Father's Day

I don’t know what my earliest memory of my dad is. Dad was just always there. That, I know, is a huge blessing so many don’t have and I’m sure I take for granted. A wonderful blessing.

Some very early memories I have, though, are learning to throw and catch with my dad (a wonderfully taught lesson even if I do still throw like a girl). Or wrestling. (Got to get those shoulders down!) I remember silly things like rubbing balloons on your hair so the static will stick them to the walls. Or how to blow bubbles with your gum. But perhaps my earliest memory is jumping off the diving board at the pool, Dad treading water nearby just in case I needed help getting to the side. I was only 17 or 18 months old, so I could have easily needed help. But I was quite confident jumping off boards into ten or twelve feet of water. Why? Dad was nearby, so I was safe.

Dads give a lot of things to their kids, especially good dads who are seeking the Lord in all things. But for a little girl, the most important thing a dad gives is safety. The world makes us realize all too soon that being kept safe from all things is impossible. It’s too wicked. And yet, if Dad is there, somehow you just feel like everything is going to be okay. You’re as safe as you can be.

Now I get to watch Ed with our little girl. And I often wonder as he bounces her on his knee, or fills the sink to play with her rubber duckies with her what things my dad did when I was just tiny that I can’t remember. Sometimes, as a mom, when he swings with her too high or lifts her high above his head, I feel a moment of panic. But then I think there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to keep this little girl safe. And she knows it. She’s as safe as she can be.

Thank you, Dad, for keeping me safe. I love you.

Me and Dad.

New Things

Every week Emry learns something new. This past week we learned several new things.

First, we went with Mama and Papa to pick strawberries, cherries and sugar snap peas at a local farm/orchard. To say she picked anything at all would be a lie. She’s not that advanced for two months. But she was very content in her stroller, enjoyed her bottle outside in the fresh air, and allowed Mama and Papa to pick away for about an hour. Next year, I’m sure she’ll join us in both picking and eating.

Second, we are now playing with some of our toys. Perhaps Mama has been a little remiss in not getting out a rattler or two before now, but only this week has her hand-eye coordination been apparent. She is seeing something and reaching for it. This skill has yet to be perfected, but we’re starting to grasp the concept. And, of course, anything we have in our hand goes directly into our mouth.

But most important of all, we had a lesson in Newton’s Third Law of Motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. One morning while lying on the floor, watching Mama do her yoga, Emry learned that when she places her fingers far enough back into her mouth, she will gag herself. This was quite a novelty, for she did it several times before I told her to stop. On the other hand, she doesn’t quite understand that when she grabs a fist full of her hair and yanks, it hurts.

So, this week we covered science and physical education. Next week I think we’ll diagram sentences and graph algebraic equations. After all, we have only eighteen years before heading to Harvard…

Old Things

It’s nice to be somewhat back to “normal”. As usual, “normal” is a relative term. After all, life is all about changes. So, when is anything “normal”? As a reference point right now, I am speaking of my exercise program.

I continued to exercise throughout my pregnancy. In fact, I did my regular daily pilates the morning Emry was born. Of course, my exercise regime of running, and jumping rope, and yoga, and pilates, and interval cardio training at least five days a week changed up quite a bit while I was pregnant. I knew jumping rope was probably not wise. I ran until January and only stopped then because I was afraid of slipping on icy sidewalks and taking a fall. Yoga and pilates continued mostly unchanged (although reaching my toes was impossible) and my interval cardio was much lighter.  So, as a whole, I didn’t find pregnancy hard on exercising. Then I gave birth…

For me, post partum recovery was the worse thing I have ever recovered from. It’s not like a pulled muscle, or strained Achilles tendon, or shin splits. Those I can run, jump and play on anyhow – I just ice them afterwards. But giving birth has taken a toll on my body I never imagined. Walking was about all I accomplished for 7 weeks…because if I tried to add something (a slight run, a bit of yoga), I just went into relapse. I was starting to wonder if I would ever recover when I suddenly felt okay again. Mostly.

