Da--A Tribute Post

Just had to take a moment, while Menna is gorging on her nightly formula hit (I intend to exclusively breast-feed, but don't believe in making her starve until my milk is all the way in--the sweet thing is usually ravenous each night around midnight--I tried pumping then to see what the fuss was about--and after nearly 1/2 an hour, I could barely pull 1/2 an ounce--so she drinks up to 2 ounces of Enfamil Lipid before bed), to say what a great job Martin is doing with Hana.

There is a good quote by Dr. Sears that goes: "Nothing matures a man like becoming an involved father." I could not agree more! Martin has always been active in family activities--but I have never seen him so self-motivated and into planning them. Every day he has organized an activity with Hana--for instance today he took her to Churaumi Aquarium, where she enjoyed her first dolphin show--she loved it and kept saying "more jumping fish, please!" And they have special things they do together at home--mostly athletic. (I can't wait for Ha to be old enough for some of the local sports clinics--especially gymnastics--she is very interested in that sort of thing at present--they do offer a mommy-and-me class here--we were on the waiting list for awhile, but none of the times that opened up ever fit our schedule, so I took us off it--but now that I know how much she loves gymnastics, I plan to get back on the list and just work our schedule around the classes).

One of the cutest things Ha & Da do together is "tunnel"--which is where she climbs up inside his shirt and sticks her head out of the neckhole while he's wearing it. She also likes to "fly like an airplane", do balance-beam stunts on Menna's cribrail, and pull-ups on the shower bar. He developed his own nighttime routine with her--they do some pull-ups and then she has a bath--during which she plays with bubbles, our new Tupperware collander set, and "animals tub" (which is what she calls those little capsule sponge animal things), then she gets her jammies on and comes and does books (well, mostly puzzles) with Menna and me while enjoying a snack. He gets her to bed more easily than I ever could--and she sleeps MUCH longer with him--she is averaging 10-11 hours a night--with no night terrors (which she also got with me), which is awesome!!

All this makes me so nervous about him going back to work next week. His schedule should be pretty flexible from here until September, when he leaves for Afghanistan, so I'm hoping we can still spend a lot of time with him. I've been very tired lately, but hopefully my energy will be back by then--because both girls right now are definitely getting all the parenting and attention they need--hopefully I will be able to sufficiently carry that load by myself when Da is at work at least.

If you're in Oki and up for a playdate over here next week, let me know!!! Ha is used to a very full schedule, lol!