Today was a great day and it's not even over

Today has been a great day so far. First off, Meredith and I don't usually give any kind of parenting advice to anyone because the fact of the matter is, everyone is different - every kid is different and just because your kid does this and that doesn't mean it applies to my child. That's why I hate all those mommy sites out there because all it does is make Meredith crazy (or feel really good about herself since other people's kids are so messed up.) Either way, it's no good. It's best just to share stories so people can pick and choose what applies to them with no judgment. So, having said that - here's some parenting advice everyone can take to the bank! In the spirit of the new EAGLES season (Ellie's favorite team), I will drop some wisdom on you in football form. It's all about the teamwork. I know what you're thinking...duh! But it's a simple concept that people forget. Let's examine what happens with good teamwork through smart plays on the field and we'll use today's game (a great day) as an example.

Kickoff - Elise woke up around 6:00 as per usual and Meredith quickly shut off the monitor and went an got her. Now before you yell at me for being the typical lazy dad, this is practiced play -Saturday is my day to sleep in and Sunday is Meredith's day to sleep in. For this play to work though, the quarterback and the receiver (of sleep) have to have communicated before hand so there is no frustration. There is nothing worse than an interception of sleep when it is wide open. The reason this play is so effective is that it not only produces the desired sleep effect everyone is expecting, it has the secondary (or primary depending on how you look at it) effect of getting in some AWESOME one-on-one time with the child. Happy baby + One-on-One time = AWESEOME start to weekend.

Walk with me as I continue the metaphor...
After the receiver has successfully caught sleep and made it to the end zone, child and quarterback run in to celebrate. One of my favorite new traditions is waking up Saturday morning to a smiling and usually kissy/playful baby excited to see me. We do a little icky shuffle (look up running back/Bengals for reference) for a few minutes and then it's on to the next play.

Today Meredith and I joined the Please Touch Museum as members. This means we can go an many times as we like for a year. Momma and Elise went last week and had a blast so I begged to go this morning. We piled into the car and found some free parking downtown. (Does it get any better?) We entered the museum and the play began.

Now, on this play it's important to remember that parents have to play both sides of the ball - offense and defense. Elise being the ball of course... ball of fun! The reason for this is that you don't want to have one parent down playing with the ball on offense all the time while the other parent has to say excuse me to the other parents an clean up after the tornado of playtime destruction that inevitably follows your ball of fun. That just leads to dissension on the team. Now here, you and your teammate have got to be able to improvise and communicate without words. There are many hazards including the playing field itself, other sometimes bigger balls are flying in from all directions and the fans or parents (on their own teams) can be very judgmental. Block it all out and concentrate on your ball.
Elise had an amazing time today at the museum and the reward of a game well played is two-fold:
1. Her squeals of delight and joy are enough to bring me back a hundred times this year and
2. She took a nice long nap when we got home...I love halftime.

Another nice thing that we noticed is that despite the previous writing of accounts of our daughter tackling and being a linebacker with other kids at the daycare, we saw no evidence of this. Elise is not shy of other kids - she walks right up to them and starts playing and talking, nor is she a bully, as we watched her over and over again, sharing or waiting her turn and she wasn't a pushover either. No matter how big the kid was, she got her play time in. I was really proud of her and her behavior today, it was really fun to be a part of it.

The other cool part was how well Meredith and I played both offense and defense. When the whole team is working and playing well, it just makes for a great day! I gotta stop writing and head back into the game now!