saturday april 4, 2009

aka: Daddy-Daughter Day '09!

as mommy detailed in her entry here:

http://thedailybebe.blogspot.com/2009/04/separation.html

beatrix and i got a whole day to ourselves on saturday, while mommy was out being a bookish nerd and hob-knobbing with a bunch of other questionably dressed squares, uh, i mean, academics. mommy, i should mention, was not questionably dressed but rather stylish, in fact. this, coupled with her ability to be seamlessly social in a crowd, makes her very popular at these kinds of things. the other folks flock to her like moths to a flame. she's smart and pretty, which is a combo you don't really find in most history professors. go mommy!

she worked really hard putting together the events for saturday and while we were sad to be without her, we were happy to know that the next time we saw her she would be back to her mildly stressed-out self and that all her hard work would have paid off in the smashing success that the day had been. it did and it was, but before all of that:

here we are, starting our day together nice and early. bebe was so excited to get the day going that she woke up at five am and was out of bed by five-thirty! woo-hoo! Daddy-Daughter Day '09! woo-hoo! notice how dark it is in those windows behind us? woo-hoo! FIVE-THIRTY! WOO-HOO.

"uh, hi everybody. what are you all doing here so early?" my sentiments, exactly, bebe.

usually on saturday mornings we hit the couch and watch the sun come up. it's fun to watch the people outside starting their day as the sky brightens.

with the whole day ahead of us, we started to talk about how we'd like to spend our day together: monster truck rally, bar fights, tattoos... ?

it was cloudy and the forecast said rain, but at six am it was actually bright with some cloud break, so we were thinking optimistically.

she's just a little lady.


mommy got up a few hours later, and hung out with us as she took care of last minute details for the day.

bebe thought it would be helpful to attack the afro on my celtics mr. potato head. turns out, not very helpful. weird though. very weird.

then she checked in on her facebook profile.

lastly, she thought she'd CRAWL RIGHT OVER to where mommy was and give her a hand. or two. and maybe a lip, and also a tooth. and some drool.

unfortunately, mommy was all done by the time bebe got there.

this is just another shot of her CRAWLING. that green tub next to her is her first set of legos. the other day i watched her as she sat next to it, fishing her hand around inside. she then methodically, brick by brick, took each one out and tasted it, before dropping it into a pile on the rug. i can't be sure, but i think she liked the blue ones the best.

mommy teases her with a cup of coffee.


by nine, mommy was out the door, and we were officially alone. how would we manage, just the two of us, all day? we began to panic, smashing the furniture in an irrational fit, crying, lashing out at each other, laying blame then reconciling. we told jokes, talked about the old days, compared scars, learned to ride a unicycle, carved our initials into a tree, and did the dinner dishes from the night before. by about ten past nine, we were exhausted, and totally out of ideas.

an amusing side-effect of bebe's new found mobility is that she often finds herself in the funniest places:

"um... which way is east?"

"hello daddy."

soon it was time to break fast.

you may not be aware of this fact, but bebe has even stricter standards than her mother when it comes to her food.

she hand inspects each cheerio... weighs one against another...

discards the ones that don't make the cut...

"this one? this one right here? it's got a broken middle. the hole is off center. it's no good."

when the binky hits the tray, it's time to rock. let's go cheerios. into my waiting maw. into your doom.

this is the toughy-pants face that mommy mentioned.

"ROARRRRRRR!!!"

"ugk. finner stunck."


too powerful for your own good.

whew. that was a close one! hey, you didn't leave any finger in there did you?

ummmm, nope, you're clear. all i see are gums. wait- is that a sweet potato fry? from three weeks ago? bebe marie!

well, you may as well finish it now.

*gratuitous profile shot*

"oooowwweeee! somebody needs a diaper change!"

"false alarm- just air. just air."

"and where do you think you're going, my oaty little friend?"

bebe's breakfast.

daddy's breakfast.

daddy and bebe having breakfast.

alright! we've had breakfast! wanna go fight some ninjas or something?

maybe change your diaper first?

then i was thinking we could build a fort in the back yard. make a zip line from our back porch? great idea!

you're not getting any of this, are you? you don't understand a word i'm saying.

okay- we're dressed!

what's the weather looking like out there? still raining?

i guess we're stuck inside then. at least for the time being.

howsabout a game of tug-o-dinosaur?

i think holding my eye socket for leverage disqualifies you. points for creativity, though.

this is us totally disproving the ol' 'you can't turn your back on her for even a second' rule.

we played with some toys

and jammed. beatrix plays a wicked xylophone.

then at the end of the day, it stopped raining long enough for us to take a walk.

Daddy-Daughter Day '09! Yay!!!