Raising Paige

Paige started a ‘swimming’ class this past Saturday and I have the pleasure of taking her. My wife says it’s so I can learn how to be with Paige in the water. I’m not sure that’s a legitimate reason, but I’m having fun so I don’t really care.  Paige mostly listened during the first class but she was mostly just excited to be in the water. I think she enjoys the water as much as she loves being outdoors. The most difficult and enjoyable part of the class was getting her to float on her back and stomach while I held her. She just naturally wants to kick her feet and swim.  I should point out that Jodi came to the class as well and watched us in the water.  The only drawback to me taking Paige to the class is that I have to wear a bathing suit. While Jodi takes pictures. And posts them online. You can find them here . Thankfully raising Paige is teaching me humility, even if I don’t want to learn.

Last weekend we took Paige to the Calgary zoo along with Jodi’s parents and her youngest brother and his family. As expected it was both tiring and very rewarding. Paige was excited to see all the animals and we ended up pushing an empty stroller while she ran everywhere she could. A few times she ran quite a ways ahead of us, all in good fun, forcing me to run after her. Well ok, I didn’t run …I quickly shuffled. Anyway, we got to see the pandas as well as many other animals. I don’t know which animals she enjoyed the most but I know she liked seeing the tigers, camels, bears and penguins. She really laughed at the penguins. Unfortunately I didn’t get any video of her around the penguins but her shrieks of excitement and joy certainly put smiles on many people around us. Once again she managed to show me how important it is to enjoy the world around you and marvel at everything it has to offer. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the adventure. Do you see the bea...

Well it looks and feels like summer in Alberta is coming to an end. Paige certainly made this summer a little more exciting and a lot more fun at times. Being dragged around by a 2 year-old can certainly be tiring but it can also bring some laughter and joy. For example, we were lucky enough to spend 2 days at Crimson Lake at a friend’s cabin. We took Paige on a walk and managed to snap some pretty funny (and cute) pictures. Some of my favorites:   Hiding Peek-a-boo! Should I jump? Grandma & Paige Safety (and Cute) First! I find myself getting caught up in my own struggles. Raising Paige is tiring and certainly not something I expected to be doing starting in my mid-40’s but the adventure is something I remind myself to enjoy; Even during the Terrible Two’s. LOL. Paige is talking more and more every day and sometimes I’m caught off guard by what she sees and says. I hope she never loses that sense of fun and amazement with life.

In the last few weeks I have noticed a change in Paige. She is talking a lot more. A LOT MORE. Not only that, she is repeating words and phrases that we say as well as copying what she hears on shows like Peppa Pig and Dora the Explorer. She tries more often to sing along with songs she hears on shows as well and I know she sings along to songs Jodi plays in the Jeep. She's picking up new words on a daily basis and is able to say what she's thinking much clearer than she did 4 months ago. This morning she slept in a bit but she woke up before I left for work. She was calling for Grandma but I slipped upstairs and went in to see her. She must have had a good sleep because she was happy to see me and told me immediately that she needed to be changed. She also told me it was 'bobba time'. Which of course means she wants a bottle. We've been cutting back on bottles and instead trying to get her to have milk in a cup and that has been going well too. It won't...

Well Father’s Day has come and gone and it was pretty good. On Sunday morning Paige decided she wanted to wear a princess dress over top of her regular clothes. Like all females, she tried on one and then decided she wanted to wear a different one. Then she wanted to put the first one back on but Jodi said no. LOL Jodi went to church and Paige and I hung out together, which is something we do almost every Sunday. Sometimes she’s cranky, most times she’s fun, but it’s always a special time for me. This past Sunday I took her to the airplane park so she could swing, run around and go down the slides. All in her princess dress. Funny enough another little girl showed up and she was wearing a princess dress too. J This little girl was 7 years old and was climbing up the slides so of course Paige had to try it too. I’ve never seen her do it before but this time she managed to climb up not only the spiral slide but also the large steep slide. Several times. I was impressed....

Ok, time to get a bit mushy. Not much has changed with Paige recently so there hasn’t been much to write about. As a result I have been doing a little thinking (ok, I think all the time) about what raising Paige has actually meant to me so far. Several people have told me it’s a great thing that Jodi and I are doing by raising Paige and I usually don’t have much of a response. It feels like I’m patting myself on the back if I say ‘Thank you’ or agree with them and that makes me uncomfortable. I’m just doing what needs to be done. However, I do think it is affecting me more than I expected. Yes, I’m tired because I’m just not that young anymore and keeping up with a 2 year-old can be tough. Yes, I get frustrated with the 2 year-old attitude and have to remind myself that she’s ‘only 2’. But the impact hasn’t been as negative as those last two statements make it sound. To be honest, raising Paige is pushing me to want to be better. I don’t know if I did a very good ‘da...

Ok. People who know me know that I’m a bit of a technology geek. Maybe that’s an understatement. Anyway, yesterday we took Paige in to get another haircut. For her previous two she would sit on my lap and somewhat patiently wait while her hairdresser cut her hair. It would start out ok and then we would have to give her an iPhone to watch some videos. God bless technology. Yesterday was the first time she sat by herself. I gave her my iPhone so she could watch YouTube for Kids and she was such a good girl. Brittany did a great job patiently cutting her hair and Paige didn’t seem to even notice. As usual Paige charmed pretty much everyone that took the time to speak to her. She’s putting words together quite often now and of course is extremely polite by always saying goodbye (with waves). When another hairdresser said she liked Paige’s rubber boots Paige actually took one off to give to her. Thankfully it didn’t fit so she got it back. Raising Paige has certainly re...