"T.A.R.Y." #1

They aren't robots. I have to remind myself of that frequently. Daughter #1 is just a little thing that still sucks on a pacifier and pees and poops into a diaper. She isn't an adult and won't be for years and years and years.

If I had to point to my biggest failing as a dad the first time around it would have to be the expectations I viewed my first daughter with -- and perhaps I shouldn't put that in past tense. I still do make that mistake sometimes. A large part of me has always felt that if she reaches for candy and I say "No," that she will understand and act accordingly. When she doesn't I've always had a hard time computing...I mean I did tell her "No," so she should understand and not reach for the candy again, right?

Ahhh, if only parenting were so simple. Unfortunately she's not 13, she's 3. Actually I'll be lucky if she listens any better when she's 13...

Today my wife left for the gym and my little girl stood saying goodbye 54 times like her mom was headed off to dismantle road mines in Iraq. As the garage closed she had a pitiful little whimper that lasted 5 minutes. Tomorrow my wife will go to the gym and my daughter will run around the house, bouncing off furniture like bumper cars, barely noticing. What's the difference in 24 hours? Beats me, I'm just the dad.

I do know that I dropped my daughter off at school a few weeks ago and the same thing occurred. Monday she could barely wait to say goodbye. She was off to play and daddy didn't matter for a second. Wednesday she was stuck to me like a barnacle. I said to her teacher, "I don't get it..." She looked at me and said, "Hey she's barely even three years old, she's just starting to figure things out..."

Ditto...