One of the most interesting facts that I have learned thus
far about babies is regarding their sight.
Specifically, they don't develop the ability to really see in color
until about their fifth month of life.
Just imagine it if you will. It
pretty much has to be exactly what people felt like in the olden days when
Technicolor was introduced and replaced the black and white TV pictures people
were accustomed to. Or like 'The Wizard
of Oz' and how everything in Kansas (monochromatic) is much more boring than
life in Oz (vibrant). By the way, am I
the only person alive that doesn't really care for that film? Does it have anything to do with the fact I
didn't actually see it for the first time until I was a teenager?
 |
| Hopefully Dorothy doesn't do the same to me for insulting her film.., |
Back to the topic, I feel like Ellie has absolutely gone
through the change where the world can be seen in color. She's absolutely astonished by the simplest
things like driving in the car and looking out the window. Or how she's totally drawn to certain toys
now over others just based upon the colors of them. Or how she has to try on three different
outfits each morning in order to find one that she likes. Wait, belay that; that's her mother (jk).
With knowledge of Ellie's new fascination with colors, I try
to get her out of the house more often now to take her on some kind of
adventure just so she can see new things.
Yesterday was no different. I'm
sure that this will come of no surprise to readers who know me well, but I'm
kind of a NASCAR junkie. I have some
great memories of always watching races with my dad on Sundays. Also, I have family in the South so I'm
well-versed in how the sport is simply a way of life there. So clearly, it's important that I introduce
Ellie to the sport of cars driving in circles early so that I can convince her
it's not boring (Juan Pablo Montoya will attest to that).
In order to do that, we decided to take a little field trip
yesterday to our brand spanking new Menards store during the Grand Opening week. Why did we do this? Well, dish soap was really cheap but the
bigger reason was so I could show Ellie a race car up close. Paul Menard's (nepotism alert) #27 car was on
display in the store so I simply thought it would be a fun afternoon out. Of course, I had to roam through most of the
store to find where it had been set up at.
I was even about ready to give up before we stumbled across it.
While I've seen race cars up close before on several
occasions, Ellie had not yet had the opportunity to do so (Duh!). Knowing this, I was eager to see what Ellie's
reaction would be. It did not disappoint
as she was immediately drawn to the car's neon yellow (or electric snot) paint
scheme, even wanting to touch it. The
neon tints of the paint even reflected off of her face and in the blues of her
eyes. Of course, like any good dad, I
coerced the lonely woman selling Paul Menard souvenirs into snapping a couple
of pics of us in front of the car. Someday,
Ellie will look back fondly upon her very first picture in front of Paul
Menard's race car. Hopefully the first
entry in an incredibly ironic album.
Now, not only did Ellie get to see some bright colors
yesterday, but she got to see another color today. However, the color that I'm referring to this
time wasn't electric snot. It was
red. As in the color of a matador's cape
(and his gaping chest wound).
Ellie pretty much gave me a heads up early today that I
wasn't going to enjoy myself as she woke up screaming from her first nap of the
day around 8:40. Only about two hours
off schedule. After letting her fuss for
a bit, I finally gave in and went to retrieve her around 9:00. While I imagined that she would cease crying
once I picked her up, I was dead wrong.
If anything, her fussiness intensified.
I knew for a fact she wouldn't be hungry yet so I went with the next
best thing and checked the diaper.
Cleaner than Mr. Clean's house which I envision is really clean unless
he's so worn out from a day of helping others that he lets it turn into a
hoarder's paradise instead. So without
any other recourse, I set about trying to calm the baby for the next hour until
I finally relented and gave her a bottle early.
Unfortunately, that didn't even resolve the issue. If anything, it just wet Ellie's whistle so
that she could scream more effectively at me.
Finally, around 10:45, out of other ideas, I laid Ellie down
on the couch beside me, wrapped her up in a big, soft blanket and held her in
place until she fell asleep. The rough
thing about doing so is that it compromises one's ability to leave that spot
for the duration of the nap. That's
especially bad if one is stricken by the double whammy of wanting lunch and
wanting to pee as I was. Finally, after
almost an hour and a half, I decided to attempt escape. If you're wondering, it went about as well as
a prisoner escaping from Alcatraz. Luckily
for me, Ellie didn't seem to mind too badly so I took the opening to feed her
some banana and get some much needed playtime in.
Unfortunately, Ellie's good mood was not built to last. Before I knew it, she was breaking down again
due to being too tired. This time there
was nothing I could do to soothe whatever ailed her. All I could do was temporarily distract her
from her crocodile tears for a couple of minutes before it inevitably began
again. Luckily, Bethany made it home
around 5:00 and Ellie's crying immediately ceased as she buried her face into
her mommy's shoulder, occasionally peeking over it to give me a huge
smile. My daughter is such a troll
sometimes.
Hopefully Ellie chooses to
see life in a much different color tomorrow.
I'm good with blue or green or yellow or orange or purple. Even electric snot. Just not red.
Please not red. #DaddyWrite
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