On the seventh day of Megan...

July '10

On the sixth day of Megan...

June '10

On the fifth day of Megan...

May '10

On the fourth day of Megan...

April '10

On the third day of Megan...

March '10

On the second day of Megan...

February '10

On the first day of Megan...

And as is our annual tradition around these parts, here are twelve days of Megan sequentially from January through December.

January '10

Merry Christmas!

Feliz Navidad everybody! Hope you and your families all had wonderful mornings with gift-giving and getting. At our house Megan was a whirling dervish of fingernails and attitude. It was amazing to watch her at work.

On one hand I was so excited to see her truly experience Christmas with a modicum of understanding and to see the glint in her eye as she opened her gifts. However, on the other, this day definitely brought out the selfishness in her too. It was to be expected, she doesn't know better, so amidst this exciting day we also had to create teachable moments and make sure she knew we had to allow other people to open their gifts as well. It was hard for her but she did manage some restraint.

Overall, we had a great Christmas ... on our agenda next year is to push the Christian storyline a little more when she can understand it ... and potentially edit down the number of gifts. Somehow we went a bit overboard this year. But I got caught up in the season. I suppose there are worse things.

Snocross Moto X!

Before Megan came home today, one of our neighbors came over to see if Megan could play. Unfortunately she wasn't home yet, but I loved that the era of kids seeing if Megan can "come out and play" has started. So when Megan and Jillian finally DID come home, we slapped some snow pants, boots, and hat on her and sent her to our neighbor's yard.

What was she doing in their yard? Well, you've seen the picture already, so it's not a surprise. But she was rocking out on a snowmobile. I fear we will never see Megan again. You see their snowmobile track was limited because they are in the process of building a 60' x 40' ice rink in their yard. I know. When she learns what the word adopted means ... Jill and I are totally out as parents. 

Of course here's Megan with their son. Aren't they just adorable. He just returned from his stint in the IRA, so we weren't sure about his 'aggression' issues ... Joking. He's a great young man, but man, that balaclava sends all kinds of weird images screaming through my head. My daughter currently is battling going to sleep at night because she's convinced DINOSAURS are going to get her. She freaks out at that, but our neighbor kid, the one who looks like he's headed to a bank robbery has no effect on her. Kids are weird.

But anyway, like good parents, we left her outside with the neighbor kids, because well, you know, it's cold outside. Five minutes later we get a call that their inside playing in their basement. Thirty minutes later I go over there to bring Megan home and when I walk in I see their dining room has a ping pong table in it and the basement has a swing set BOLTED into the studs. 

So an hour later when Jillian came over to get both of us, our neighbors convinced Jillian to say over and watch crappy Lifetime movies on DVR. Just kidding. Jillian didn't come over. I knew it was time to go when she started making dinner and it wasn't Stove Top. Everyone knows you only try to wean your way to a dinner invite if they have Stove Top.

Next time.

Aquinas Hoops and MNF

It is no secret that I want Megan involved with sports. Not like Todd Marinovich's father type of crazy (I realize I just went over the head of most of my audience in the opener but it works, trust me), but I want her to be athletic and have an interest in them.

So it should come as no surprise that I treat any and all sports outings as the second coming of Christ himself. If Megan asks to play catch I act like that is the best idea anyone has ever had since two-ply toilet paper. Since Jill's parents are big Hope College supporters, we live in a school district with great sports programs, and I work at Aquinas College, there's ample opportunity to see an enormous amount of games. And each one is a 'special day.'

I'm not kidding. If we're going to watch a soccer game, football game, whatever ... I tell Megan that night is a 'special night' because we're going to (insert sport here). What has transpired is that every time we drive by the high school football field Megan exclaims "Football game daddy!" ... or when we drive past Calvin College where we saw several soccer games it's "that's where we go to watch soccer games together daddy."

Yep.

Even last night, since Jillian was out of town again, I made a 'special night' at home. We took an early bath and I told her she could stay up late and watch football with daddy while laying in our bed. It was perfect. She had to flip through her toy magazines first, but after that we watched pieces of last week's "Sing Off" on the computer and made funny faces at each other. Good times.

So last week, since several freshmen on the women's basketball team are in my class I decided to take Megan to a game last week. But since it started at 7:30, which on normal, bland nights is close to bedtime ... this was a 'special night.' Did we go out for hot dogs? You bet. Did I let her pick any snack she wanted from the concession stand? Definitely. Did she sit on my lap during the game and ask random questions? Absolutely. Was she cranky the next morning from a lack of sleep? Most assuredly.

