Bath Time

Another Thursday is upon us and you all know what that means. You got it, Daddy bath night. So of course things have to go a little differently. It is just the way Daddy operates. This week we have moved bath time to the bath tub. The kitchen sink left Daddy and Mommy more wet than they desired to be. Now that we use the tub, C.J. has a limited splash zone. I think she will realize that soon and figure out a way to soak us again. She is pretty smart.

So today after I got her ready for bed I read a book to her. Usually, I read scripture with C.J. but tonight I selected a book I created for a class back in college. The title is Chester's Chance. The book is about a boy that wanted to do everything but was good at nothing. He tried and tried until he found that football was his niche and he excelled at that. The moral of the story is to keep trying and never give up. This is a lesson I want to embed in C.J. now so she can draw from it when she needs to.

That is pretty much it for tonight. C.J. is now asleep in her crib soundly. I will give myself an A+ tonight because everything came together like clockwork. So I remind you all to always pray. We know that prayer changes things.

Discipline

So Mommy is sharing some information about her day with me. She says something that is kind of sad and what does my princess do? C.J. laughs. So I thought to myself, what better time to start a little discipline? So I asked her to look at me in a very stern voice and explained to her that laughing was not nice. She stares me right in my face and laughs again. At this time I wanted to get a belt. Mommy laughed and said you know you're not going to do anything, lol!

C.J. is beginning to look more and more like her cousin Breezie these days. The question has to be whether or not the personality will accompany the look? Breezie is an interesting character...full of pizazz, life and spunk. She has a style of her own and an attitude that is always up for interpretation. So now we have C.J. who has a smirk that she shines when need be, and a smile that says, "You can not discipline me...I am too cute for that." What Daddy has to do is gain the strength to look beyond the smile and the grin and remain stern in his position so C.J. learns right from wrong. Mommy is ahead in the discipline category so Daddy has to catch up a bit.

Tonight she went to sleep without fuss so that is an accomplishment for us all. We love her dearly but we love sleep as well. That is about it tonight. Some days are more eventful than others, but nonetheless, we are blessed that she is healthy and is really strong. So as I go, continue to pray because we know prayer changes things!

I'm UP!

Well we are still adjusting the sleeping patterns for C.J. The good thing is that she still sleeps through the night. We are just a little worried that her amount of sleep is lacking. Today the report from the sitter was that she took a long midday nap. Do not get me wrong, C.J. is pretty active but I do not think it is to the point that she knocks herself out.

On the ride home we had to make a stop and my Princess was asleep. All Mommy said was when I get home I need you to keep her up. She allowed her to sleep for the moment but I was already getting my plan together. Little did I know I would not need my plan. When I got settled and proceeded to undress C.J., I noticed that homegirl was awake and sucking her thumb like, I am waiting for you to get me out of this hot box you all have me in.

I have to share with you the happenings of bedtime last night. Now you all know that C.J. is my girl. You also know that Daddy treats her like a Princess! The problem is that in our kingdom resides a Queen that acts like a Queen Bee sometimes. (This statement is not figurative before you all go saying I have the nerve to say that about Mommy. In a beehive the Queen Bee runs all activity.) She made the statement that C.J. is to stay in her crib no matter what. So needless to say I needed to listen. So about 10 minutes in last night C.J. begins to whine. The whine turns into a fuss and then the fuss became a faint cry. At this point I am shaking in bed and Mommy says, "You are shaking" I'm like, "Yes". She says, "She has to stay in there. If you take her out she will never learn." I really did not want to hear that nor did I want to keep my Princess in that crib, but because the Queen Bee said so, I obliged. So I kept shaking and gripped the sheets tight as my baby girl cried and cried and cried sooner than later that cry became a shrill and then guess what, the Queen Bee says, "Ok, get her out." I am out of the bed before she probably finishes the last words in the sentence. I scooped my girl up and then had to wipe the tears from her eyes and hold her closely like a Papa bear would do his little cub.

Daddy is all with getting C.J. in a groove now so we do not pay for it later. It is all good, but trust and believe I will be the enabler when she has reached her frustration point, and last night it came quickly. Tonight seems to be going a lot better. She is in the crib and not making a sound! Daddy does not have to shake!

That is all for today folks. Keep praying because you know what I believe...Prayer changes things, people and situations!

Sleeping Beauty

Today was a different day for C.J. Usually I talk about her being bright eyed and bushy tailed. However from the outset of the morning C.J. had other plans. I should have known something was up because when I went over to pick her up to get her dressed, C.J. was sucking her thumb watching television through the bars on her crib. I picked her up and then she laid silently this morning as I made her look all cute.

What was odd about the morning was that C.J. tried very hard to go back to sleep. Normally around 6:10am she begins to get fussy. That helps Daddy to know that it is time to prepare her bottle. On this day C.J. was quiet. So I continued the routine...I put on her coat, her gloves, her hat and strapped her into the car seat. Before I could look away her eyes were shut and she was zoning off. As always I prayed before we left the house. On some days C.J. will give some kind of sign that she was listening, but today she just slept. C.J. was in so much of a zone that she slept while she devoured her morning bottle. Now I think she was just, as my great-grandmother used to say, "resting her eyes". Mommy, on the other hand, reminded me of my science background. She told me to remember that sucking is a natural reflex. Either way that bottle was handled easily by the Princess.

