Saturday, April 29, 2006

This and That

As my paternity leave is coming to an end (I'm back to work on Monday, although I will wear a white T-shirt to show support for El Gran Paro Americano even if I am at work), I am finding a real mix of feelings.

Although the leave was due to the arrival of Quinn, I ended up spending much of my time with Celeste. Evelin said that over the past few weeks, Celeste has become a real daddy's girl — yesterday morning, I stayed in bed with Quinn when Celeste awoke; when Evelin went to get her from her crib, Celeste looked at her and said "No. Daddy." I think she still needs/wants a lot of time with Evelin, but she definitely has been clinging to me more and is more upset when I hold Quinn than when Evelin does.

It has been fun having all the extra time with Celeste (and Evelin and Quinn), but I'm also looking forward to getting back to work. If I were doing the stay-at-home-dad thing fulltime, I'm sure I'd have a better routine/feel for things, but these past two weeks have been pretty tiring — in part because of sleep disturbances from Quinn and Celeste's occasional middle-of-the-night wakings, but also due to Celeste having only one speed ... Warp-6*. That Evelin can handle the stay-at-home routine (and work part-time) amazes me; my part-time SAHD gig, while great, has hardly prepared me for fulltime ...

A few stray things I missed blogging over the past week:

On Friday, the four of us went to the National Capital Trolley Museum. I've been wanting to take Celeste there for a month or three now, but its hours didn't synch up with her nap and/or my afternoons with her and we never made it a priority for a weekend trip. It turns out Fridays are the day the museum is open to area school kids, so we got to ride the trolley with a group of first or second graders. Celeste really enjoyed the little loop; Quinn slept through it. About halfway through the trip, the conductor stopped the car to go through and punch everyone's ticket and as soon as we stopped Celeste signed/said MORE/"more!"

[ASIDE: More is one of Celeste's favorite words at the moment. Sing a silly song: "More!" Tell a story about a little girl named Celeste: "More!" Have Dee Dee the Bear help color or pick up blocks: "More!" And when she really wants to emphasize it, Celeste signs MORE while saying it. The funniest, however, was when Evelin's mother was tickling her and Celeste said "No" while laughing and signing MORE ...]

Also on Friday, Quinn had her two-week checkup: She's up to 8 pounds, 10 ounces and 21 inches long ... nearly a pound over her birth weight. Clearly she is feeding well ... Oh, and her umbilical stump fell out Thursday night, so I can stop obsessing about that.

Today, Celeste and I tried to go to Petco for a doggy adoption day. Not that we would get a dog right now — given the missing fence segments and a two-week-old baby, I doubt we'd pass the prescreening — but I figured it'd be a chance for Celeste to meet some friendly dogs. Sadly, the Internets let me down: Despite what the website said, the doggy adoptions weren't until next weekend. Still, Celeste enjoyed seeing the mice, birds, and fish. Especially the fish: She started at the tiger barbs (Barbus tetrazona) for a while before looking up at me, signing FISH, and saying "num-num." I didn't figure it out until later, but she was equating them with Pepperidge Farms Goldfish.

* Roughly 392 × c

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh my, that fish story is SO cute/funny. It just brought me to tears from laughing. I been wondering when I would see/read when a little kid would think that or make reference that way!

As much as the food companies create children's foods into animal and alphabet shapes.

Too funny.

I'm sorry your paternity leave has come to an end but I guess you have to get back to work sometime. I am so glad you really used the time, some Dad's are not that fortunate...