Cookie anyone??

What?  You don't want my half eaten cookie?!
Come on...you know you like cookies!

A Growing Girl.

What can I say!  We've been busy.  New house, new life, new jobs, barking dog, and a precocious kid.  She is wonderful....just full of it.  Full of wonder.....

Florist with 'Grasshopper' capabilities

Chef McLane

Proper PPE for the music event that is about to begin!!

The Battle of the Shows

I know good television.  I've chosen to entertain myself with the best shows ever: Breaking Bad, Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, The Tudors, The Walking Dead, Longmire, and Shipping Wars.

What? Don't know Shipping Wars?!?!  Well...it isn't super popular....yet.  It is just simply entertaining.  The premise behind the show is that these independent truckers travel the nation shipping ridiculous stuff on the back of their trailers in all kinds of weather, all kinds of traffic situations, and deal with irate buyers and sellers.  It is awesome!  Well...at least I think so.

My daughter decided to let me know that this show was 'Silly'. Again and again and again one evening.

She leaned over my shoulder while I was sitting on the couch watching the show on my phone (I should have been cleaning up after dinner instead but I'm kinda addicted). With a confused look upon her face she asked, "WHAT IS THAT?!"

I was watching the episode where these professional shippers were transporting a bright yellow nuclear fallout shelter across the country to an 'end-of-the-world' buyer.  Bel looked at this contraption on top of the trailer and kept commenting on it, incessantly. "Daddy! (laughing at the top of her lungs) That is SOOOO silly! Why are you WATCHING THAT?" She kept on laughing and commenting on this for at least three minutes.  Enough so that the laughing and giggling became contagious.  I began to laugh, crack up, and eventually began crying from so much laughter.  My wife joined the conversation halfway through and looked at us like we were two crazy children of hers. "Two peas in a pod", she called us. She wasn't quite sure about the entire idea behind the event, but started to laugh just the same.

Something from that show triggered the intense response from Bel. I don't know if it was the yellow fall-out shelter or the fact that her Dad was spending anytime watching the transport of this nuclear blast-resistant home. Whatever caused my daughter to burst into extreme laughter, it was well worth it.  I've rarely ever seen her laugh SO intensely about anything. Especially an adult oriented show about shipping.  http://www.aetv.com/shipping-wars

She then kindly asked for me to watch something else less silly.
-Bel: "Dad? Can we watch Busy Town with Huckle instead?"
-Me: "Sure, honey. That's not silly at all."

They're not dessert!

Everyday after school I have snacks ready in the car.  It is not because the school (which is excellent) does not provide food.  Heck, they provide breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and an afternoon snack. My kid consumes some serious calories throughout the day.  But, for some odd reason, right when I pick her up she is SERIOUSLY hungry.

(The first minute after entering the car)
Bel: Dad....where are my snacks?
Bel: Do you have a surprise snack for me?
Bel: Do you have a milk?
Bel: Why don't we go and get ice cream?
Dad: Um....

Well....this day was not what I had expected.  I had forgotten every snack, milk and surprise because of an afternoon appointment that had run long.  So, the backup plan was to go to Wal-Mart and grab the few household things I needed along with a snack, This decision meant dragging Annabel past all the impulse buy shelving on the way to the dish-washing liquid aisle.  Bright idea, right?  Wrong! Really, really wrong.

As we past these 'pods' of impulse, Bel would extend her hand out and try to grab anything within her reach. And I have to admit.....she is really fast at grabbing things on the fly while hanging halfway out of the cart!  She grabbed M&Ms, peanuts, loofah sponges, and of course a movie....Gremlins.

-Dad: 'No, honey.  You cannot watch that!'
-Bel: 'But Dad! It has a cute little...little...what is that anyway?'
-Dad: Seriously.  You don't want to know.

After quickly throwing the movie back into the impulse 'pod' for some other sucker to purchase, I continued on my journey to the back of the store to retrieve three items: a healthier snack for Bel, dishwashing liquid, and dog treats.

Of course the scenario is predictable when you are shopping with a child and that child spots the chip aisle from 200 feet away.  How does she do that?!

Her eyes lock, not on the chips, but on the chocolate covered pretzels.  'Okay', I say.  I guess if you are going to snack on something it could be a lot worse.  And besides....I LOVE chocolate pretzels!

