Hop Dad

Happy 3rd Birthday, My Darling Daughter

July 1, 2012 at 7:00 am 6 comments

I can still see you laying peacefully in just your little diaper. You were nursing on one of my pinkie fingers and clutching the other in your tiny hand. It was late in the evening and both of us were very tired. I had to hold myself still so you could sleep comfortably and not notice the three-inch needle a doctor had just inserted into a vein in the remaining mass of flesh that was your umbilical cord. We were in the NICU and you were receiving a double-volume blood transfusion. Your bilirubin level was sky high; so high that the procedure was necessary to keep you alive and healthy. That night was the first of four nights you spent hooked up to monitors while laying over and under UV lights.

You were only four days old.

Since then you have rebounded into a vibrant, emotional, perfectly nutty child and you dominate my life.

During our early months together we visited the cows and horses at the fair, napped through baseball games, waved at the tigers at the zoo, and touched butterflies at the science center.

Soon we began taking car rides, boat rides, bike rides, elevator rides, and plane rides. Did you know you were booted out of a brewpub before you were a year old? That’s what we get for staying past the kid-friendly hours.

Eventually we waded in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Maui, hiked through a forest of bamboo, watched fireworks at night on the Fourth of July while on the beach.

Together you and I have chased each other for miles through the house, watched a small number of movies a large number of times, and camped overnight in the living room. You have stolen countless pretzels from my bowl, snitched many pieces of cheese while I am busy at the stove, and commandeered most of my glasses of juice.

We have logged hours on swings in parks and backyards, splashed in pools, blown bubbles, drawn pictures, picked flowers, napped, brushed the cats, eaten raspberries, picked pumpkins, pointed at airplanes, rolled in the grass, petted dogs, painted our toenails, mowed the lawn, and slid down every available slide.

We have done all of these things together and you are only three years old.

It makes me sad to know you won’t remember any of this. That is why I am writing much of it down now because eventually I may not either. I will keep it as long as time and technology allows; not to ridicule you or make you feel guilty when you become a teenager and want nothing to do with me, but to help you understand how you and I got started.

People often tell me “it goes by so fast, doesn’t it?” and I always tell them I disagree. This has been a long three years. But I wouldn’t change any of it for all of the hops in the Yakima Valley.

Happy Birthday to you, my Little Fuss, my darling Doodles, my Norah Grace.

Entry filed under: Being Dad. Tags: Babies, Being Dad, Children, Dad, Family, Fatherhood, Kids, Mom, Motherhood, Parenting, Parents.