avablog

Photos here. Still uploading images as I type this. My favorite picture from the trip:

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I think it’s time to take a deep breath amidst all this caucus madness and revisit what’s really important in the world. Namely, my adorable daughter. Here she is, pointing her paint brush straight at you, as if to say, “Back up, please. I’m painting.” In fact, that could well be what she said after […]

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Dear Santa, I know you’re resting, but I wanted to intrude upon your repose for just a minute with an admission: Over the last week, I repeatedly took your name in vain in the most careless ways imaginable. See, I’m the father of a three-year-old girl. And as the father of a three-year-old girl, I […]

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One of the items on Ava’s Christmas list from the very beginning was a guitar. As usual, Santa delivered. I love how her tousled hair completes the rocker chic look, especially in her fancy Christmas garb. She even has the facial expression down!

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We’ve been having a good, if snowy and cold, time in Decorah. We leave today. Yesterday, Ava got decked out in her Christmas finery to open presents and have Christmas dinner. It was a perfect photo op. I got one nice picture: And one…well, see for yourself: I call it an infection of the Christmas […]

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So I just got home from work, and Ava had me play Perry Como’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” which she just said is her “favorite song in the whole world.” After it finished playing the first time, she came over to the AIO remote and hit the play button, restarting the […]

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Last night we went out for dinner with a couple friends. The hitch: We had reservations at Cafe Docici, which is a ~30 minute drive from Iowa City. Not such a big deal, usually, but last night the countryside was socked in with a dense fog, and visibility was down to about 30 feet. We’d […]

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I’m sitting here eating breakfast with Ava, and she said, “Do you know who came to school yesterday?” I knew, but I acted like I was guessing when I said, “Santa Claus?” She nodded. I asked if he was alone, or if Rudolph came with him. She replied, “He was alone. Santa drives a minivan, […]

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Leah was tussling with a sassy Ava last night at bath time. They must’ve been going back and forth in a way that Ava didn’t appreciate, because she looked at Leah and said, “It’s not polite to talk that way to your Elvis!” Elders, Elvis…whatever. Good news: The manners lessons at daycare and at home […]

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OK, I stole that headline from today’s WSJ. Sue me (KIDDING, Rupert!). Sunday evening we loaded into the car with Gramary and went out to see some Christmas light displays. Ava was very, very excited. There was one home in particular that we were looking forward to, and when we were leaving the house, we […]

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Pretend like she knows all the reindeer names. Also, at about 26 seconds in I flip the viewfinder over so Ava can see herself singing. You’ll note the change in her facial expression (and the bad framing on my part). I told Ava we could share this video with all her friends, and she was […]

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Ava’s been conditioned to inquire about stickers every time we approach a counter somewhere. Today we were at K Mart looking for some cheap, asbestos-free slippers for Ava to wear at daycare (“Everybody else has some”). Santa was there in full regalia, standing in the checkout line to buy a bottle of Desani. When it […]

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Bow down to my mad iMovie HD skillz: I wish the video were better quality so you could make out the words on the page better, but the sound isn’t too bad. You get the idea.

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Ava sat in our bed this morning and “read” books while Leah and I scrambled around getting ready for work. In particular, Ava was working on What do you do with a kangaroo? I wasn’t paying much attention to her at first, but bit by bit, her mumbling became more recognizable. It sounded like she […]

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On the frequent occasions when Ava comes into our bed at night, she often asks Leah to tell her a story. This is at, like, 2:30 or 3 in the morning. Sometimes Leah explains that it’s not morning, and it’s too early for stories; other times she just mumbles a little bit and rolls over […]

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Our new house has the garage under the kitchen. This is nice for a number of reasons, the main one being that the car stays warm and dry during inclement weather. The downside is that if there’s an ice storm – -like there is today — the driveway becomes a super slick inclined plane. When […]

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G.G. came into town on Friday to see Ava and to accompany us on some holiday errands, including getting our Christmas tree. But first things first. I said I’d try to get a face-on shot of Ava’s new haircut, and I did. Here it is:

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Ava’s a hair twister. I was too, at her age, but then I had a lot to work with: That photo was taken just before my second birthday. When I wasn’t twisting my own hair, I was twisting my mom’s. What I don’t recall from this period was creating the impossible knots that needed to […]

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Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am overly anxious. I worry too much. I fret. I obsess. I indulge endless neuroses. Every once in awhile, though, I experience an epiphany of sorts–a moment of pure, bright joy–that reminds me of how little in life is actually worth all the damn blood, sweat, […]

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We experienced a major potty training setback yesterday. Ava had a total of four accidents, including #1 and #2, between 6 a.m. and midnight, when she wet her bed. Leah suspects a bladder infection, but Ava hasn’t really been complaining about any pain. And it sounds like she’s been getting to the bathroom. Just not […]

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