Soccer Has Started

And P is just not sure on how she feels about it. Due to work meetings (oh, how I LOATHE the "We're just meeting for appetizers to go over the new product line." meetings anymore!) I've missed all of P's practices for soccer. I thought all was fine until our first game proved me wrong.

We started off the morning happy and excited for our very first soccer game!



(If you're wondering exactly WHY Daisy seems so attentive it's because Jim has a piece of Payton's salami in his hand.)

We arrive a bit early for a change to the soccer fields. Payton immediately proves that yes, she is my kid. As we're walking across the field she finds a black cricket to check out and try to catch. (I spent many a baseball evening picking clover in the outfield.)




When we finally coaxed Payton across the field, she and Jim practiced dribbling the ball. They moved over to practicing goal kicks as I busily cursed myself for not bringing a chair ( I'm just not sure of protocol as I've missed everything soccer related so far and didn't want to look freakish with a full chair setup. Yup, I'm an idiot. Every single parent is smarter than me and was well equipped for an hour on wet ground.) Suddenly, I realize Payton is absolutely sobbing on Jim's shoulder. What in the world? I figure it's stage fright so I signal to the coach who's looking for her that I wasn't sure what was up, we'd get back to him. (I'm forever amazed at the language that's understood between parents.)

It is indeed stage fright (she later tells me that she was scared because she didn't know what was supposed to happen. Make a mental note to go over EVERY new situation with her in detail to avoid this happening again!) I let her finish sobbing on my shoulder. I then decide to see if she wants to just sit and watch with the two other girls on the sideline from her team. She's good with this plan. As we're walking in back of the goal, I clarify to her that as a parent, I can't go on that side with her because it's only for players, not parents. She of course, doesn't want to leave my side.

Now I'm really getting frustrated with her clinging to me. I tell her it's fine to quit soccer at this point if she really hates it. She relaxes and is happy to head for home. Then mean mommy emerged. I told her she wouldn't be able to do dance then because I was not going to invest in anything else if she would just up and quit one thing that she begged for half way through. Yes, mean, but effective! She decided that perhaps she could give it a try and wait on the sidelines. She ran over to the other two girls and promptly began using the blanket they had to sit on as a sort of "parachute" game. Too cute!

She finished out the game rather well!





I think they lost but P seemed to have a great time! We had signed up for a "skills" session (it was free! I love free!) for today. She enjoyed some and hated some of it. I don't think she's the next Mia Hamm but at least she's trying it. I think she's be doing straight dance when this season is over!

Oh, and I have to add! A little girl named Tori is also on her team. Payton and Tori have been in the same daycare for years. This year Tori isn't going to Brooksedge at all. So now, they both love that they're on the same team. I found that when they were on the field together, very little soccer was played. Payton helped with a goal and they spent at least five minutes hugging and high fiving so that the other team promptly scored again. I think coach Greg may want to keep them off the field at the same time!

Word Recognition

Last night was Curriculum Night at school. They explained what a typical day was like and exactly what they would learn this year. One of the things they're working on is word recognition. There is a list that they need to know by the end of the year. Not huge words, just everyday, often used words like the, a, and etc.

Well, P brought home a new library book today. I told her it would be fun to see what words she might be able to pick out in the story. She said "Yeah! Words like POP!". POP is a word she readily recognizes because she has a nightgown that's really a promo baby doll t-shirt for P.O.P which is a Champagne. I'm thinking that luckily no one else will make the connection when she blurts out "And words like BEER too!" Oh man, it's going to be a long couple of years in school.

First day of school!

Well, Payton is now an official school aged kid! She was so excited the first day of school. This was how thrilled she was waiting for the bus. And now I need to stop in the middle of a post to get something done. Sorry, I promise to complete this thought after bathtime tonight!

A Lost Post

Well, Payton is now an official school aged kid! She was so excited the first day of school. This was how thrilled she was waiting for the bus. And now I need to stop in the middle of a post to get something done. Sorry, I promise to complete this thought after bathtime tonight!

Way too long!

Ok, it's been forever since I've posted anything. So sorry! I'm just doing a quickie post for now to do a little update.

Mary and Natasha came for a a weekend to attend a pageant and it was so nice to see them!

Went back east for Manuel's graduation party and had a great time all around.

