Anna is a girl who likes to do things of her own free will, of her own choosing only. She is fond of shrieking, as we kiss her, “NO KISSES! WIPE IT OFF!!!!” (as she frantically swipes at her cheek). We tease her by telling her that we come into her room while she is sleeping and kiss her and that those kisses stay on so long (all night long) that they simply cannot be wiped off (Oh, the horror!).
But…every once in a while….if you are patient, if the timing and the circumstance and the mood are all exactly right, she can be the sweetest, most sentimental, most loving child imaginable. As she was when saying goodbye to her Daddy recently as he departed for yet another work trip.
Sometimes kisses are okay. In fact, sometimes they are downright awesome.
Some days Anna gives Adam a hard time. She tells him that Mama is her favorite (ouch), that she doesn’t want him to make her breakfast (MAMA ONLY), she tells him to GO AWAY. But I know that there is something special there. From the first moment he saw her, I saw Adam soften in a new way, a way that is special for Daddies and their daughters. A way that protects, that nourishes, that spoils, that loves more deeply than any man thought it possible to love. A way that envisions all the future of that little girl: from tiniest baby fingers and toes to big kid swinging from his neck to grown woman walking down the aisle on his arm. It’s a form of hero worship and it’s darned sweet to watch.
I tagged this as “funny” even though I don’t find it entirely amusing because if I didn’t keep a sense of humor about it I would be a wreck.
This right here is the downside of being married to an obsessed fisherman who loves his dog. I just opened the fridge up and was overpowered by smells of the sea. Smells that were permeating all the other foods in the fridge. Smells that were emanating from the bowl (unwrapped) of fish skin (saved from today’s catch to dole out to the dog as treats over the next couple of days) placed on the bottom shelf of the fridge. I love fish. I love my husband. I even love my dog. But this? This I do not love.
Adam and our good friend Jill share a birthday and a penchant for good food which means, despite the hazards of having two Leos in the room at the same time, we get to have an awesome standing date with Jill and her husband Andy (he and I are both Cancers and get along awesome) every year on July 27th.
Last night we went to Downey’s after drinks at Trattoria Vitttoria. It did not disappoint!
This is the fifteenth (15??!!!??!?!) birthday of yours that we have celebrated together and, damn Babe!, you keep getting finer every year. Like a fine wine, you are. I love you, my younger man. Here’s to many more: many more years, many more tears, and, most definitely and beyond a doubt, many more laughs!
Fantastic conversation had by Adam and I in the car yesterday. It began with a discussion of Adam’s hobbies and the expense incurred therein. We were talking about Adam kind of wanting a new road bike and how crazy expensive they are….and that led to talking about fishing expeditions and pig hunting (? He’s crazy) and all the other stuff he likes to do.
(Me): “You know….there really isn’t anything, anything at all, that I do that is as expensive as any single one of your hobbies.”
(Adam, deadpan): “Except your chemo.”
(Me, deadpan back): “I don’t really consider that a hobby of mine.”
Maybe you had to be there. It was funny. Really funny. (And you should know that we’ve thought it over and decided that keeping me alive is a pretty good way to spend our cash. Even though we’d rather use it to buy stuff).
MaryJoyce, approving of the meat. We all had many taste tests. It was unanimously delicious.
Ryan's first (yes, first, and your assumption that more followed is correct) outdoor bath due to messy poop. Poor guy was not a fan of cold water on his bum.
Adorable sleeping child and husband. Husband may not approve of me posting this but I think it is the sweetest thing ever.
Biscuit on a stick. Bizarre and prone to much joking but also incredibly delicious filled with butter and jam.
Adam just adores holding babies. Especially when he knows that he can give them back the moment that they start crying. How can one resist this cute bear cub face?!?!
Anna slept until after 9 am both mornings. Maybe she's practicing for her teenage years?
Happy Baby!
There absolutely, positively MUST be S'Mores on camping trips. It's a rule.
Story time for kiddos. These kids were so tired they were *asking* to go to bed.
Cuddling with my girl
More Daddy and Daughter sleeping. This was the night that Adam stole the extra blanket from us. He'll deny it but it is true.
I could say it over and over again, a thousand times over again, but Anna is the luckiest girl in the world to have the Daddy she has. She better thank me for that. I’d like to think that I picked a winner.
Happy Father’s Day!
For all the ice cream you’ve shared, tears you’ve wiped away, stories you’ve read, and beautiful meals you’ve cooked for our little girl–for all that and more–watching you be a Daddy to our child has only made me love you more and more and more these years. I love you (and Anna does, too).
