Now there's something you don't see every day

Campbell can't be deterred when she decides she's going somewhere. Not only is she walking with abandon but she's climbing on everything. She can walk our house in seconds flat. And she now uses her mobility to not only play and have fun but find new and unusual methods for wreaking havoc. Objects within reach on a table, chair or flat surface of any kind is fair game. She really doesn't want to play with it or use it, she just wants to pull it down, spread it out and the move on to the next item to mess with. Leave a door open to the bathroom? Well, be prepared to find her either playing in the toilet (Ewwww, right?) or the entire roll of toilet paper on the floor. Trying to sort clothes in the laundry room? Forget about it. She's tossing things left and right and dragging the other stuff back out into the hallway. Leave the gate on the stairs open? 10 seconds later, she's upstairs running down the hallway preparing to make a mess with whatever she can find. But there are some positives. When I cut up some banana and put it in bowl for her, she makes a beeline for her denim chair. She knows it's snack time. Matter of fact, she might beat me to the chair. I remember thinking "Man, once Campbell is walking, things might be easier for me around here." Heh. I kind of miss the days when she could only roll around to grab the things she wanted. Much more so than Ellie, Campbell hates to be "confined." When she decides she needs to be on the move, she's GONE.

Big sister still has her moments of defiance but she can be a great help. Campbell likes to just be around her and Ellie takes it in stride. With a few exceptions, Ellie seems to understand that Campbell is more interested in knocking over the blocks or tearing up Thomas the Tank Engines tracks.

The other day, we went to the grocery. Now, when we go to Fred Meyer for groceries, Ellie assumes we're there to eat. It doesn't matter whether we just had a meal or not. Well, we had just eaten lunch. We get in the door and I was prepared to hear "I want a hamburger... no, a cheeseburger. I want a hot dog. I want a milkshake." Then I'd have to retort with "You'll get nothing and like it." At first, Ellie tells me that we need "macky-roni." When I tell her that we're only there for a few things and that we just had lunch, she continues with her need for macky-roni. So I look for a compromise. "How about some animal crackers in a few minutes?" That buys me some time. As I continue grabbing the things I need, we finally get to the cracker aisle. Those little boxes of Barnum's Animal Crackers are lifesavers. I grab a one of the shelf and crack it open. I hand her a cookie. She hands it to her sister and tells me "Campbell is hungry too." Altruism at it's finest, right?


Have I mentioned lately that I have the best job in the world? I work longer hours now than I ever did working for some company. At the last job I worked before we moved to Alaska, I had to track my hours. Shortly before I gave my notice, I was working 60+ hours a week. Now, I'm working 85-90+ hours a week and I'm on call pretty much all the time. I've had every kind of bodily fluid that exists pooped, spit up, puked, etc. on me. I have to juggle all sorts of things that I never even imagined just a few years ago. But I love it. My wife is completely supportive of me being a House Dad and I have the two best kiddos ever. I've been home now f0r over 3 years and it's been a blast. Each day, either Ellie or Campbell does something that amazes me. Or wears me out. If you don't have kiddos, it is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.