So when C.J. was picked up from the babysitter, I never thought I would hear that C.J. did not sleep at all during the day. I was sure she was tired. Mommy seems to think that C.J. is not getting enough sleep, and was fighting her sleep today instead, so we changed things up a bit and she is already in bed.

As an educator of first grade students, as well as those I work with at the collegiate level, I always stress the importance of sleep. One needs eight hours minimum to function at 100%. So I have to make sure I get that point across to my soon-to-be six month old child.

So we shall see what tomorrow shall bring. Hopefully C.J. will be back to her usual self in the morning. So as the evening fades to the night, and I go run to my Princess as she cries out for her Daddy, always remember to pray because prayer changes things, people and situations.

Country Gal

If Daddy had his way he would have been born in North Carolina. Whenever he is in the "Great Tarheel" state he is comfortable and has a lot of fun. So whenever he is out and about and sees anything that will make C.J. look like a little country girl he probably will buy it.

The one thing about a country girl is that she always will wear a hat. I am glad to report that all the hats that C.J. has worn, her dear ole dad is responsible for. Today the look was priceless. She looked so cute in her hat and she really wore it well. Now neither of C.J.'s grandmothers like hats at all. They will wear them when they have to for fashion, and that is on first Sundays at church. On the other hand her great-grandmothers love hats. So much so that they have closets and attics and basements full of them. They have winter hats, spring hats, summer hats and fall hats. They have big hats and little hats. Hats with ribbons, hats with bows and hats of many colors. Any hat you want to see, trust me, they own one. So Daddy is just starting C.J. off early to follow in her great-grandmothers' footsteps.

I will add that many folks did not like her hat today. They said she looked too much like a country girl. Well that is too bad for them. Daddy likes the country girl look and C.J. wears the look well so as long as Daddy is buying the gear, tough luck for them.

C.J. had a good day today. She ate way more than she usually does and that was new to us. C.J. is still such a happy baby. She enjoys life and she enjoys having fun. She even got her hands on a chicken bone today and sucked on it for a little while. By the slobber on her bib you could see that she enjoyed it. It was a great day of Worship and family today so I would say that C.J. is all GOOD!!! So I am done early tonight. Mommy said, when she saw me writing already, that I did not even let half of the day go by. I told her that I already had my thoughts for the day in order. God is a GREAT God and He is worthy of all my praise! You all continue to pray because prayer changes things, people and situations! Have a great evening.

NOTE TO C.J.: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a DUCK! If we dress like we are country and we eat country food we have a right to claim the COUNTRY!

College Tour

In the year 2027 when we are driving from state to state looking at different campuses and narrowing down the schools in which C.J. will choose to matriculate we will look back to this day. January 23, 2010 will serve as C.J.'s first college tour. Mommy and C.J. hung out with Daddy today and witnessed a great game by TCNJ! C.J. and I hung out last week, if you remember, but Mommy coming along was a special treat. Again, C.J. was focused on the game. However there were a few instances where I caught her checking out the cheerleaders. I kindly told her to pay attention to the game because that is where she will be, lol! I know, I know...no pressure.

So Mommy had the bright idea to go on a tour of the campus in 37 degree weather. Keep in mind Daddy's head is bald and he did not have a hat on. My bad I guess. So of course he obliges. Once we packed C.J. up and made sure she was at 90 degrees, the tour commenced. We went from building to building. I showed the Science Complex fountain, the brand new library and even the atrium of the Social Science Building. It was a quick tour but a tour nonetheless. The campus is beautiful but Daddy does not want C.J. to attend TCNJ at this point. Seventeen years from now he may have another story. TCNJ is a great school but Daddy is looking for a school with a more rich athletic focus to go along with the strong academics. Davidson, UNC, Duke or an Ivy will do. We have some time for that though.

So today was a great day! We hung out as a family. C.J. had fun at the game and slept through her first college tour. I can not make out if that is a good or a bad thing but that is what she did. Now she is getting all cleaned up to be bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow. As I go I remind you all to pray because prayer changes things, people and situations.

Another Day in The Life of C.J.

So here we are, another day has gone by for C.J. As I type I listen to Mommy scold her for splashing a lot of water on her while she is being bathe. It is just what C.J. does. When she sees that water her eyes light up and we know what is about to happen.

A day is pretty long for C.J. She wakes up at 5:45am. She has to get dressed and fed. Then it is off to Ma Lucy's for the day. It seems like she makes up for her early rise by sleeping for long periods of time, which always alarms me because we want to make sure she sleeps at night too.

Another interesting part of her day is the car ride. When C.J. was born I lost my trusty co-pilot. Mommy would hold my juice, pass me the toll money and read signs so I could focus. These days Mommy rides in the back seat and it is pretty hard for her to do all she used to while holding a bottle. C.J. chooses when she wants to cooperate back there too. Most of the time she is sleeping but when she decides to ride while awake her presence is always felt.

So when her day comes to an end it is always with a bath, prayers and reading. Recently we have begun just to put her in her crib and she plays, laughs and scoots herself to sleep. What she does during the night I could not tell you because C.J. allows Daddy to get a full night of sleep. The one thing that is evident is that she does twist and turn because she never is found in the same position or area of the crib that she was laid. Hey, as long as she is comfortable, I am good!

As we head to bed, you all continue to pray. For we all know that prayer changes things and people!