Had mom and dad over for a long, relaxing visit.

David and family stopped by and we really, really enjoyed the time together.

Payton has started school and with a total of one day under her belt, has realized that yes, recess is indeed the best time of the day!

Oh! I completed my very first college class in just under 20 years and received my first A! Yay me!

I need to post more with tons and tons of pics to bring everyone up to date

Daddy Trip

I am in Virginia with the Reserves, being all that I can be. (Wait, uh, wrong service). Accelerating my life.

It is hot, there is no cell service, we work too long...just like the REAL thing in 2004/2005.

Missed Mother's Day, and a total of 2 swim lessons.

I'll try and throw some more up here later

Jackie trip

Jackie leaves today for a trip she is taking through work (she won it! You go Sweetie!) and of course we have to have our traditional morning of departure spat (could be about anything; we always find something!)

Wait, you mean EVERYBODY else doesn't do this? Well, we make up for all of you. Today it was about laundry detergent. Of all things.

QOTD's (with extra flair)

Interrupting my normal routine to recount about 3 of the more famous recent quotes, I begin with the story that (trend alert!) makes me sound like a bad dad.

Payton came down stairs, and not only managed to turn on the TV and Cable box, but navigate to her favorite channel without any assistance. I asked her how she did it, and she sighed heavily, and the said, "One.....four......nine Daddy. That is Boomerang. Duh!"

Moving on to the state of the weather, she informed me that "Once all the snow melts, it will be summer, and I can wear dresses every day!". I wish it was that easy.

Finally, yesterday she noticed that my tastes in food are a little different from her and her mother's. She told Jackie, "Daddy likes his food hot, like hot lava!" She was QUITE proud of herself for that analogy, and the fact that she used an analogy means that my DNA is in there.

We found a hill to sled on!

Well, after 2 days of snow, sleet and more snow P and I ventured out to see if we could find a sledding hill in flat old Hilliard. And we did! She had an absolute blast. She spent close to 2 hours sledding before I could tear her away from it. She didn't want to go (of course!) but I was frozen and it was getting late. She realized she was starving when we got to the car and whined about how hungry she was. It was about a 5 minute ride home. She fell asleep and I can't wake her up! Ah well, I'm off to strip off her outerwear and see if that gets her up.

Lovely Table

I was trying to find a place to put my radio in the office. I covered an old sewing table with a table cloth and was distracted away from the project for a bit (suprise, suprise, eh?) P was home with me and was busily playing behind me. When I turned around I found that she'd moved the wine/candle thing from my dining room table onto the covered table and moved not only a chair but her booster as well. She then proceeded to bring her soup in from the dining room and have a little lunch with me while I worked.

Here's the setup minus the dirty dishes:

Sunday Nap

Strep

P started the week with a bit of a sore throat. I was actually concerned on Monday because she really wasn't her bouncy drive me nuts self. And her teacher said she actually took a nap at naptime so something was definately up. The problem with this kid and being sick is she absolutely refuses to take medicine. I wish they made "gummy" medicine like they do vitamins, we'd never have a problem! Anywhoo, Payton woke up sobbing at 3:30 in the morning screaming about her throat. Would she entertain tylenol? Why no, no thankyou. I flipped on the tv and tuned in Boomerang Network (good, good mommy!). I went back to sleep while P sipped on a tylenol spiked grape juice.

Days like this really make me love my job! Jim and I split up. He took P to the doctor while I went in for my moringing meeting. I picked a very tired, in pain, simpering child up from Jim. He headed for the office and I headed for home actually looking forward to a day on the couch with a sick kid and bunches of videos to zone out on. Payton continued on her refusal to take any sort of medicine and all of my fantacies of a lovely snuggly day home went out the window. We hit a classic standoff. I wouldn't let her do anything (no tv, computer, music, coloring, books read by me) unless she took her medicine. No amount of doctoring it in juice, milk or between bites of soft cookies would entice her to take it. I finally called the doctor to request a new antibiotic. Knowing that any change would get her to take it. Luckily my hunch was right and it worked!

So we spent yesterday home as well. Of course now she was full of vim and vigor and wouldn't let up for 2 seconds.

JUMP!

While surfing the net the other day I came upon a video (you know, music video, all the rage when I was in High School, not so much now) of Van Halen's "Jump!" P was smitten. We set her up on Jim's computer so she could listen at will. Which she did for at least a half an hour. Ah, daddy's little girl!