Well the posts are over. She came back. I will leave you with the wrap up of the day. We really slacked off today. We slept in. Yep. That is right. We decided to get up around 9:20 this morning. Anna woke up and came in and told me she wanted a special breakfast. That could only mean one thing. Dutch Baby. Something I have made since I was a teenager. it is basically a soufflé that you cook until brown and cover with maple syrup. Simple to make. a few eggs, some butter, flour and milk. Blended with a little timing and off you go. We had breakfast around 10am this morning and sat around the house and talked about what we would do.
After breakfast it was decided that we would be total slackers and go hang out at the beach some more. We setup camp with our chairs, towels, and umbrella and built little rock houses just like the day before. After a couple hours we got hungry and we went home and had some homemade pasta with butter and parmesan (it was something Grandma made for me when I was little. it was always one of my very favorite meals). It is all about having good quality pasta and a tasty butter.
Jen decided she would come home and rejoin the family. We went to swim lessons, (Anna’s first) where she did great. She is on her way to being a swimmer. We came back home and I made dinner. Rockfish with Roasted Cauliflower and a side of polenta, green onions, and shrimp. I also made another flavor of gelato. Apparently Anna loves blueberries and gelato, but not blueberry gelato. So, tonight I made strawberry gelato in an attempt to appease the small powerful dictator that I live with…. Anna Liked it also.
I will not be posting for a while. I guess this is goodbye until she leaves town again.
Today was fun. We had school to get ready for…. I figure I will back up twelve hours to start this one properly. Now some of you may think chocolate ice cream before bed may be a bad idea. Well, let me tell you, Anna told me last night that she would go to bed after ice cream and that she would be ready for school on-time in the morning. You can trust your three year old with ice cream promises… right?
I figure she is old enough to make proper decisions about that type of stuff. So, I served up some ice cream (this was in place of the blueberry gelato as it was not ready do to a freezing incident with the ice cream maker – the normal blogger can explain later). Anna had some ice cream and went right to sleep. Well, almost. Let’s just say she went to her room around 7:30. At 9:00 she was really close to sleeping.
This morning when it was time to wake up she was less than enthusiastic. I did manage to talk her into getting dressed and telling me what she wanted for breakfast. This mornings orders included a bagel with butter on it. So, that is what we did. I made a bagel with butter and brought it to her in bed. She finished getting dressed and laid back down in bed. It was 8:30am. We were supposed to leave for school at that time. When it was time to get into the car she told me she wanted eggs. Naturally I asked what type? Mommy style eggs or daddy eggs (for those of you not in the know that means scrambled or over medium). I think scrambled eggs are vile. Much to my protesting she insisted on mommy eggs. So off I went.
I cooked up a nice order of eggs. i actually decided to do a Julia Childs style omelette. Here is the picture of it with the bagel.
For those of you that are interested in how to cook an omelette here you go.
I got Anna into the car and it was before 8:40am. So it was time to go. I started the engines and she explained that the bagel was all wrong. It had to have cream cheese. I ran back into the house applied cream cheese and up the hill we went. On the way to school she got cream cheese smeared all over her nose. She inhaled some and it was bad enough that I had to pull over and find a napkin. The best I could do was to give her an old dried out wipe that I insisted was a napkin. She told me it was a wipe and she would not use it to wipe her nose off. I won over with wipes are wet and napkins are dry. Somehow that made sense. We made it to school before 8:50am. It was a miracle. On time.
I came back at lunch to pick her up and we went to chinese food today. She likes business lunches and everyone likes Anna.
After lunch we went home and played for a while. We decided it was time to slack off and go hang at the beach. We brought a huge chunk of watermelon and a couple towels.
Not much better than building a small rock house at the beach either. This is the game you invent when you forget the beach toys.
After the beach we ran home, Did some gardening, a little laundry and it was time to get ready for Dinner. Our good friend Eron is a lakers fan and wanted to watch the game (Eron eats at our house a few times a month). But, this time we had to go out since we don’t have TV. So off to Trattoria Vittoria. We had calamari, and pasta. It was a fun night. Anna asked lots of questions about the bad team in green and why they are bad. Eron did his best to make her a lakers fan.
Jen gets back Wednesday night. So you may or may not have to put up with me for one more night. Oh, and the blueberry gelato. If you live near SB you will want to stop by the house.
house of waffles.