Day 7 - She Hungers for the Dance

One definite thing that I've noticed about the stay-at-home dad business is that it can be very cyclical in nature.  Meaning at this stage of Ellie's life, it's pretty monotone at time.  Hence the blog.  We start craving that first feeding of the day sometime over the ten o'clock hour.  Then we play.  Then we get fussy because we get tired.  That process repeats itself again around the two o'clock hour.  Your basic rinse and repeat scenario.  This isn't a complaining, feel bad for me kind of story though.  Because I'm good at finding those little differences during the day and entertaining myself in creative fashions.  And isn't me being entertained the most important thing?  You know, except for Ellie's health and well-being.  

I've noticed that bottle time can often be a stressful experience for Ellie.  Especially when you consider that it seems to be a physical impossibility to have a bottle's nipple, her right hand, and her left hand all in her mouth at one time.  Not to mention the tongue that seemingly wants to find its way outside her mouth at the same time.  If I had any artistic ability whatsoever, I would draw you a picture.  But alas, I do not.  Sad day.  Anyway, Bethany has always spoken about the importance of skin-to-skin contact with Ellie for calming her.  I've been mildly doubtful about that since Ellie decided the thing to do was to latch onto my bare nipple in the middle of the night once.  All she got for her trouble was a lone chest hair stuck to her tongue and a loud shriek from a tired daddy.  

Due to her struggles and stress with the bottle, I decided to give the skin-to-skin thing another try.  I thought about making some kind of homemade shield to guard my nipples but all I could find was duct tape, and well, I wasn't brave enough for that.  So with great trepidation, I set out to give this thing a try to see how it worked out.  Shockingly enough, she loved it.  This definitely will not be a daily thing based upon the copious amounts of white-tinged drool on my chest but it's worth saving for when she's struggling.  

Since she was in a great mood after this, she was laid down on her blanket on the floor to engage in some play time.  As I saw her moving almost in rhythm, the wheels began turning in my head about how to have some fun.  One of my favorite comedies of all time is 'Night at the Roxbury.'  If you've never heard of it, it's based upon that old Saturday Night Live sketch where a pair of clubbers imply bob their heads back and forth to 'What is Love'.  The film is essentially 82 minutes of that.  As the soundtrack remains a road trip staple in the Holt household, I immediately set out upon recording the ultimate baby dance scene.  After twenty minutes of entertaining myself in this manner, I realized several things.

• ·         Babies have an inherent lack of rhythm (To be fair, so do I).
• ·         Ellie certainly loves music a ton to be willing to dance and jump around to it.
• ·         I am way too easily entertained.
• ·         And finally, tomorrow we should try 'Footloose'.

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