Life To Her Years

I found a pretty amazing blog the other day, www.LifeToHerYear.com  Dad's Tips for Adding Life to his Daughters Years.  The blog is by Michael Mitchell, who describes himself as an (almost) thirty-something dad who blogs daily tips and life lessons for dads of daughters at lifetoheryears.com.

I found some favorites that I loved, and some that made mama tear up (she is such a sap!)  I have such an amazing daddy, he already does some of these, and I know he will do the rest in the future as I get older.  Here are my faves:

138. Who says she has to wait until the last day of October to start wearing her Halloween costume? Don’t be surprised if it replaces every other outfit in her wardrobe.

(photo: kelly west mars)

130. For some strange reason, little girls love running around the house while wearing little to no clothing. Don’t worry… there’s never been a single scientific study linking this behavior to any kind of deviancy in adulthood.

(photo: j mcknight photography)

129. Tuck her into bed and kiss her goodnight as long as she’ll let you.

126. Take her on a date. Show her how she should expect to be treated when she turns 30 and can start dating men other than you.

(photo: alexia brown)

121. She can run just as fast as any boy. She will forget this fact from time to time. It’s your job to remind her.

119. Introduce her to the joy of cupcakes. Then again, her mother just might beat you to it.

(photo: hb adventure)

117. Doing the dishes together is a great way to teach her responsibility. It’s also not a bad way to demonstrate the kind of behavior she should expect from a future husband.

(photo: mollipop photograpy)

111. Teach her to shoot a gun… even if it’s just a Nerf gun. A girl with the confidence to fire a weapon can accomplish anything in life.

101. Take her out for coffee if she wakes up early on a Saturday morning. Her mother will thank you for the extra time in bed.

(photo: M.C.Wright)

90. If you don’t teach her how to do a cannonball into the deep end, who will?

85. There is a direct correlation between a girl’s self-esteem and the physical affection she receives from her father. In case you’re wondering, now would be a good time to drop everything you’re doing and go give your daughter a big hug and kiss.

(photo: mollipop photography)

71. Little girls like to wrestle with their dads just as much as little boys. Letting her win does not make you less of a man.

(photo: ‘tis mercy all)

60. This day is coming soon. There’s nothing you can do to be ready for it. The sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be.

58. Ice cream covers over a multitude of sins. Know her favorite flavor.

51. Write her a handwritten letter every year on her birthday. Give them to her when she goes off to college, becomes a mother herself, or when you think she needs them most.

47. Take it easy on the presents for her birthday and Christmas. Instead, give her the gift of experiences you can share together.

(source: GLIMPSES OF SOUTH PASADENA )

39. Somewhere between the time she turns three and her sixth birthday, the odds are good that she will ask you to marry her. Let her down gently.

(source: emily rc photography)

38. Take her swimsuit shopping. Don’t be afraid to veto some of her choices, but resist the urge to buy her full-body beach pajamas

25. She’s as smart as any boy. Make sure she knows that.

23. Take her camping. Immerse her in the great outdoors. Watch her eyes fill with wonder the first time she sees the beauty of wide open spaces. Leave the iPod at home.

10. Enjoy the wonder of bath time.

7. She will fight with her mother. Choose sides wisely.

5. Pray for her. Regularly. Passionately. Continually. Let her know she’s got another daddy in Heaven who loves her even more than you do. She may not believe you today, but she’ll need that assurance someday when you’re not around.

1. Love her mom. Treat her mother with respect, honor, and a big heaping spoonful of public displays of affection. When she grows up, the odds are good she’ll fall in love with and marry someone who treats her much like you treated her mother. Good or bad, that’s just the way it is. I’d prefer good.

I know I shared a lot of them, but there are even more great ones on the original blog (www.LifeToHerYears.com) Go check it out, or you can "follow" them on Facebook.

I am a pretty special girl to have such an amazing daddy to teach me everything I need to know, I am certain he will do his job and someday I will grow up and be as great as my mama!

