The Dame, She Crawls

Consider the long layoff much the same as the lost years of Jesus Christ. It is for good reason so long a time had passed before his great emergence. Such is the case for one Marley J, aka The Exec, aka Dame Marley.

After her 4 month check up, the once docile MJ turned vicious adversary of our estranged friend Sleep. As many in the biz of parenting say (but not all) "Those dang immunizations shots change things." And while we waited for the 4 month mark to be some holy moment when restful nights of 8 to 10 hours would come, our dreams were dashed by way of preventative injections!

But I digress. All is well in the little house that Coffee's built. Marley J eats like a champion, 3 times a day. She takes down anything from banana's to eggs and grabs for the spiciest of foods that Samran and I try and wolf down at break neck speeds in order to attend to Dame Marley's every need.

Samran does well and has only need talking off the ledge 2 dozen or so times. I merely sit in my small 6x6 office and stare at the walls thinking about how just 3 years ago, I was back in school, most worried about writing an article for class. Oh how sweet and easy responsibilitilessness (don't know if that's a word, but it looks great).

All seriousness aside, things are good. Today was another of those epic days in a child's/parents' life. Marley J has been toying with the idea of crawling, and today, while she raised her chest high off the ground and pulled her right leg underneath her, she decided "Big people, this Coffee needs to get a move on," and she lurked forward. Like Michael Phelps reaching for the walk in the 100 butterfly, she did it, and at the last second reached out with her left hand and made it happen. "Houston, we have lift off."

It was amazing, and you could tell on her face that she knew how important that was as she smiled and laughed at Samran and I who were starring mouths agape. She's not going full bore yet, and she hasn't even done it much since, but she's there. My only words to my wife were, "She'll never need us again like she did just 10 minutes ago."

Other great things are her newest best friend, the inside of the dryer door. She lights up when that dang door swings open. She's also quit in love with the front window and the arm of the rocking chair. As all parents know, there is no rhyme or reason to it.

Finally, we are all going to Thailand at the end of February. Ta-Dam (Black Eyes) as she's known to her relatives in Thailand will make her debut there. We can't wait for her to meet her cousins there. I'm sure she's going to give me a look like "And we live in the Midwest of the U.S. why?"

Getting ready to sit on my own


Then I started to sit on my own


And now my friends, I am mobile, so back off!


Papa J