Episode 42- As if I didn't have my hands full already

So it has taken me three days and thousands of man hours just to upload the video lower in this post. First, Blogger.com decided it didn't want to upload the video and then the video I was looking for disappeared in to the abyss that is my computer. To make matters worse, the site will no longer allow me to place the video where I would like to, only at the bottom of the page. Cool. I hate technology sometimes. Actually, I hate technology almost all the time.

Now well over a week back from my break from being professional dad I am finally starting to get used to the sleep schedule and routine we had set up before (it's amazing how sleeping just an hour longer for a few days can destroy months of training), and the baby is getting used to not seeing mom around all day long again.

That said, just being away from it for that short period of time- splitting duty with Monica and spending holidays at strange new houses and such- has really left me feeling painfully out of practice. I have had to regain my patience and re establish myself as the primary entertainment that my child has during the day (and yes, I consider myself an entertainer as well as a caretaker).

The new Christmas toys are making my job slightly easier. The fact that she can walk is not. For a few months leading up to the holidays Av displayed a strong ability to stand and balance herself on things, but I don't think that were were too confident she had enough confidence to try and walk. Usually she would just grab out hands and make us do it. Finally, a few days after Christmas, I got a phone call.

"Your daughter can walk."

As you can see in the video at the bottom, it is a sloppy, drunk type of walk, sort of like if Frankenstein got wasted and tried to run, but it is still a walk and she feels really cool that she can do it. This event took place probably three or four days before I started watching her during the days again, and I had visions of myself chasing her around the house and trying to stop her from monkeying all over things. Obviously, I now know that those expectations were ridiculous, but give me a break, I'm flying by the seat of my pants here.

She did try to run the other day, which ended in a probably painful but pretty humorous fall on the kitchen floor. The slightest bump of the head apraks the dramatic water works every ntime, so you can imagine the show that took place after she slid on her face across the kitchen floor. Yeah, yeah it probably hurt a little, but come on, she is a kid. They are supposed to get hurt.

Mostly, she still crawls most places, but she likes to pull herself up on to her feet and walk from object to object in the house. It is kind of entertaining sometimes, but mostly it is just tedious. Some days she will literally do laps around the coffee table for what seems like hours, just holding on and grabbing whatever she can reach. I still spend a good amount of my time trying to keep her from eating any and everything she finds, which is also made more difficult by the fact that she isn't afraid to take the one step in between the coffee table and the entertainment center.

Dear Comcast,

I am sorry for returning this soggy remote control with teeth marks in the buttons and some sort of unidentified crust on the battery case. It was either your remote or the Internet modem. I went with what I thought would be cheaper to replace. This is payback for the past two months of shitty service and your inability to tell me why.

Dan.

So, as you can probably tell my hands are pretty full now and I am really learning on the fly.