Kayleigh – Page 4 – THOMnottom

Music soothes the savage beast

Last night was just another hiccup in what has become a much easier nighttime routine for our little brat… I mean precious little one. Seriously, I’m kidding. Kayleigh’s been acting out lately but it’s the usual stuff. She’s still a wonderful joy to be around in the right increments of time…

Anyway, the little scutch had opted for a short nap which meant that half an hour before her bedtime she was already overtired. For those of you without kids and unaware of the concept of them being overtired, it’s the same thing as with adults – they get “punchy.” She was briefly lucid enough to give her grandparents goodnight kisses and willingly come upstairs in my arms to brush her teeth. But somehow between the bathroom and her bedroom the whole ordeal became too much for her to handle and, again, with the wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth.

This is how diaper changes become a 2 person job – assuming you don’t have a good restraint system in place. When a toddler switches moods, it’s easy to lose site of the tricks of the trade picked up over months of parenting. Frustration wins out over common sense and suddenly there’s two grown adults trying to to figure out how to pin down a 22 month-old without resorting to wrestling moves. Then it hit me: doesn’t this kid like music. So I broke out my dulcet tones, often described as a cross between Tony Bennet and Frank Sinatra (assuming that by crossed you mean “literally smashed into one another”), and tried to remember the opening lines of Kayleigh’s most recent most favorite song:

And amazingly, she shut up. So I passed the third line to The Woman because I don’t want to prevent Kayleigh from continuing to enjoy music (also because it’s a miracle if I can remember more than two lines of any song) and the rest of the process proceeded with little fanfare. That’s not to say the she went to sleep easily, but at least the portion that involved diapers and pajamas and books was uneventful.

Once again Jim Henson has come to my rescue. The fact that Kayleigh not only enjoys Sesame Street but can also identify characters such as Kermit and Fozzie Bear is a source of some pride for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a lot of the newer kiddie entertainment with my little girl, but watching her shake her groove thing to the psychedelic sounds Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem is a lot more fun that singing that damn Caillou song for the umpteenth time in a row.

For the record, “I don’t know how to thank you guys”/”I don’t know WHY to thank you guys” is still one of the greatest comedic lines in a movie. And while Kayleigh might not get all of the humor, our daily viewings of “Movin’ Right Along” have slowly morphed into watching more and more of The Muppet Movie together.

I just can’t wait for her to actually get the “fork in the road” line and laugh with me.

See Daddy in the window

Looking back over the last year or so, it’s rather amazing to see the changes in Kayleigh’s behavior around people. Especially me.

When Kayleigh was a newborn she was very easy going around me. In fact, being held in my arms and hearing my voice often got her to sleep faster than anything else. But as any parent can tell you, newborns, babies and toddlers are very different creatures. After a suitable number of months passed by with her mother and I filling ye olde traditional family roles, her attachment issues became rather singular. Gone were the simple days of letting her pass out in one arm with a beer or Wii controller being put to use by the free one so that I could give Mommy a break. Instead it was “huggy Mommy” this and “huggy Mommy” that.

To make matters worse, my work schedule eventually ran afoul of her sleep schedule. Kayleigh fell into the habit of an early bedtime, and that meant that getting home past 6 PM ran the risk of the “nighttime routine” already being in progress. At the very least we began the procedure shortly thereafter. And thus she made the connection between my getting home from work and the dreaded state of sleep coming soon. Much to my dismay I began to be greeted with tears and wailing and moaning and gnashing of the teeth.

But like I’ve said, life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop… no, wait… Ferris Bueller said that. I said something about newborns and babies and toddlers and how different they are and how much things change. So more change happened. Kayleigh bedtime moved later and later until we weren’t even heading up stairs until after 7:30 most nights. This gave me the chance to actually play with my little girl after tossing off the shackles from the daily grind. Now my arrival became a time for rejoicing, not lamenting.

She may not willingly admit it to anyone at this time, but Kayleigh seems to really like her old man now. Daddy coming home gives her even more options for amusement with Thomas trains and juggling balls and oven mitts. So as it gets close to the right time, she starts asking (or telling) Mommy to “see Daddy in the window.” And that is The Woman’s cue to pick her up and let her walk in our bay window. From that perch the wee lil’ one gets to jump up and down excitedly and ask for high fives through the window as I come up the walkway.