My body is still working itself back to “normal”, which I may need to redefine. Seven weeks of almost nothing did no favors to the strength and abilities I took for granted. Not being very flexible to start with, I’m just now reaching my toes again. I am working my way back up to a 4-mile run, which will come soon enough but not at 10 minutes a mile for a while. I got back to jumping rope just this week. The yoga and pilates are working to build my muscles back into place. I feel a bit sore, yes, but I also feel better than I have since giving birth. It is so nice to be heading back to “normal”.

Meanwhile, Emry enjoys our daily exercise sessions. She usually falls asleep in her stroller as we cruise along Pittsburgh’s bumpy roads and sidewalks. She stretches, and kicks, and babbles as I move from downward-facing-dog up to my warrior poses. And she sits in her little chair and watches as I jump rope. No doubt, she will join me more and more as the months go by. After all, she ran and stretched with me in the womb. Now we’ll just continue the habit.

Two Months

It’s hard to believe it, but our little Emry is now two months old. She is “talking” much more, yelling when we leave her alone to play and suddenly realizes that we have done so, sleeps through the night (which means 7 hours right now) and – most importantly – is growing. In fact, she may weighs eight pounds and nine ounces now! Here she is at one month:

And a little more serious at two months:

After all, being two months old is so much more grown up than one.

And just because this picture is cute:

Just Ducky Pittsburgh

For our first anniversary, we decided to do something neither of us (or Emry) as ever done: go on one of those ducky tours.

I’m sure most of y’all have seen them in Boston, or Charleston, or any major city where there is both land and water to tour. The “bus” is an old World War II vessel used on both land and see, especially during invasions like the beaches of Normandy. Very timely that we should be riding in them on the 71^st anniversary of D-Day.

Of course, you would never use these vehicles in war now. As you can see from the picture below, this vessel now painted bright red, would be a sitting duck. (Quack, Quack, Quack!) If you can’t quite make out the name of the vessel, it is Dahnthan Dottie. This is Pittsburghese. Mine is still rusty, even after a year, but this can be interpreted as “Downtown Dottie”. I’m afraid I will never have the correct accent to speak Pittsburghese, but put a clothespin on your nose, say “downtown” and you’ll come close.

 Emry and Ed with Dahntahn Dottie.

The tour was very fun. The tour guides more than a little lively with lots of quick (and quack) facts about Pittsburgh. We did a lot of quacking, disturbing the citizens and other tourists (especially all the young, cute girls going to the Taylor Swift concert that night) with our quacking. We saw a great deal of Pittsburgh from both land and water. Seeing Pittsburgh from its rivers was a nice point of view, but I wouldn’t take a tour in one of the ducky boats if I wanted to see the rivers themselves. It would take months…

 Pittsburgh from the Allegheny River.

So, what did I learn about Pittsburgh? Well, the first Big Mac was made here. As well as the first banana split. PNC Park is made from imported steel. (I’m in agreement with the tour guide that this may be why they haven’t won a World Series before or since moving there. Something like the “Curse of the Bambino”. I mean, why does the “Steel City” import steel to build their own baseball stadium?) There was once 17 inclines going up Mt. Washington. They were built so the coal workers wouldn’t have to climb all those stairs, but the inclines were so expensive to ride the workers wouldn’t spend their money on them. So, the city hired “ghosts” to scare the workers off the stairs into taking the inclines. Now there are two inclines remaining that are something fun to do. (I haven’t done them yet, but when I do I will take a larger bill for the machine because they give back dollar coins in change.) Pittsburgh’s theatre district is second only to Broadway in the number of theatres it has. And there are 446 bridges in the city of Pittsburgh. This is three MORE than the city of Venice.

I think the most information thing I learned has to do with Pittsburghese. Another thing Pittsburghers say a lot is “Dahn-thar” or “Up-thar”. (Interpretation: “Down there” and “Up there”.) The tour guide helpfully told us that when you use either of these terms, it really doesn’t make a difference which way you’re pointing. Just point and use whichever one comes to your tongue first. That has been very helpful…and explains why I’m always getting turned around and lost in this city.

Truly, it was a very fun way to spend our first anniversary. Even Emry had fun!