Was she enthralled with the game? Not so much. The picture above .... where she looks so intent on following the action ... was while watching the cheerleaders perform.

Nooooooooooooooooooo.

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

Jillian is currently on a business trip to beautiful Des Moines, Iowa which means a chance for another "daddy daughter date." Now, I'd never admit this but I'm starting to like these work trip jaunts of Jillian because it allows for these special bonding times with Megan.

Tonight's excursion? The land of make believe, animatronics, the faint whisper of BO wafting in the air, and sewer rats that do the electric slide.

Of course we went to Chuck E. Cheese.

Except we almost didn't.

Because Megan FREAKS. THE. HECK. OUT. at mascots and other adult-sized cartoon characters in costume like Obama in a room full of Republicans. So I had to warn her in the car there was a slim chance we might see Chuck but it would just be a person in a costume.

Uhhh ... she no likey. And had a minor meltdown in the parking lot. However I finally got her to relent to entering the building ... in my arms, so she could case the place for that roided up mouse.

The fear of seeing the mouse was quickly forgotten amidst the chaos and clanging of bells, tokens clattering here and there, and the din of numerous video games in use. It's basically a casino for the under 12 set.

After her tour I asked if she wanted to stay or go.

"I wanna stay daddy." Okay, then.

In fact, after seeing the animatronic Chuck start going through his usual spiel she made me move tables so we could be CLOSER to him. Who is this girl?

After pizza I took her up to the fake Chuck and once we got 5 feet away she was all done. To the games!

The next 45 minutes was a whirlwind of ticket grabbing, fake car driving, and photo booth fun between dad and daughter. And I loved every second of it. Even skee-ball where she struggled to even get the ball off the ramp. Whatever. She had so much fun that she didn't even mind when the 'real' Chuck came out and did some sort of line dance and then made it rain with tickets.

At the end of the night we cashed in our 44 tickets for two suckers and two sheets of stickers. That is a night well spent.

And I even had her back home by curfew. What a great date.

Winter is here

Our first snow of the year hit yesterday ... and it kind of hasn't stopped since then, although it's been very mild throughout. Luckily I got the outdoor lights up on Tuesday ... the day before the big snow came that I didn't know was coming. Whew.

But now Megan is ready for winter with her spanking new pink coat thanks to the Riels! We appreciate the 'early' birthday present. :)

BTW ... Megan said she wants to build a snowman at some point this year. I come from the South ... I've never made one before. This could be interesting. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for our snowman efforts.

... and it's sing song time

Here it is. Day 30. For the second year in a row I've successfully navigated the waters of November blogging. Why I don't just tell myself it's 'Blogging Month' every month and update more the rest of the year I have no idea, but for whatever reason November seems to be when my biorhythms hit their peak.

Although truth be told I copped out more this month with relying more on pictures than actual stories. Whatever ... you guys just want the pics. I know how you roll.

I also learned that Megan is GOBS of fun at this age. Don't tell her I said this but the baby years were only so-so compared to toddler Megan. The other morning she brought a book with her into our bedroom while Jill got ready for work, "The Best Mouse Cookie." Perhaps you've heard of it. And for twenty minutes we read it together and she asked questions about the action in the pictures and seemed truly interested in wanting to understand the 'story' as opposed to just absent-mindedly reeling off "What's that?" a mind-numbing twenty times like normal. It wasn't anything major, just a brief moment of a routine day, but it amped me up for the day. She's awesome.

Oh, and one other thing I've learned. Megan loves stickers. Except with not putting them where they're supposed to go.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Here's the inside scoop on how we spent our Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoy the photo album and so glad my sister and her boys could make the trip to meet us in St. Louis.

Time Out!

The creature you see before you is dangerous and highly volatile. It is found only in the depths of our living room and kitchen and is a beast so vile that it brings grown men and women to their knees. Scientists refer to it as Lobsterius Terrificus ... but we know her better as "Lobster Claw."

Normally she attacks during dinner creation but not tonight. We arrived home from the holidays after an 8 hour car ride and Megan was itching to be active. So she went wild through all her toys and settled on Lobster Claw. But what made tonight especially funny happened AFTER she attacked me.

Upon devouring my leg Megan put her lobster claw in timeout. I found that mildly amusing since she seemed to want to separate her actions in the crime. But after spending a few minutes with me she walked back over to the claw and said, "Are you ready to talk now?" Which of course, is exactly what Jillian and I say to her when SHE is in timeout. I'd say as far as modeling goes, she nailed it. The only thing missing was her actually talking to the claw. Maybe next week.