Fatherhood My Experiences as a Father...
February 5 to March 4, 2003 (46th month)

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Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Often when Maeve and Hilde make a mess on the floor during dinner (like with peas, corn, rice, etc.).  I like to get my ShopVac to clean it up.  I could probably use a broom and dustpan in most cases just as effectively, but I prefer the ShopVac.  Hilde and Maeve have even started helping.  Hilde will turn it on and off, and Maeve will do the vacuuming.
 

Saturday, March 1, 2003
Maeve drew some lines on a piece of paper and used some stickers to put it on the sliding glass door out ot the patio.  She said it said, "No going out here except to smoke."
 

Thursday, February 27, 2003
We are spreading Jill's teeth so she will have room to get all of her teeth straightened out.  The way the oral surgeon made the cut, the two halves are floating separately.  He said Jill will have a gap between her front teeth like David Letterman for a while.
 

Wednesday, February 26, 2003
We have to spread Jill's teeth a little twice a day for about a week.  Jill has me doing it because I see into her mouth better than she can.  It's a little tricky, but Hilde won't let me do it unless she is sitting on Jill's lap.  I can work with that unless Hilde bumps me.
 

Monday, February 24, 2003
Maeve has been tattling on Edith.  One of the things that she told Jill is that Grandma put some toilet paper in the toilet and didn't flush it.  Jill just told Maeve that it would go with the next flush.
 

Saturday, February 22, 2003
Jill has started putting regular food in the blender, so she has something more to eat than broth, yogurt, pudding and Jell-O.  Today she was pureeing beef stew and pasta.
 

Thursday, February 20, 2003
Jill was feeling a little lightheaded in the shower today, due to her surgery yesterday.  She said she was thinking that if she fell that she couldn't fall on her face, because her upper jaw is still moving around.
 

Wednesday, February 19, 2003
I shoveled some of the patio for Edith today so she could walk out a little ways and walk about while she is smoking.  Once I dd that, Maeve told her to go out of the house to smoke - all the way out.
 

Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Maeve asked Grandma why she didn't go out the door to smoke.  I told Maeve it was because the snow drifted up against the door, and Grandma can't walk out because it's too deep.
 

Monday, February 17, 2003
We got 20 inches of snow today.  That is more snow than Jill's mother has seen in the 20 years that she has lived in Virginia.   It even drifted in the back of the house, so she can't even step out the door to smoke.  I'll have to shovel that for her.
 

Friday, February 14, 2003
Edith seems to spend most of her time picking up after Maeve and Hilde.  That should keep her very busy.  Jill and I usually don't do it enough and the house looks cluttered, but Maeve and Hilde are very "thorough" in leaving things all over the house.  They love to pick something up, carry it to another room, put it down, and pick up something else to carry to another room.
 

Thursday, February 13, 2003
Jill's mother came in today to help after Jill has her oral surgery.  The pilot announced that it was 14 degrees when they landed.  Jill told her to bundle up, but it wasn't until she walked out of the airport that she realized the pilot wasn't lying.
 

Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Jill just had her "appliance" put in her mouth that will be expanded to stretch out her jaw as part of her orthodontics.  She called, and she was having trouble pronouncing, especially vowels.  She said she was helping Maeve spell her name.  Jill's long Es now sound like the "ou" part of "you".  Jill said, "M-A-OU-VOU-OU."  Maeve said, "It's E, not OU."  Jill said, "I did say OU".  That conversation kept going back and forth until Maeve gave up.

I had to have Jeanne call Jill so Jeanne could hear it.  It was fun to hear Jill try to pronounce Jeanne's name.  It sounded a lot like "June".  Jill said she was glad that she could provide Jeanne and me with so much entertainment.

Long ago Jill and I had a discussion about Jill wearing flannel pajamas with our flannel sheets.  I said that Jill would get stuck, like a flannel doll on a flannel board.  Jill would be a human flannel doll.  Her mother heard that, and she laughed and laughed and laughed.  She laughed so much that Jill thought her mother was going to die.  Jill's mother is coming to help with the kids after Jill's surgery next week.  Jill told me that I can't make fun of Jill's pronunciation with her mother present.  Her mother would laugh and laugh, turn red, not be able to breathe, and I would probably kill her.
 

Sunday, February 9, 2003
The playroom has been a mess for a few days.  Hilde will pick up one toy, see another that she likes and throw down the first one to get to the new one.  Maeve does a lot of coloring, but she leaves all of the papers, pencils, crayons and markers that she was worked on on the floor.

Tonight we tried to clean the playroom.  I started by getting the snow shovel and putting shovelfuls of toys into the toybox.  That gave us room to work, at least.  Maeve and Jill were really caught off guard by the use of the shovel.
 

Thursday, February 6, 2003
I have told Maeve that "crying doesn't get you anything", and when I remind her of that she usually stops crying and asks "with big girl words" for what she wants.

Tonight Jill told Maeve to stop pushing the stroller around the kitchen so fast, or Jill would take it away.  Maeve didn't stop, so I took it away and folded it up.  Maeve started crying and stamping her feet, screaming that she wanted the stroller unfolded.  I put the stroller on the floor and said, "Let's see if crying and stamping your feet gets it unfolded."  I even asked Hilde to help.  Hilde didn't seem too sure about why we were doing it, but she stamped her feet and screamed at the stroller.  We cried, screamed, and stamped our feet a lot, and the stroller still didn't unfold.  It was very nice having Hilde's help.
 

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