Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Breakfast is the New Team Sport
I didn't realize that eating breakfast required more than one person, especially for a bowl of cereal. However, who am I to argue with a nearly 2 year old girl.
She not only ate half of my bowl of granola, she insisted on working through the remaining milk by having me take out some of mommy's cereal (which was already in a small bowl for her) and add it in to sop up the remains.
So when does father-daughter eating make the Olympics? :)
She not only ate half of my bowl of granola, she insisted on working through the remaining milk by having me take out some of mommy's cereal (which was already in a small bowl for her) and add it in to sop up the remains.
So when does father-daughter eating make the Olympics? :)
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Pancake Cereal and Shadow Dancing
This morning has been interesting. My daughter did not wake up well. She was slightly warm, but did not have any noticeable fever when we took her temperature. Still, her grumpiness of late has made us a little more cautious. Maybe grumpiness is putting it too lightly... she's been obnoxiously clingy and demanding. Tantrums currently have a hair trigger and she has stopped taking the time to even attempt to use words.
So we caved a little this morning and let her go shopping in the pantry while we prepared lunches. She brought us the syrup from the pantry and asked for "more." As luck would have it we had a pair of pancakes in the freezer from this past weekend that we could prepare quickly. Her mood started to shift.
My wife finished preparing her lunch and left for work. No protests were offered, instead our daughter told her "bye bye" and went back to her syrup dipping efforts. I finished packing and settled down to a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
A long time ago I picked up the habit of drinking the remaining milk from the bowl when I was done and this morning would be no different except for my daughter deciding she wanted some.
Ok, milk isn't a bad thing, so I slid the bowl to her and she proceeded to feed herself milk with my spoon. As she was happily engrossed in breakfast I finished getting ready to leave.
I'm not sure when it occurred, but about the time I was packing things into the car (easier to do without the baby attached to your leg) I looked down and she had 2 spoons and a fork all in the bowl of milk... and pancakes! Apparently pancakes are good when dunked in milk. Probably tastes a good bit better than the Cheereos.
So, to keep this post from becoming too much longer, the other fun thing that I observed this morning was on the drive to daycare. I looked in the baby mirror and saw my daughter waving one arm around somewhat frantically while looking down but not at her feet. At a red light I spent another moment of watching her actions it finally dawned on me: She was playing with her shadow! I don't remember her doing that before. That's kinda cool.
She thought it was fun and continued to play happily. So, as we started back up and turned the corner it only surprised me a little bit to hear her squeal from the back seat. Traffic was coming to a stop at the next light so I glanced back. She was giggling and moving her arm, trying to find the shadow again. When she did relocate the shadow there was a mighty giggle and then she traced the shadow back to her arm and then to the sun! I think she may have just figured it out.
Now I get to smile all day!
So we caved a little this morning and let her go shopping in the pantry while we prepared lunches. She brought us the syrup from the pantry and asked for "more." As luck would have it we had a pair of pancakes in the freezer from this past weekend that we could prepare quickly. Her mood started to shift.
My wife finished preparing her lunch and left for work. No protests were offered, instead our daughter told her "bye bye" and went back to her syrup dipping efforts. I finished packing and settled down to a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
A long time ago I picked up the habit of drinking the remaining milk from the bowl when I was done and this morning would be no different except for my daughter deciding she wanted some.
Ok, milk isn't a bad thing, so I slid the bowl to her and she proceeded to feed herself milk with my spoon. As she was happily engrossed in breakfast I finished getting ready to leave.
I'm not sure when it occurred, but about the time I was packing things into the car (easier to do without the baby attached to your leg) I looked down and she had 2 spoons and a fork all in the bowl of milk... and pancakes! Apparently pancakes are good when dunked in milk. Probably tastes a good bit better than the Cheereos.
So, to keep this post from becoming too much longer, the other fun thing that I observed this morning was on the drive to daycare. I looked in the baby mirror and saw my daughter waving one arm around somewhat frantically while looking down but not at her feet. At a red light I spent another moment of watching her actions it finally dawned on me: She was playing with her shadow! I don't remember her doing that before. That's kinda cool.
She thought it was fun and continued to play happily. So, as we started back up and turned the corner it only surprised me a little bit to hear her squeal from the back seat. Traffic was coming to a stop at the next light so I glanced back. She was giggling and moving her arm, trying to find the shadow again. When she did relocate the shadow there was a mighty giggle and then she traced the shadow back to her arm and then to the sun! I think she may have just figured it out.
Now I get to smile all day!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Immitation is the Greatest Form of Flattery
My daughter has taken to learning by immitation. It only takes one moment for her to capture and start repeating words, facial expression and other actions. She's picking up some really funny expressions as a part of this learning cycle. She's also picking up and repeating some less than desirable traits which we hope to overload out of existance by reinforcing the good stuff.
As much as I'd stop, smile and enjoy the recent memories for what they are, hind-sight still causes me to compare her learning approach to the growth of the developers I'm currently supporting. They too are immitating the patterns they see --both good and bad -- and, as is the case with my daughter, I'm hoping to steer their direction with positive reinforcement. For a pair of them that have been struggling, this is finally working!
Now, how do you get your managers to take the same approach?
As much as I'd stop, smile and enjoy the recent memories for what they are, hind-sight still causes me to compare her learning approach to the growth of the developers I'm currently supporting. They too are immitating the patterns they see --both good and bad -- and, as is the case with my daughter, I'm hoping to steer their direction with positive reinforcement. For a pair of them that have been struggling, this is finally working!
Now, how do you get your managers to take the same approach?
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