My Experiences as a Father... August 5 to September 4, 2000 (16th month)

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Saturday, September 2, 2000
Now that Jill is retired, she and Maeve went to Richmond today to spend three weeks with Jill's parents.  Whenever Jill's mother goes onto the deck to smoke, Maeve wants to go out with her.  Jill said she doesn't like to go out, because it is so humid outside.  I don't complain nearly as much as Jill does about the humidity, but hopefully this will get Jill to stop bugging me to get a job in Richmond, just so we can be closer to her parents.  That's a nice idea, but I am much happier with the weather in New England.
 

Friday, September 1, 2000
Today was Jill's last day at work. It was also Maeve's last day with Nanny Carol.   It looks like it was just in time.  Carol's grandsons have been visiting.  Coincidentally, Maeve has learned that kisses involve lips.  She used to just touch foreheads, like the Coneheads.  After those grandsons have been spending lots of time there, she now kisses on the lips instead of the forehead.
 

Thursday, August 31, 2000
When Jill went to Nanny Carol's house to pick up Maeve , Maeve accidentally stepped on the cat's tail.  The cat made a noise, Maeve looked up at Jill and back to the cat.  Then Maeve purposely stomped on the tail to see if the cat would make the same noise.
 

Wednesday, August 30, 2000
Maeve has gotten much better at "giving me the hand".  Jill was practicing with her in the tub tonight.  Maeve thinks it's funny.
 

Tuesday, August 29, 2000
Maeve was outside when Dave was washing his truck.  Maeve was looking at him, so he thumbed his nose at her.  I told Maeve that was an example of "Police Harassment".
 

Monday, August 28, 2000
Maeve has started making a growling sort of sound.  She sounds like the "Wazzup!" beer commercial.   Maybe she is seeing that commercial during the day at Nanny Carol's.
 

Sunday, August 27, 2000
Maeve is always trying to do what she sees Jill and I doing.  I've made a lot of comments about what a good helper Maeve is.  She will see Jill or I doing something, like dusting, sweeping, putting away clothes, etc., and will want to help. 

Today I was getting something in the garage.  While I was doing that, she got a screwdriver, wrench and pliers and tried to remove the taillight from one of my motorcycles.  She had seen me taking the license plate off that motorcycle. 

During church she took the suntan lotion out of the diaper bag.  She would grab the cap and then rub her legs, like she was putting on suntan lotion.  She even put some on my arm.  She saw me using my electric razor a few times, and she will rub it on her face if she gets the razor out of the cabinet.  She will "brush her teeth" if we give her a toothbrush.
 

Saturday, August 26, 2000
My company had an outing at Canobie Lake Park, a local amusement park, today.  Jill and I were not sure how Maeve would handle the rides.  Jill played her role as the concerned mother, worrying that Maeve might not like it, wouldn't want Jill to leave her or might try to get out while the ride was going.  She didn't want it to be a traumatic experience for Maeve.  I played the role of the father who lets his daughter do everything, even if it is sometimes a little too far to push her.  I said as long as there is a seat belt that she would be fine. 

She loved the rides.  The only traumatic experience was trying to get her off the rides.  She wasn't ready for them to be done nearly as quickly as they were.
 

Friday, August 25, 2000
Maeve likes to carry around the remote control, and she turned off the TV.  She liked what she was watching, so she pointed at the TV and looked at Jill and I, as though we had anything to do with it.  Jill showed Maeve where the power button is.  Now if we are making dinner or something in the kitchen, Maeve will go into the living room and we will start hearing the voices from the TV.
 

Thursday, August 24, 2000
I sometimes move cars around in the driveway with Maeve sitting or standing in my lap.  Now every time we walk past the car, she will put her finger on the keyhole, wanting to "drive".  If I have let her hold my keys, she will even try to put the keys in the keyhole.  Even if the car isn't moving, Maeve loves to rock from side to side while "steering".  On Jill's car, if you pull back on the turn signal lever, the high beam lights light up.  Maeve alternates between steering and flashing the high beams.
 

Tuesday, August 22, 2000
Maeve has started crossing her arms.  It's a different look for her.  I am much more used to seeing her waving her arms.
 

Sunday, August 20, 2000
A lady came today to buy Jill's old motorcycle.  We were talking about how Maeve likes to carry things around.  We mentioned that Maeve had found a penny on the ground and was tightly clenching it.  This woman said that children learn the monetary system quickly.  Then we told her that Maeve knows about a lot more than pennies.  She opened Jill's wallet, got out Jill's license, credit card and $11.  She walked over to her purse and put the items in there.
 

Friday, August 18, 2000
When Maeve wants a door opened, she has been slapping doors with her open palm for a while.  She has started using her closed fist, and really knocking.  I took her next door to knock on our neighbor's door when I had something to give him.
 

Monday, August 14, 2000
Maeve kicked her ball today.  She was good at carrying it around, but today is the first day that I saw her kicking it.

Jill claims that Maeve is finally saying "Mama", though Jill has never been able to get Maeve to say it when I am around.  Jill will ask Maeve if she can say, "Mama" for me, but she just giggles and tries to hide behind Jill.

Nanny Carol has taught my daughter to kick when she dances.  She has to have someone hold her hands to balance her, but when we turn on the music she will first lift one foot, and then the other.  Building on that, Jill has taught Maeve to twirl around.
 

Sunday, August 13, 2000
Maeve found her nostril today.  She must have known it was there, but she never focused on it so much.  It was only through most of lunch, but it made it hard for her to eat her lunch.  Later when she was running around, Jill said she loves Maeve's butt.  Jill was talking about how cute Maeve looks when she walks.  Jill asked Maeve where her butt was.  I told Jill I couldn't handle Maeve finding her nostril and her butt on the same day.
 

Saturday, August 12, 2000
We had painted the dining room and kitchen, and today I took down the masking tape.  Maeve wanted to get up on the chair, so I held her while I took down the tape.  She started grabbing the pieces that I took off the ceiling.  After a while, both of her hands were pretty big balls of tape.  I set her down and she went into the living room.  She came back in a few minutes dragging a magazine hanging off her hands.
 

Friday, August 11, 2000
Maeve is cute and she knows it.  We got a roll of pictures back, and Jill showed them to Maeve.  Maeve kept pointing to them, wanting us to go through them with her to show her the cute baby.  When we would tell her how cute the baby is, she would smile her big "I'm so cute" smile and look up at us.  She knows what we are saying.  Now she also wants us to go through the pictures on the wall, telling her about them again and how cute the baby is.
 

Monday, August 7, 2000
At the last doctor's visit, the doctor said Maeve is light for her age, and wanted to have Maeve come in at 15 months for a "developmental" checkup.  She is 19 lbs and 31 inches.  19 lbs puts her between the 5th and 10th percentile, so she is lighter than 90% of other babies her age.  31 inches puts her at the 75th percentile, so she is taller than 75% of other babies her age.  The doctor said that she was developing just fine, and because I was very thin as a child, that the light weight is likely to indicate how her weight should be while she is growing up.  I would rather raise a thin child.  Losing weight is not an easy thing to do, and she can use all the help she can get.  Until I got married and got a sedentary job, I was pretty thin.  I had a 32 inch waist when we were married.  I have a larger circumference now, but it's not that much larger.
 

Sunday, August 6, 2000
Maeve was in her high chair while I was washing dishes and saying something about how Jill treats me.  Apparently Jill didn't think my viewpoint was accurate, and she said that Maeve "gave me the hand".  I was hoping to have Maeve as an ally for a little longer.  I don't need her AND mom ganging up on me.
 


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