Jeff here. This post may be very boring, so feel free to skip it.
I wanted to write down a few of the special things that Christine does right now. I never knew how true the expression that "kids grow up so fast" really was. I can't snap a camera or video tape enough to capture the wonderful girl my daughter is. I am so glad that we decided to have a child while I was in Medical School. Nothing cheers me up or keeps me going like my little girl.
So here are a few things I want to remember about her.
1. When I get home after a long day, I open the door. Christine spins around, mouth open with her 6 toothed smile, points, and says "dada, dada!" Then when I put my bag and keys down, she immediately forgets about me and tries to get to the keys at any cost. For a good set of keys or a shiny cell phone, she'll stand on her tip toes, or even so high that she stand on the dorsal side of her toes.
2. We have a few activities that we like to do when Daddy comes home. First, help Daddy get changed. I always have nasty scrubs on so before I pick up Christine I always change. While I do, Christine likes to go through all the stuff in my closet, especially if there are hangers lying around.
3. The steam roller. My dad always played steamroller with us. So I have no idea, if anyone else knows this game, but Christine loves it.
4. Getting the mail. I like to take Christine on a walk to get the mail. We always walk by our neighbor's that have cats. Sometimes the cats are at the window, and Christine gets so excited when she sees them. There are always tons of squirrels to chase after. Christine still hasn't caught one yet. And of course, Christine always has to bang on the benches in front of our apartment. I don't know why, but when every we go on a walk she runs over to the benches, pats them with her hand a couple of times and then moves on.
5. Sometimes I get to feed Christine at night. Christine is a fruit fanatic. Bananas, strawberries, cherries, pears, peaches, grapes, apples, pineapples, raisins.... the list goes on and on. Cheetos was her first word, but strawberries was a close second.
6. I usually get to do "Bath Time Fun". Every night for as long as I can remember I have sung Christine the same song about Bath Time Fun. I'm not sure where I came up with it or the tune, but it has stuck! "It's bath time fun for everyone. It's bath time fun for you, bath time for me, bath time fun, bath time fun fun." Yeah, it's not likely to win any Emmy's.
7. To get ready for bath time Christine pulls out her bath toys and throws them into the bath tub. She loves playing with her cup and used yogurt bottle the most! She always wants to drink from them, but I won't let her. She then will try to stick her face down into the water to drink the water. She has absolutely no fear of water.
8. After we dry off, Christine turns off the light switches in the bathroom. However, recently she has learned how to turn on the switches as well, so sometimes it takes awhile to get all the light switches in the off position. We then go find mommy. We sometimes play peak-a-boo around the corner to find mommy.
9. Bed time rituals include chasing naked Christine around the house as she cackles, wrestling baby while trying to put her diaper on, trying to get her to only chose 1 book to read, trying to get her to drink her bottle rather than to pour it into various other cup like toys (she has a chemist in her), reading Good Night Gorrilla, Good Night Moon, and The Going to Bed Book. Singing primary songs and then night prayers. During night prayers Christine usually starts laughing because she can reach through the bars of her crib and pull mommy's and daddy's hair.
10. Christine recently discovered her belly. She loves to run around and point to her belly. Then she tries to find everyone else's belly. She hasn't tried to do this in public yet, luckily.
11. One game that Christine got the biggest kick out of was invented by Angela. It involved hiding a finger puppet in her diaper box. The finger puppet, a hippo named Jimbo, would poke his head out of the little hand holes. She would put her eye right up next to the hole to try and see in. She would feed him Cheerios through the hole. Oh man did she ever laugh at that!!
12. We are trying to teach her some sign language. Unfortunately her vocabulary in sign has surpassed my own. She loves saying happy, which comes out more like Bappy, and the sign she uses is tapping her chest. When she is grumpy she gets put in the crib. She learned very quickly that saying she was bappy was a quick ticket out of the crib. Now she uses it even when she is still upset. Today, she was saying happy while still whining, and Angela said to her, "You don't sound happy. You sound grumpy." To reemphasize that she WAS in fact happy, she patted Angela on the chest and said bappy, as if to say, "No mom your mistaken, I AM happy."
13. Christine loves shoes and clothes. She loves trying on mommy and daddy's shoes. She thinks it is really funny when we help her walk in them.
It's just too hard to put down all of my favorite memories of Christine. I can't help but smile when I think about her. We have truly been blessed with a precious daughter of God. I just hope we are good enough parents to keep her as sweet as she is now.