Love You Daddy!

Linden

Rules of Laundry

Tonight mama and daddy were doing laundry so I decided to help, I learned a lot about doing laundry.

1. If you want your whites to stay white you need to wash them separately. I am sure when I learn my colors that will come in handy, but for now, not so useful...

2. If you leave your clothes in the dryer too long they will get wrinkles, and then you have to get out the iron. Mama won't let me use the iron yet so I am going to have to learn to tell time so I can make sure to get my stuff out quick enough.

3. Some clothes need to be folded before being put away, and some can just be put in the drawer.  Mama has most of her clothes folded, but none of mine are. A lot of my cute dresses get put on hangers though.

4. I am a very good help with laundry. 

5. Clean laundry tastes better than dirty laundry.

6. There is no need to be scared of laundry.  For some reason Jake is very afraid of laundry, I don't get it.

7. Mr. Maytag is the only laundry machine good enough to handle my mess.

8. Watch out for the sock monster.  Mama told me about this monster that crawls in the laundry machine and eats socks.  She assured me that he only eats socks out of the laundry machine and is too scared to come upstairs and eat the ones in my room.

9. Be careful around laundry baskets. I am not exactly sure how I ended up inside of it.  I am not exactly sure if it was fun or not.  I am very glad that mama rescued me!

10. No matter what you spill on your shirt, daddy can get it out.  Believe me, I have tried! 

There you have it, now you all know just as much about laundry as me.

Have a good night,
Linden

Give me a C!

The weather is turning cold, the leaves are starting to change colors, and that means one thing...it's time for some football!

I spent last Saturday in Lakeville watching a great game of football.  It was a pretty exciting day, not only did I have sideline seats, right on the 50 yard line...

But I also got to meet the star player after the game!!

I tried really hard to be a cheerleader, but I just don't understand spelling, no matter how many times mama told me how to spell Cougars.  I think if I had a cheerleading skirt I might be better, but daddy says the skirts are too short, I am going to have to work on him.  None the less, it was a close game and they ended up pulling out a win!

I love hanging out with my Cousin Tyler, but he really seems to like sports that make him smelly...maybe he should try ballet?

I had a great time at my first football game, I can't wait to spend Monday nights watching football with daddy!  Now I just need to decide who to cheer for.  Since Tyler hasn't quite made it pro yet, (maybe next year), I am going to have to stick to the guys on TV...I wonder if my Steelers onsie fits from the superbowl last year??  Does anybody have any other suggestions?

Have a good night,
Linden

Cukes

Yuck!

I think I could leave my post at that, but it wouldn't be all that exciting to read.

Mama decided to make some homemade baby food the other day and decided cuckes would be a good place to start.  A few weeks ago when I was trying to get two more teeth in (they came through yesterday!!!) mama gave me slices of cucumber to chew on, and it felt really good.

Evidently mama got confused and thought I was chewing on it because I liked the taste so she decided to mash it up into baby food.  Daddy started my meal off with Oatmeal and Apple and Blueberries, delicious. Then for dessert...cucumbers, Yuck!

It doesn't look all that bad, in fact, it is kind of a fun color, but the taste...

Even 30 minutes later, I would shiver at the thought of how icky it was.  Both of my grandmas like cukes, I don't get it.

I hope next time mama makes me baby food she tries cupcakes or something with chocolate.  I am guessing I am going to have to wait until I am 1.

Have a good night folks, and stay away from those awful cukes!
Linden

One more time...Yuck!

Mischief and Mayhem

Hey everybody!

Today was a pretty fun day with Miss Gretchen, we got to play outside a lot today, it was B-E-A-utiful!  I really like that the big kids are back to school, they were really crazy and hard to keep up with.  I am getting better at crawling which helps, but they are chasing balls, and playing hide and seek, I don't know where to go!