By the time we arrive at the check-out area the two of us have eaten half the bag of pretzels. Bel also has chocolate ALL over her face.  To avoid embarrassment from a mother cashier or the soccer mom with the three perfect kids and a ridiculous Gucci bag standing in front of us, I do the self check-out thing.

Bel loves to scan the bar codes anyway.

As we head to our car with our groceries I explain that we are heading home to cook a pizza for dinner and have some carrots as our vegetable.  She looks at me with that stink-eye look she gives everyone that she disagrees with and says, 'Sure Dad, that sounds great.  I love pizza.  We can cook it right after I finish my snack.  Because chocolate pretzels are not dessert...they are a snack.  The bag says so!'

 Priceless......

A Boat Show Story

Every night I read multiple books to my child so that she may understand that reading is cool and from reading knowledge is gained.  I have patience and read the SAME book multiple times every evening before she crashes.  Sometimes I even fall asleep reading these books to my daughter and of course she nudges me and whispers, "Dad, Dad, Dad. You're supposed to read this book to me. Not fall asleep! Ugh."

Each night though, after all the words have been consumed from the books and placed within my daughter's head, she still wants more. She then asked, "Dad.....can YOU tell me a story?" Of course I will heed to my Bel's wishes. I will create some tale to please the child even though I could curl myself up in my daughter's tiny bed and fall asleep immediately. This is where the art of story telling really begins.

I created this elaborate story about a young girl who was going to have a glorious time at school the next day (which was Friday).  This girl was going to laugh, dance, and sing in class.  She was going to play games with her friends at school and create complex pieces of kid art that her Mom and Dad would hang on their fridge.  This kid was going to eat ALL of her lunch at school.  And....if this girl was REALLY REALLY good she could go to the Atlanta Boat Show on Saturday with her Daddy. (Booyah! I'm doing something adult this weekend and coning my daughter into it.)

A tremendous amount of excitement came out of my daughter at that moment.  I could see the sparkle in her eyes and the big smile on her face.  She wanted to go see boats!  Excitement even filled me up at that moment just by living vicariously through her.  I could go and see a grown-up event that would be fun for me....as well as for my kid.  (Not to mention that kids get in free!) This was going to work!  At least I thought so....

"Now, Daddy.  Let me tell you MY bedtime story" , she replied.  She began the story slowly and then it started to speed up. "There is this Princess.....WHO really wants to go to the boat show.  Annnndddd......her Mom and Dad took her to the boat show on Friday instead of taking her to school! THE END"!

No way....my kid didn't just school me? Did she? She then smiled and snuggled down for the night.

I had a true negotiation on my hands the very next day.  Let's just say that I was able to get her to go to school but, not without a scene.  I was unable to prevent multiple parents from hearing and seeing the tantrum my daughter was having over not attending the boat show that morning.  There is truly nothing as embarrassing as a child screaming and kicking in your arms in school parking lot.  But, there IS something truly humorous about walking through a parking lot filled with other parents (who are staring at you and getting out of your way) while your child is incessantly repeating, "I WANT TO GO TO THE BOOOAAATTT SHOW!!"

Alas, we went the next day.

3 seconds in the boat.

6 seconds in the boat. That's my Bel!

A lovely ride in the country.

When I awoke at 7:30 am (which is extremely late for me) there was no stirring noise coming from Bel's bedroom and no whining cat calls from my two aging felines who obnoxiously need fed everyday before 6 am.  No sounds at all.  This immediately got my adrenaline pumping because I believed that something MUST be wrong or....someone was up to something (i.e. my daughter).  I quickly got dressed and rushed over to her bedroom.

To my surprise she was behaving very well.  She had feverishly consumed two books and was now applying her skills at operating the Kindle and watching a kid's science-based cartoon about pollution and saving the oceans.  I know, I know.  It seems insane but this is a normal morning operation.  A knowledge download activity via old-school paper things that contain information in their bulky bindings (which her mother has successfully ingrained into her) and the kiddo's favorite digital learning device (that we do regulate).

