Today marked my very first birthday with Ellie around. Well, if you want to be technical, I guess
that you can say she was around for last year's birthday. However, she wasn't really exciting
then. She was more like a piece of
carry-on luggage that Bethany didn't really want to stow under her seat or in
the overhead bin for her flight. The
kind of carry-on luggage that you decide to hold in your lap for the duration
of the flight despite the flight attendant's repeated requests for you to place
it somewhere else. Then finally, the flight attendant calls the Air Marshal and
you're removed from the plane forcibly.
Wait, belay that. It's probably
nothing like that in all actuality.
 |
| There are other ways to get tossed off an airplane... |
As I woke up today, I found myself secretly wondering if
Ellie would give me any kind of birthday present. I wasn't looking for something store bought
though. I wasn't even thinking about a
homemade present like macaroni art (because Ellie would clearly cut her mouth
trying to chew on uncooked pasta). Nope,
I just simply wanted one thing from my daughter today. I just wanted her to have a good day. For the record, that means minimal crying,
time to play, and some smiles and laughs.
 |
| For the record, if Ellie's making macaroni art, I want it to be of Stephen Colbert. |
Fortunately, we started the morning off really good. Ellie went down for her nap within ten
minutes of Bethany leaving for work and would sleep until 9:44 am (must be
specific, clearly). Following that, I
got her up, gave her a nice bottle, and allowed her to finish a delicious
concoction of pears, zucchini, and corn all before putting her back down for
another nap around noon.
Once Ellie awoke from her next nap, I had one thing in
mind. It was time for us to have an adventure. Per protocol, when it's too cold for
Ellie to be outside for long, we get creative.
So henceforth, I loaded Ellie up in the car and to Sam's Club we would
go. My thought being that it's the
perfect place to wander around for a while aimlessly. Large enough to take some time to get around,
lots of people to watch, and plenty of free samples of frozen foods to
taste. See, something for both of us. Of course, since we weren't in a hurry, we
were more than willing to oblige the nice lady trying to sell us rainfall
shower heads. According to the lady,
Ellie showed more interest than most of the people that she pulls aside for
demos.
After Sam's, we headed to Sprout's to get some fresh produce
to get us though the week. Once I had my
fresh supply of fruits and veggies in tow, I headed to the check-out line to pay. This is
actually where Ellie provided me with a great birthday gift. Since she was inside the cart inside her
car seat, Ellie's view of me was limited by the groceries in the top half of
the cart. That is, unless I moved into view. So
therefore, I decided to engage Ellie in a nice game of
"Peek-a-Boo". Before long,
Ellie was loudly squealing and laughing in delight each time I popped into view. It seriously reached the point where others in the line kept staring (if they were guys) or
smiling (if they were women) accordingly.
Needless to say, I didn't really care.
 |
| Too bad Stan Lee will always be better at Peek-a-boo than me. :( |
Ellie would eventually have her meltdown moment later on
in the afternoon when we returned home. However, just having that great time with her
being so happy in the check-out line will be one of my favorite memories of my
31st birthday. Hopefully as she grows
older, she'll continue to give me awesome memories for birthdays to come. At least until she's a teenager. Then it's probably all downhill. I've accepted it and moved on already. #DaddyWrite
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