Elena’s Birthday

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On January 13th we celebrated Elena’s 37th Birthday. We had dinner at O’Charleys in Raleigh, North Carolina with Elena’s cousin Pititi and his family. Emma met her beautiful twin cousins, Jackie and Alex for the first time. Both are the most loving, well-behaved children you could ever meet. It was nice to see them after so many years. We look forward to seeing and spending more time with them in the future.

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In five days Emma will be 15 months old. She is quite mobile and surprisingly fast for a creature of her size. Her verbal skills are still extremely limited and has a five word vocabulary (“was-is”, “dadadadada”, “nana”, “clock”, “cup”). Despite this she can sign at least 17 different signs (“milk”, “vegetables”, “bath”, “potty”, “banana”, “bear”, “cheese”, “water”, “diaper”, “more”, “train”, “all done”, “bubbles”, “me”, “I love you”, “hi”, “bye”) and can process simple commands like “give the doll to daddy”, or “put the paper in the garbage”. She is quite fascinated by the trash can and despite our strict rules against her touching it, will deposit random items in it when we are not looking. So far a shoe, and a toy has found its way to the bottom of the receptacle. It’s only a matter of time before our coveted TiVO remote is sent to an early grave at the bottom of a landfill. Little by little I am starting to feel like a Dad. I wish it would have been a more immediate feeling but for Dads I believe it takes a little bit longer before you feel like you matter in the eyes of your child. Today was a fine example of that. When I returned from work and opened the first of a pair of doors I use to enter my house, I heard the pitter-patter of little feet hurrying to greet me. When I opened the second door, Emma was standing on the other side with the brightest little smile. She had heard the garage open and recognized that the sound she had heard meant that Daddy was home. It’s moments like that that make me feel like a million bucks.

Comments

  1. The day that I saw emma she was really shy. I was playing with her a lot and she started getting confident. She is a really cute baby. I also know that I will see her now more often. I was ammazed that she knows sign languege, since she did sign languege I am learning. Well Iwill write more later. BYE

  2. The day of Elena’s birthday we all went out to go have dinner. That was the second day I saw Emma. Elena told me that when she was in the car, she told Emma that she was going to see Alex and I and the minute Emma heard that she smiled. I was really suprised because the day that I met Emma she very shy, and I guess she fells more confident because I would play with her a lot. I felt really good the day Emma wanted me to carry her. Well I can’t write everything now because then when I start to write again I won’t know what to write. Well…….. BYE!

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