Discussion:
Bel - 'Good morning, Dad.'
Me - 'Good morning, honey. What'cha watching?'
Bel - 'Octanauts. They are helping the crabs with their water. It's DIRTY!.'
Me - 'Okay.  Do you want some breakfast?'
Bel - 'Yes. Hey, Dad....what day is it?'
Me - 'It is Saturday.'
Bel - 'SATURDAY!!  I get to feed and ride with the horses!! Can we leave now?'
Me - 'No, honey.  Your mother is still sleeping.  In a little while.  What do you want for breakfast?'

Saturday mornings are always filled with joy for me.  There is a sense of relief from the week with no worries and a limited schedule to follow for the entire day. Of course, my job is to make breakfast that day.  Most of the time the menu I prepare causes small people, such as my daughter, to go into a food coma soon after completing her meal.  On this day the majority of our daily calories are ingested in the morning from my Golden Corral-like style of breakfast buffet.  I love Saturdays.

Packed up with everything that you could need to survive for about 4 days, we left the house a few hours later and drove about 3.6 miles to our destination.  I am REALLY glad that we packed the portable adorable frog potty and 8700 calories of food in the cooler just in case we got stranded somewhere between the Starbucks and the horse farm on the way.  I could definitely use a bathroom break along the way during the long journey. That frog potty will come in handy!

We drove up the long driveway of the horse farm and stopped intermittently along the way greeting each of the six horses in the field next to us.  I rolled down the window and Bel was able to say hello to each of the horses. Each horse had a coat on since it was cold that morning and they were eating from their buckets that were attached to the tall black derby fence.

Annabel got out of the car and raced up to the fence and was ready to ride.  This kid has barely seen a horse up close before, but she seemed fearless and kinda knew what she was doing.  We greeted the trainer and she was extremely happy to meet a 3 1/2 year old who had 2 lbs of carrots and an apple for the horses. 'You come prepared!  The pony that you'll be riding today is named, 'Sugar'. Do you want to meet her?' Bel bounced up and down with a smile and said, 'Yes. I have carrots!'

The trainer saddled the pony as my daughter fed the long blonde haired animal 12 organic carrots and a Fuji apple.  All I could think is that Sugar was going to have a bowel movement in the middle of the lesson and my child would continually associate that when you ride a pony it poops.  Well, that really isn't that far from the truth.  Maybe she'll miss observing the bowel movement.

Once Sugar was ready, my wife lifted Bel onto the pony and with the guidance of the trainer my daughter was riding.

She rode with the confidence of an experienced rider.  There was a sense of calm about her on that pony.  A stillness that emerged just as quick as lightning and almost enveloped us with enough calm that we could have sat down on lawn chairs and sipped cocktails.  My wife and I stared and smiled that whole time and resisted worrying about her on the pony.  She was in good hands with the trainer and the 'carrot mongrel' didn't seem to be in any gastrointestinal distress.  My daughter seemed at complete ease even though she was now twice as tall as she had been 5 minutes ago.

We resisted the parental urge to stand next to her with our hand on her back or walk beside her while holding her arm.  Nope.... we just smiled with pride and realized that our kid is herself, a person. A person with thoughts, dreams, and an independent streak that some kids don't break into until they are in their teenage years.  I'm not saying she'll be walking down the street and grabbing a Slim Jim at the local convenience store by herself tomorrow, but I am saying that I had a glimpse of my daughter being herself without our help.  Frankly, it made me happy and sad at the same time.  My girl IS going to grow up whether we like it or not.  And, I want to be there every step of the way even if I'm watching from the sidelines.

Just a happy little girl riding a pony.  And, one proud Papa.

A new chapter begins: Peaches and Pecans

You think to yourself when you are a child that time and people never change.  How wrong and naive we all during that childhood state in our lives.  Life flies by at an astounding rate but it is a beautiful and often fantastic ride.

In a mere 3.5 years I have gone from 'childless' to 'with child'.  My kiddo is great and is getting bigger all the time. She is smart, very funny, and witty as hell.  The discussions she comes up within the twilight hours of the morning would make any Harvard psych professor begin a new case file on child psychology immediately even before his/her morning coffee.

She is also brave, fearless, and extremely empathetic towards others.  I've always had the ability to feel what others are feeling most of my life and am proud to have passed on those genes. With this being said, at times, she can have the temper of a tiger-cat! Hence the title of the blog: 'Raising Bel'

Yes, she is an AWESOME child.  Just a little mischievous at times :)