Kayleigh isn’t going to be mistaken for a Daddy’s girl anytime soon. Her preference is still obvious to anyone who spends more than 5 minutes around us. But she has at least started to express a preference that I remain a part of her life and spend a little time with her under certain terms – and that’s a big deal after the past few months. Just the other day she asked The Woman if she could “See Daddy at work”. That phone call was a major high for me. Even if all of my co-workers weren’t completely enamored with her I’d still say yes. Fortunately they all are, which makes her visits to the office a nice break for everybody – right up to the diaper change.

Dandelion Wine

If I could, I’d rip up my whole front lawn and replace it with dandelions…

…or maybe daisies…

Daisy 2

Yeah, I’ve got lots of photos to share. But lately I’ve been too preoccupied with the incredible smiling girl and her nest of curls. I would hope you guys understand.

I love my 50mm

I have been rather inactive in my pursuit of photography of late. Sometimes you just gotta switch lenses to see the world a little differently and get some inspiration. Other times you just need to step back a bit and gain some new perspective. My personal favorite lens (Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM) has a tendency towards tight shots thanks to its focal length (coupled with a digital back):

Beautiful? Of course. But after 800 shots or so, they can all start to look the same. But then you step back, and a whole new photo comes into view:

And now we have something else. The true beauty of a prime lens is that it forces you to be active in taking a photograph – none of this twisting and turning to get the framing right, you have to move your body. It makes me feel more like I’m taking a photograph and not just pressing a button.

I’ll miss this when it’s done

Kayleigh has been teething for the last… oh… 6 or 8 months. Maybe not continuously, but it sure feels that way. As soon as one tooth makes its way through, about 3 or 4 follow right behind. By my calculations she’s gotta have at least 40 or 50 in there. This has to end soon, right?

Alright, this latest bout appears to be on the mend, but if not for the Motrin – the patron Saint of parenthood sleep – I’m not sure our sanity would have made it through. Not only have the sharp objects poking through her gums been driving her bonkers, but her recent attempts at staking a claim to some amount of independence has occasionally made it difficult to sympathize. I am not necessarily a strong man, so let’s just say that it’s a good thing she’s too young to understand certain diatribes that may have been spoken out loud.

As much as I curse the day she began making diaper changes a stressful activity (after 18 months they suddenly bother her? wtf?) and look forward to a time when she’ll sometimes answer with a “yes” instead of the constant barrage of “no”, the reality is these things just aren’t that big of a deal. Already my memories of 3 AM wakings with her curling up in my arms while I skip another 3 or 4 hours of sleep for her benefit have developed a sense of fondness. Even those horrible nights in Florida when she rarely slept more than 2 or 3 hours straight and forced us to watch Brainy Baby videos in the middle of the night seem sweet today.

Why?

Like I said, this is the easy stuff. As much as parents grow anxious to ditch the diaper days, how many are excited by the prospect of dealing with the teenage years? I’m not about to romanticize the overwhelming lack of sleep, but how many of those really difficult life situations Kayleigh faces in the future will be solved by rocking her for an hour in the middle of the night? Do you think some Motrin hidden in apple sauce will get her through junior high?

Last night I came close to losing my cool during another butchering of our bedtime routine, but reminding myself that she’ll get over these new teeth soon enough and a couple bad nights really aren’t a big deal certainly helped me in the face of tonight’s disaster. We’ll get through this together – one look at that face and how can there be any doubt?

A typical conversation

Kayleigh: Daddy!

Me: Kayleigh!

Kayleigh (holding up blue crayon): Whatcha got there?

Me: Whatcha got there?

Kayleigh: A crayon. What color is it?

Me: What color is it?

Kayleigh: Blue!

And repeat…

Your moment of (baby) zen #10

It’s snowing

While technically last winter would have included Kayleigh’s first snow, this time she is actually aware of the fluffy white stuff falling all around. And she seems to be looking forward to more of it.

A couple weeks ago when a not-so-record 6 or 8 inches fell on my house, we took her outside for some exploration.

Snow can be terrible around these parts, but I still miss that almost constant blanket on the ground as a kid. It’s just so much fun for play, even if you’re still not convinced you can walk in it.

This year ended decently, hopefully that carries into the next one…

Almost a wonderful day

One of these two turned a year older today. The other one threw a fit in the nice restaurant that we went to for breakfast. Can you guess which is which?

Being upset with a 17-month-old toddler is a crappy feeling. Especially when her outburst was fairly uncharacteristic and she was very well behaved almost the entirety of the weekend besides the incident this morning. I look forward to her turning 18 months when I assume her separation anxiety will magically disappear overnight.

Tag: Kayleigh