Crawling is getting pretty fun, I never realized how many fun things there are around our house.  Today I found a piece of paper, a plastic bag and I helped daddy with laundry!  I also crawled over to the vent cover and learned that it makes lots of fun noise when you run your fingers on it.

Another thing I discovered is my toy box!  I have always been kind of amazed with all the toys mama and daddy seem to find, and now I know where they come from.  I had a lot of fun today emptying it, there were lots of toys I wanted to play with, but I wasn't sure if there would be something better, so I just kept searching!

After I got ALL of the toys out it was time for bed.  I spent all that time, only to have to help mama pick them all up and put them away.  I guess tomorrow I am going to have to start earlier.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings,
Linden

Will crawl for Electronics

Hey everybody, I hope you are enjoying the beautiful day, it has been kind of fun having mama and daddy home on a Monday! 

Mama told me she is home today because it is Labor Day, at first I wasn't really sure what that meant, but I quickly found out this morning.  If you didn't hear, I have decided to start crawling (mama tells everybody I just learned, I really knew how all along, but it was more fun to make her do all the work!)  Well, now that I am crawling mama and daddy thing I need to do it all the time, it is a lot of work.  Today they have been working me especially hard, and then I realized that it must be because it is Labor Day.

I decided that if mama and daddy are going to make me work so hard I should get some type of reward, so I have decided the only way I am going to crawl is for electronics.  TV Remote, cell phone, laptop, I am not picky, if I get to play with it, I will crawl to it.

Unfortunately, mama and daddy don't really let me play with it, sometimes they will give me a few seconds, but most of the time they either take it away or they slide it across the room so I have to go crawl to it again.  Electronics make me happy so I am willing to make the effort.

Mama and daddy mostly only let me go after the TV remote, but their cellphones look pretty amazing.  I have also heard about something called an iPad, I think I am going to have to talk to my grandmas and grandpas about getting one of those, if it is mine then mama and daddy can't take it away, right?

Off to go help daddy in the garage, maybe he will let me play with his power tools if I crawl to them? I will have to give it a try.
Linden

Busy Busy Busy

I know I promised a blog a day to make up for lost time, but things have been kind of crazy around here.

First of all, mama and daddy had some friends over, so we were busy picking up the house. In addition to the normal cleaning there was some extra cleaning due to some new toys that I got! I'm not really sure what to do with my new toys yet, but once I figure it out I will surely tell you about it.

Secondly, it was mama and daddy's anniversary yesterday. It is a LOT of work helping daddy in order to make him look good. Mama had to work on Friday so I had all morning to figure something out. I convinced him to get mama some flowers, mama was very happy.

Thirdly, I have been trying to get in a couple new teeth. I have my bottom two chompers and they are pretty great, but I am pretty certain life will be easier once I get a couple more. Getting teeth is a lot of work and it makes me not feel good, but I am pretty sure it will be worth it in the end.

Fourthly, and most importantly, I have been in the midst of learning a new form of transportation. A REALLY long time ago when I was little, the only way I had to get around was by crying and then mama or daddy would pick me up and carry me around for a little bit. They also stuck me in a silly swing trying to convince me that I was going some where, I am not sure what they were thinking with that, I am WAY to smart to fall for it. I got sick of waiting for mama and daddy to pick me up and then bring me to where I wanted to be so a few months ago I decided to start rolling to get around from place to place. That made my life MUCH easier, but I got really dizzy and sometimes I would bonk my head and that didn't feel very good.

Rolling worked but I knew there had to be something easier so I decided to try and copy Jake and Bella and try crawling...I haven't quite mastered that yet, but I have gotten pretty good at army crawling! Mama tried getting a video onto YouTube but it was being difficult so you will just have to wait.

You see, I have been VERY busy, and all of these activities required a lot of energy which means that I need to get a lot of extra sleep. I really wanted to blog, I was just too sleepy.

Hopefully this post makes up for some lost time. Off to take a nap, Grandma Carolyn is coming down to babysit so mama and daddy can go out for their anniversary.

Love,

Linden