After one year of being a dad, I have to say that I am still overwhelmed with joy at the arrival of our baby girl, Caroline. She's starting to walk, learning to feed herself (well, feeding is perhaps a very loose term), playing with her cousins, and giving mom and dad reason to be happy each and every day...
She's cutting teeth, playing in the tub, pulling things off shelves, petting the dog, emptying the tupperware drawer, and stealing our hearts. Her beaming smile (snuggled in her mother's arms) welcomes me home each day. She's learned to give us kisses. She reaches out to give us hugs.
In her first year, Caroline has, obviously, gone through a lot of changes. She's growing quickly, and going through bales of diapers. She loves the blankets her mom has made for her, loves the stuffed animals that friends and family have given her, and she has taught me that sometimes the best thing to do is to sit on the floor and just play.
She's learning to climb stairs and climb down from her rocking chair. She loves taking her bath, and to SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH. She's intrigued by the world just outside the sliding glass door, and has played in the grass at the gardens where Heidi and I were married.
She's smeared spachetti and cake in her hair, fed her dinner to the dog, and laughed the whole time. She crosses the room to our bare feet and says "tic tic tic tic" as she tickles our toes. She tries very hard to say "dog" through her toothy grin, calls for "mamamamamamamama" when she needs Heidi's attention, and said "dadadadada!" when I came home last week. She has melted my heart, and helped me realize that no matter what I do during the day, I want to be home to see my girls after work. She's helped me see that the job is how we pay the bills, not how we live our life. That playing with toys, entertaining and educating ourselves with books and light-up gizmos, and experincing everything in reach cannot be replaced by some cartoon on a phosphorous screen.
I'm nearly 32, and despite the yearly bloodpressure and cholesterol checks, I feel more like a kid now than I have for years. Caroline is such a wonderful blessing. Heidi is an incredible mother and wife. And we have a wonderful family.
Happy Birthday, Caroline! We are SO proud of you!
Posted by MEK at June 19, 2004 10:55 PM