A timid step..

...into the world of blogging, when it should be a bold, decisive step into the future. Oh well, not the first mistake as a parent, and CERTAINLY not the last. This is Jim, but my handle in most of the cyber world is DaddyOfPayton, so I will retain that. Unless/until Mrs. DaddyOfPayton tells me to change it.

Hello to all, and I hope to post more as the days go by. My approved contributions will be quotes of the day, and milestones as I see them. No, you don't get to pick them, just me.

Today's quote is from yesterday actually, and occured during a shopping trip. I asked the Pengin (my nickname for her) where Mommy was, and her reply was both compelling and knowledgeable: "Oh, I don't know, but I have the car keys, so she hasn't left us behind."

Bravo, little one. A life lesson there.

Yet again in my footsteps!

Payton's new obsession is mixing stuff in the sink from recipe books. She looks at whatever book I have open and adds things to a bowl of water. The stuff I let her have are anything in the spice drawer. The kitchen is quite fragrant by the time she's done mixing!

Echoes of Me

P and I were coming up the stairs today. I was a bit ahead of her and she didn't like that. She started yelling "Hey, slow down, I'm not as fast as I used to be!"

They're Heeeere!

The worms are here, the worms are here! We are now a happy kitchen composting family. Jim is so not thrilled with it but after he saw how much P was facinated by them, he felt just a teensy bit better about haveing them here.

I'd set up their little home over the weekend so all I had to do was dump them in. P was totally smitten. I was making dinner. She asked for a cup of white cheese (ricotta- kinda gross to eat strait but what can you do?) and pulled a stool over by the worms for a little dinner theater. She just chatted away at them as happy as can be. Here's P with her new pets!

Snow and a sad day in Columbus

Well, we finally got some snow! Hooray! BUT, the Buckeyes lost horribly last night so that'll make for a very subdued day on the streets.

We even let P stay up last night to watch the game (she has no clue about "the game" but after hearing about it from the teachers all day we felt we couldn't just send her to bed and not allow her to watch this magical thing known as "the game") She enjoyed cheering with the cheerleaders. In her opinion they didn't show enough of Brutus. She was so whipped from last night she slept until 8:30. Which as we know for her is like sleeping past noon!

Ok, we're off to school! We're late but we still plan on walking so she can try out her new leopard print boots and play a bit in the dusting of snow.

Mom brought this to my attention...

You don't have to become a member of google to comment. I disabled the feature so that any Joe off the street can comment so you all wouldn't have to feel the need to join bogger to comment on my drivel. Comment away!

Update on Grandpa George

I finally remembered to call Marilyn to see how George was doing. And I spoke with the man himself! He sounds great and was quite the chatterbox (yes, there are people out there that can out chatter me!). It was good talking to him and it sounds like life may be finally be settling down for them after a crazy 2006.

Firmly in the Half Mile Club

Well, not a huge accomplishment for some, a lifetime achievement for others. I'm actually up to a half a mile straight while running and I'm totally amazed! Hmm, are marathons far behind?

Getting Organized

The annual clean out the office has been completed! Yay for me! I got sick of tripping over everything and just plowed into it. It was such a mess that I really was totally overwhelmed. I broke it down to piles and just went for it. Oh, and I also went through all of my cabinets and files. Now I'm completely organized. Ah, feels good! I've attempted to post pics and it's not working. Check back later for pics.

Thank You!

P and I trucked off to the mall today to use her Build a Bear gift cards she was given by Dave and Mari. This was her third trip to Build a Bear. This by far was the happiest trip! The first was when Jim was going to Kuwait and at just over 2 she found the whole process disturbing. The second was with Justin and Aly and she enjoyed that one but really didn't grasp the whole concept. Today she had a blast! She wanted a Jaguar baby if they had one. They had a Snow Leopard which in my mind was close enough. Alas, she'd found this little brown and white dog and she was in love. She's named him Zingo and he has a happy little dog house to sleep in. She doesn't feel he needed any clothing so he's as naked as can be!

Getting Started

Ok, here is my first attempt and getting a place where the family can see what's going on with us! I want something to capture our daily lives in all their glorious boring details. Life is in the details and I hope to dig into the details.