Home, Sweet Home

Being at home over the last week has been GREAT! No matter what job I have, the best part of my day will always be coming home. My three girls are the best in the entire world. I love every minute that I have to spend with them. Bailey, let me know on Monday that the feeling is not always mutual. Last weekend was the Fairfax Women’s Retreat. By all accounts everything went great. Emille was on the Steering Committee and My sister Becky was the speaker, so how could it have been anything but great?! But all this meant that the girls and I got to spend a lot of time together this weekend. This, in turn, meant that “Dora the Explorer” and I got to spend a lot of time together as well. By Sunday night I was having a tough time getting all of the Dora songs out of my head and I started realizing that Bailey was addicted. Right then and there I decided that the next two weeks would be a detox period for Bailey. She got up around 0700 Monday morning and as I sat her down on the couch to get her a bottle she said in a groggy voice, “Daddy, watch Dora?” Firm in my resolve I replied “No, we are not going to watch Dora this morning.” This immediately perked Bailey up. Not getting her morning fix was not going to do! I think she decided that I had not heard her properly and repeated in a gentle voice “Daddy, I watch Dora now?” Again, “No, we are not going to watch Dora this morning.” On being rebuffed a second time she decided to change strategies. Da-Da, (the more innocent version of Daddy that she knows I love) I watch Diego (Diego is Dora’s cousin who is a character on the show)?” I laughed and said “No, We are not going to watch Diego either.” She then proceeded to ask if she could watch every character on the show and with each “No”` her voice got a little louder and a little more serious.

Bailey: “Daddy, I watch Tico?”

Daddy: “No”

Bailey: “Daddy, I watch Issa?”

Daddy: “No”

Bailey: “Daddy, I watch Benny?”

Daddy: “No”

Bailey: “Daddy, I watch Swiper”

Daddy: “No, we are not going to watch any movies this morning”

She sat stunned and angered for a few seconds and as I walked into the kitchen to get her bottle I heard her say in an agitated voice “Daddy, go to work!”

I suppose my life would be much easier as an enabler, but I have chosen the tougher path.

I have had several experiences like that over the past week. I have tickled, smiled, laughed, been slobbered and drooled on, spat up on and gotten more kisses than at any time in my life.

Today Bailey and I took off this morning to hit every indoor slide in our immediate area. We got to Chuck E. Cheese at 0930 and had the place to ourselves. She had a blast and I did not spend a dime. I may have to write about that later.

I have also learned several things about my girls during this time off:
Bailey calls everything hers- my ball, my bed, my car, my jeep, my baby Bry
Brylee stares at food like a homeless kid outside the bakery window on a snowy night
Bailey and I would both rather throw the exercise ball at each other than actually use it to exercise
When we pulled into the Chik-Fil-A parking lot Bailey said “Oh Wow, whee (whee=Slide) , Sweet tea! I like it!”
Brylee has learned to wave
Bailey loves to dance. Even when she is sooo tired she will get up and dance like Bernie at weekend at Bernie’s

I am living the sweet life and I still have over a week left before works starts.