Someone Turned Two on the 18th!

Cassidy really enjoyed her first birthday at home! She made out like a bandit and really enjoyed having visitors. After she opened her presents, she quickly became possessive of everything she got. She kept everyone on a short leash but was nice enough to let me put her new baby stroller together. She is definitely all girl.

Dancing Machine, Dancing Machine

The last 30 seconds of the video make the whole thing more than worthwhile. Observe the rhythmic stylings of the next Beyonce - albeit a modest, fully-dressed version.

New Experience

Yesterday was a big guys' day out for the Yeager boys because we had to go make our pinewood derby cars for upcoming races. While I was looking forward to it on the one hand (as evidenced by the fact that I still have the derby car from my scout days), I was also concerned how taking that time away from the house would impact my relationship with Cassidy. I didn't know if she withdraw and distance herself or excitedly greet me (didn't really care how the boys fared with her). I was also concerned about compounding things by going straight from hours away from home to plugging directly into the Cardinals' NFL playoff game.

I can happily report that Cassidy was happy to see all of us, and she even seemed very intent to spend time with me. As I sat on the floor watching the game, she hovered around me, rarely leaving the room. While that was all well and good, I was concerned that if she remained in my proximity, I might inadvertently scare her. You can try to contain the emotions, but you never know when a slip up might occur. I had been very mindful of that over the last 10 weeks... but last night's game was exceptional!!

It's one thing for your team win a game, but it's another thing for your team to embarrass the opponent. Arizona just destroyed Carolina, and in the process of annihilating those poor Panthers, I slipped... with Cassidy sitting two feet in front of me... as she was looking directly at me. I yelled, "YEAH!" and threw both of my arms in the air as if to signal "touchdown." I then came back to my senses and remembered that my sensitive little Cassidy was sitting so very close. Before my eyes could pan down from the screen to see her, I heard her yell gibberish and experienced the joy of watching my little girl raise her arms as I had! She had the biggest smile on her face, too.

Of course, it was also great because my boys love to hear me get into a football game. To date, the hardest Zachary has ever laughed was when Arizona played Dallas earlier this season. After I was done going crazy and the laughter died down, Zachary said, "Do it again..." So now it's kind of fun for me to listen to the hardy guffaws outlast my emotional outbursts. So I had the additional joy of listening to Jake laugh two rooms away.

What a great day! Derby cars with the boys and then football watching with Cass.

I Have Arrived!

You now see what I've been waiting for! I couldn't hope for more - besides her being free of the "vascular anomalies." I'm pretty close to being exactly where I've wanted to be with her. Truth be told, I don't care if I ever reach that mountain top. This is good enough for me. As of last night, I was able to send her to dream land by laying her on my chest. She knows me by name. She freely gives me hugs and her version of fist bumps. She actively seeks to wrap me around her finger. What more could a daughter's dad ask for?!

So what if she doesn't want to lay on me or near me at 2:00 in the morning...?! I don't want anyone laying near me at that time of night anyway!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A little time has gone by since my last post, and I do apologize for that. It really is my intention to update this regularly, but the road to somewhere nasty is paved with good intentions, right? To catch you up to speed in a nutshell, there has been good and bad and ups and downs. If you're able to step away from the immediacy of minute-to-minute, you will see a huge leap forward! In the last week, Cassidy really has warmed to me. She fist bumps now (which she learned strictly by observing the other children doing it), and she even gave me a single kiss on the cheek last weekend (none since)! Last night, she even gave me the Mommy treatment. What is the Mommy treatment? Whining at me any time I put her down. Of course, the reasons are pretty different. She likes being held by Mommy for the peace and love of it. She wants me to pick her up because she's a daredevil/thrill seeker. She finally figured out that I am the human roller coaster. She likes being hoisted into the air and riding on my shoulders as I gallop through the house (in the house only, though). She even likes being flipped in my arms (which Shari doesn't like watching). She likes riding on my foot as I walk around, and she likes being spun around, albeit slowly. The rough part for me is that once I do anything like that for her, every other kid in the house wants to do the same thing. Let me tell you that there is a huge difference in weight between a 23-month-old, undersized girl and an almost-nine-year-old, oversized boy! I think I'm probably an inch shorter than I used to be just by virtue of my spine being compacted by the resident food vacuum sitting on my shoulders...

Okay, I confess. It's not all about the acrobatics. She also wants me to pick her up because I'll hook her up with the peppercorn potato chips. (She likes things with a little kick...)

Below is a rather long three-minute video of Cass' first Christmas. I recorded and posted the whole thing mostly to showcase just how long it took her to work through one present. As a bonus, you will also get to hear lots of happy screams from the other kids as well as me correcting Jake... who, as I found out moments after the filming stopped, was actually in the right. Enjoy.

So Christmas was exactly what the doctor ordered for us. While I'm certainly not equal to Mommy in Cassidy's little eyes, she has certainly warmed up to me. She has napped on my chest. I can now put her down for night-nights without having to trap her on her side in my arms. She reacts enthusiastically when I get home from work. She can say "dadda" now, and she is actually talking about me when she says it. I know some people didn't understand or appreciate our decision to stay home for Christmas, I'll never regret it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Next year, we can give her the customary traveling Christmas experience...