Dad Related Happenings

I recently joined a Facebook group of Dad Bloggers. (Yes, I'm on Facebook. Yes, I feel very old when I am cruising Facebook. Yes, using the word cruising to describe moving through Facebook confirms my age.) Having joined the group, it occurs to me that I really ought to blog about being a dad. I don't think I've done too many kid-related posts recently.

So let's see. Lately the kids have been sick. First Sammi was sick. Now Rachel is sick. Which has meant Sharon and I staying home from work, something neither of us can do very easily. There was one day last week when both myself and another financial aid advisor were home with our sick children. Unfortunately, that left only one advisor to deal with the student questions. Fortunately, it's a slow time of year. Rachel seemed to be getting better yesterday morning, but by evening she was burning up with fever. And today she says her ear hurts. Probably an ear infection, which is not something we deal with very often in this house, fortunately. So I'll be taking her to the doctor tomorrow. Another day of work missed. Sharon is in an even worse work situation as her assistant quit recently and she's doing two jobs.

Onto good news. Rachel and I went to a Daddy-Daughter dance a week ago. It was Girl Scouts sponsored. She really seems to be enjoying the Girl Scouts. We had a good time although Rachel wanted to run around with her friends instead of hang out with Dad. We did dance a little bit. Her piano teacher was there with his 12 year old daughter. He told me that when they get older they actually want to dance with their dads. When his daughter was Rachel's age she ran around with her friends, too. So that's something to look forward to.

And that brings me to another topic - piano lessons. I really like Rachel's teacher. He understands that it needs to be fun for her to really buy into the idea of piano lessons. So there's no pressure and she really seems to be having a good time. We do need to get the piano tuned, however.

Four year old Sammi is preoccupied with writing. She has been asking us how to spell things lately. One time Sharon was asked how to spell, "No one is helping me." Clearly, she has her own ideas about how helpful we actually are. She's also been asking "What?" a lot even though I am fairly certain she heard what we said. And I think she's getting more jealous of baby Piper than she was in the beginning. But that's to be expected. Fortunately, despite the jealousy, she still plays with her little sister and shows her love for her every day with kisses and hugs.

Piper can crawl and pull herself up to a standing position. She's beginning to get into things she shouldn't. She can also clap her hands. The sight of her big sisters is always the cause of a smile. And she's very vocal. I love the baby "yowls". We often talk by yowling to each others. I will miss that when she actually learns to say words. I can't believe she's already eight months old. She's still a little peanut. I wonder if she'll be my smallest girl. Rachel has the tall thing going on. Sammi seems pretty normal sized. And Piper appears to be heading toward being the little one. Of course, even she ends up bigger than her sisters, she'll still be the littlest one.