does anyone still use that term?) So I checked and realized it wasn’t just close, it actually was my… anniversary of starting a blog. The old tradition was for me to forget about it until the 27th and then just copy and paste my entry from the previous year explaining what an idiot I was. Because, you know, keeping track of the day your blog started was very important at the time.

Anyway, since this is my first entry in a while and I probably haven’t talked to most of you outside of some random Facebooking, you should be able to guess that my “communicate more” thing hasn’t been panning out so well. But I will say that the health kick is definitely on the upswing. The gym around the corner finally opened and I’m already back up to 2.5 miles of running most days. Another week or so and maybe I’ll be back in my 5k form so that I can actually run a 5k.

Reading has definitely become a big focus and not only am I reading pretty much everyday, but I’ve already finished 4 books and am on pace for my challenge to read 24 this year. The photography and building hobbies are sort of on hold, but thanks to a trip to Disney World, spending time with The Kay has been more heavily prioritized. A lot of time spent with Legos has meant that sometimes she even wants to be with me instead of Mommy. Score one for Dad!

As for vinyl… well at least I’m listening to a lot of music in one form or another. And that reminds me, with new albums being dropped by the likes of St. Vincent, Wild Beasts, Beck, Neneh Cherry, Phantogram, Com Truise, etc. it’s about time I put a wrap on 2013. Maybe I’ll finally write something about the great albums from last year…

 

Who just turned 5?

This girl:

This girl!

I should really write more, but I pretty much forget how this thing works. I think I type words and then they appear on the Internet. I guess I’ll give it a try again. Either way, let me just say how amazing this little girl is – it’s even more amazing to think I had anything to do with it. I love you… The Kay…

Such a sweet smile...

Humor from a 3 year old

There’s something rather captivating about jokes coming from a 3 year old. It probably has to do with the mixture of Norm MacDonald-esque anti-humor delivery followed by the self-gratifying laugh of Jimmy Falcon. In the end, you just can’t beat the material.

K: Knock knock.
Me: Who’s there?
K: Blueberry.
Me: Blueberry who?
K: Blueberry who wanted to hold celery’s hand!

Or her classic bit:

K: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Me: Why?
K: To get to Costco!

That’s gold! I crack up no matter how many times I hear it.

June… July… August…

Hmm, it seems like some time may have passed since my last update. Enough time that I’m sure this site was written off by its rather limited audience as another in a long line of dead blogs. But I’ve got a shiny new laptop and I’m anxious to test out the keyboard. So, what’s been going on?

If my memory serves me right, my little girl turned 3 since the last entry. So that’s a big deal I guess… Also, in spite of our best efforts, she appears to be potty trained. Which is really great considering her terrifying fear of public bathrooms. At least now she has even more killer conversation starters like, “Are you wearing underwear?” (And yes, she did in fact start a conversation with an adult that way). And it really is nice to not be tossing away so much money on diapers, and instead be wasting 30 minutes at a time siting next to the toilet because she really doesn’t feel like getting up.

But that’s her thing. Not just in the bathroom. Everywhere. She wants to stay wherever she is. Want to go to the park? Nope, she wants to stay home. Want to go back home? Nope, now she wants to stay in the park. If she were someone else’s kid I’d say it was annoying, but since she’s mine I’ll just say that she’s a pain in the ass.

Oh, also my marriage turned 5. And we even got to go out for a real fancy pants dinner to celebrate. At 4:30 one fine Sunday evening… Such is married life with The K.

Let’s see, what else? I lost my job. I figure that’s big news. But it’s not like I really lost it, they just made it disappear. Whatever. I went out and got myself a new one out of spite. Also out of necessity. But mostly out of spite. No, really more out of the need to keep paying the bank so that we have somewhere to live. I’ve grown attached to having a roof over our heads.

Now that I’m slowly getting acclimated to my new life it seemed the appropriate time to break my silence. The last couple of months have been rather stressful, even when they were good. But now I need to get back to a schedule that will give me time for my own hobbies, like blogging, photography, music and bad movies.

Also we went to Dutch Wonderland. That was pretty cool.

Conversation with an (almost) 3 year old

Had a surprise visit at work today with an offer for ice cream.

K: Daddy, we came to get ice cream.

Me: Daddy’s not up for ice cream, why don’t you go with Mommy on the way home?

K: No, why don’t you have just a little bit of ice cream, and then you can go back to work and have fun.

I should probably get used to being overruled.

I love it when a plan comes together

Guess where I am. If you guessed Disney World, you’d be… almost right. Now guess how I got here. If you said by plane, you’d be totally wrong.

That’s right, thanks to the current run of “security theater” being put on by the TSA, this year we opted to drive down to Florida for our annual trip. While we’ve done this before, this is a first for The Moppet. And once the plan was set in motion, I really had to question my sanity in deciding to hop in a car for 20+ hours with a 2 and a half year old kid. That kind of travel is tough on adults. A toddler? That’s just crazy.

Yet somehow it worked – and worked really well, at that. Our plan was to get started by 4:30 on Saturday morning and drive as far South as possible before hitting the nearest serial killer-free motel. In order to pull this off, days – nay, weeks – were spent hinting at the pure joy that lay ahead in Florida and Disney. So much so that Kayleigh popped up, wide awake with excitement, when we tried to slip her sleeping body into the car seat. Amazingly an hour into her delighted cries of “Where are we going? Florida!” she actually managed to zonk out.

And by the time she woke up well over 2 hours later, we had already made great time and were ready for a buttery breakfast courtesy of a Cracker Barrel in Virginia. Beyond that, Kayleigh entertained herself with reading, coloring, and singing all the way through to her nap. And just when it seemed like she might be getting a little too cooped up, we were able to take breaks to rejuvinate everyone. By 8 at night, quittin’ time for the day’s journey had arrived and we grabbed a hotel room in South Carolina.

And get this – she actually slept! Unlike our last attempt (down in Atlantic City), The K was able to wind down in a reasonable amount of time and stay down for the entire night. I keep expecting her to freak out about going back in the car, but she seems to have caught on to the concept of travel and vacation.

Her excitement upon reaching out destination was pretty awesome to watch – and yet the big stuff doesn’t start until we hit The Magic Kingdom tomorrow. I’ll write about that after we’re done.

P.S. Please pardon any typos. This is, believe or not, the 3rd or 4th post typed exclusively on my phone while laying in bed. Time to go to sleep in preparation for my little girl’s big day tomorrow.