Daddy’s Day

Yesterday was my first Dios del Padre and I have to say it seemed pretty weird to be on the receiving end of the Dad’s Day cards. I was lucky enough to get a nice card from Heather and one from Finley. Plus, I got a couple of kid/parent CDs featuring David Grisman and Jerry Garcia and one featuring They Might Be Giants. I guess the hip thing for artists to do these days is to make CDs that both kids and parents can listen to. Well, at least CDs that won’t play the same nursery song over and over and over.

But the best present I got was a beautiful silver frame with the words “Father’s Day 2007” etched across the bottom. Inside is one of my favorite pictures. It’s Finley and me from the first round of photo sessions.

There are two main reasons I really love this picture. One is because she’s looking up at me in wonderment. And the other is because of how small she is. When we took that picture she was just over a month old and weighed maybe eight pounds. Now she’s three-and-a-half months old and just under fifteen pounds!

It’s hard to believe how fast she’s growing, and we can see her develop every day. She’s gone from randomly flailing her arms to being able to rub her eyes when she’s tired. Her balance is getting better, she’s sleeping longer at night and her smiles are bigger and brighter.

I love watching her mind work as we talk and play with her. She furrows her little brows as if she’s trying to figure out how we’re making those noises come out of our mouths. She tries to talk, but she’s limited to gurgles and some pretty funny high-pitched shrieks of joy.

The best part is how Heather and I react. It’s like we’ve never been around kids before. Every squeak or squeal is the cutest and funniest thing we’ve ever seen. I’m sure this is the way it is for all first-time parents. It’s obvious that having kids is a huge undertaking that can bring couples even closer together and I’m seeing that happen, first-hand. Heather and I used to make each other laugh and now there’s a third person along for the ride.

So, on my inaugural Father’s Day, I sat down and took in all of my gifts... Not just the CDs or the picture, but my two greatest gifts; my two girls. I couldn’t be a daddy without them.