TRAPs for the unwary or how I paid dearly for an extra hour of sleep

Usually, Kiki gets up between 6:30 and 7:00am. I go to bed around 11:00 - 11:30 counting on this fact. Sunday is my morning to get up Kiki while my wife sleeps late. At 5:45, blood curdling screams were heard from Kiki's room.

"#$%&!" I muttered under my breath.

"Do you want me to get up with her?" My wife asks. [TRAP!]

At this point we should pause. As you can tell from the title of this post, said question is a TRAP. The only correct question under any circumstances (as I would later learn) is "no, I'm happy to get up with her - you keep sleeping, honey!"

I did not say that. Instead, I used my Socratic law school training and answered a question with a question:

"Do you want to?"

Of course she didn't. But I had several things working against me.

1. Kiki had had a rough night, waking up screaming when we got home, and had thrown up the day before for the first time and I knew my wife was worried about her.
2. It was 5:45 in the morning. I am not my best at 5:45 in the morning.
3. We had gone out for dinner the night before and I had enjoyed a cocktail or two.

So without further word, she got up with Kiki, and I drifted off to sleep my extra hour thinking what a fantastic wife I had. In contrast, she spent the hour simmering her anger into a white hot ball which I was hit with as I groggily stumbled downstairs.

Now, arguments could be made on either side as to who was right and who was wrong, and I suspect they would be split down gender lines. Suffice to say it was an unpleasant morning.

I managed to get back in her good graces by taking Kiki to the grocery store and letting her nap for an hour and a half, but that's a post for another day.

Lesson learned: If your wife offers to get up with your child on "your day", DO NOT under any circumstances take her up on the offer. TRAP!

I promise not to turn this into a "cute things my daughter does" blog

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, my wife leaves for work before Kiki even gets up. Day Care drop off is at 8:00am and she leaves at 6:00am. It's my job to get up before Kiki (hopefully), shower, get her dressed, give he a bottle, do her hair (new job as of about last week), drop her off at daycare, which, as I said opens at 8:00, and make the 8:18 train to work. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings suck. I love the time with Kiki, but honestly, there's not a lot of time to play and interact with her.

Her new thing this week has been refusing to leave her crib. I will say, "do you want to get out?" and she'll say "No." and sit down in the furthest reach of her crib. This morning she sat down, and touched the feet of her favorite doll and said, "Piggy... weeee weeeee!!" and ticked her finger up her dolly's body to her face just like I do when we play "this little piggy went to market."

Welcome

As of today, no one is reading this. Maybe that will change. I am 36 years old and have a nineteen month old daughter that I will call "Kiki". This is the name we gave her while she was in the womb, but not her given name. Given the permanence of things on these here intranets, at least some anonymity is in order.

I was recently looking at old pictures of Kiki and decided that blogging would be a good way to make sure I do not forget quirks, funny habits, and the like. I may also touch upon things like my career and marriage. I'm married to a wonderful woman who I will call "Wife". I may include pictures and video as things progress. We will see.

For today, a quick story about bedtime last night. Usually, wife does the bedtime routine and I cook dinner. Kiki goes to bed around seven and sleeps until 6:45 to 7:00 the next day (a post on sleep training will probably be forthcoming). Every night I bring up the bottle (ba-ba) and Kiki drinks it on Wife's lap. Wife will say, "Say night-night to daddy" and Kiki will say "nigh-nigh- dada." Wife will say, "Say I love you" and Kiki will say "Uh ooo!" (It's really as horribly cute as it sounds). Well last night for the first time, I said, "Night Night Kiki" and she said, "nigh nigh, dada... uh oooo."

For the first time, it was unsolicited.