Throughout my life I exercised regularly for a variety of different reasons. When I was a kid I did it for self defense and self esteem. When I got older it was for looks and self esteem. When I became a Police Officer it was out of a sense of duty to keep myself in the best position possible to have the edge over the bad guys.
Now, while I was recently looking at Emma I realized that my outlook on exercise has changed to become a duty and obligation to her so that I am around(God willing) for her for a very long time. I want to be able to fight off the hordes of boys/men that are sure to be just around the corner! I also want to be around for all the milestones in her life–birthdays, graduations, good times, bad times, marriage(the thought turns my stomach right now lol!), and grandkids! These reasons and a multitude of others are now why I exercise. Funny how looks have dropped so far…lol! Not that I don’t want to look good, its just that priorities change throughout life and it is strange how when I was a teenager I thought that old people–my age now lol–who would try to give life advice/knowledge were just…old people… It turns out that most of them were right about everything they said but I had to experience life in order to understand it. And, I know it is a cliche but if I could turn back time and go back……Anyway, have to keep exercising!!!
Emma had a fun time in Wisconsin with her cousins! Weeeee! Taylor, Shannon, Kiki, Lala, and Jeremy were all there for fun in the sun!!! It was very nice for this stay at home dad to have sooooo much help and assistance! And, Melissa enjoyed it too!!!
A huge milestone that happened here was that Emma, age 4, actually went tubing on the lake! She went out on the 3 person tube and sat next to Melissa–the middle seat between them empty–and tubed behind the boat! What fun and excitement! Weeeee!!! She made this stay at home dad and former “death tuber” proud!
A recent development has Emma becoming a coloring addict. She loves to color with her crayons and markers and I have never colored so much in my life! It is just another thing that I do with her that brings me back to my childhood. I remember every time I would visit Nona’s she had coloring books in a certain place. I remember coloring there and writing my name on my page and when I would visit again it was the first place I would go because my cousins would go there too and color in the same books. It was funny because someone–not sure who–started the tradition of crossing the other cousins’ names out. It got to the point where I would not only see my name with a big X on it but a little scribbling would be done on my great works of art. Well, it was open warfare for all of us cousins who colored in those books! lol! I couldn’t wait to look in them when we would visit Nona(miss her very much)….
Emma knows all of her letters! She can recognize both lower and upper case letters and we practice all the time! She is getting so big!