Third unrelated post tonight. To tell you this story, I need to confess something. I do not like to allow Lailah to watch TV while she is with me (there is plenty of other stuff for us to do together, etc.) and I try really hard to adhere to that, along with keeping her iPad time to a minimum. After having said this, there are sometimes when I just need a rest, and I acquiesce to letting her … [Read more...]

I really try to limit Lailah's time with the iPad and with TV, but I admit, we're watching Big Hero Six right now, and I just saw the young protagonist poke Baymax in the tummy (somehow missing it the first seventeen other times), saying something about "fixing this", and I immediately realized that that is my tummy - I'M BAYMAX - it's me in that white costume!! Who would have thought? I wonder … [Read more...]

Very, very short Lailah story: To set it up, I have two different sets of eating utensils, one set with blue handles, the other set with brown. I'm feeding her breakfast this morning, and apparently, I was using a blue fork for myself, and had given her a brown fork to use. She starts to pout, and says: "I wanted the blue fork!" I love her!! … [Read more...]

Today was the celebration of little Lailah's third birthday (which actually occurred earlier this week). Problem was, the party was at 1pm but my Saturday class doesn't end until 3:30pm. So, after class, I flew home, changed into a pair of shorts, and drove to the park between her parent's house and mine. Parked my (new rental) car, and started walking toward the pavilion - I hear my name being … [Read more...]

Exactly three years ago, my entire life changed overnight. I met and fell in love with a beautiful baby by the name of Lailah. She turns three yrs old today and has become a beautiful little girl. She is smart, sassy, beautiful, gorgeous, witty, funny, and have I mentioned how smart she is yet? She cracks me (and everyone else) up with everything she says or does. There is nothing I wouldn't do … [Read more...]

True story: I get a text from "Lailah" at around noon today, asking if she can babysit me at 3pm. Of course I say yes. Picked her up and drove home to my place, got the wagon, and we walked to the park down the street, dragging the wagon behind us. She takes my hand and holds it most of the way there. We get to the park, and usually we're the only ones there, but today, there was a 5-6 yr old … [Read more...]

As I mentioned earlier today, I had Lailah this afternoon. When I pick her up in the mornings, we usually go to my place, and play inside, then (when it's a warm day), we walk over to the park (sometimes she pulls the wagon, sometime [ok, most of the time], I end up carrying her). Today, we drove straight from Lailah's house to the park, and we parked on the street, and unbuckled her from her car … [Read more...]

Had the little girl today, and will have her again tomorrow as well. I think this is either the second or third week of having her twice a week (of consecutive days), and I really like it. Jordan and Katie always are so concerned over whether they are asking too much of me, and I always try to reassure them, that I love having Lailah babysit me, and would love to do it more than once or twice a … [Read more...]

Some silliness: Based on the recent huge success of two short videos of Lailah (with one of them being a "music" video), the decision has been made in the Williams' household to glue a movie camera to a football helmet and wear it around the house while she's over at my place (babysitting me). I was wondering the other day if I could invent something to record her from my point of view and came up … [Read more...]

Not really sure which tires me more: Taking all of Lailah's toys, books, playthings (castles, pirate fairies, stuffed animals) out and putting them around the house to make sure she sees them and plays with as many of them as she wants, Playing with Lailah all day long, Collecting everything off the floor after she leaves and putting the stuff away. I know it's not the second choice, and … [Read more...]

I'd heard yesterday that "my" little girl (AKA Lailah) was pretty sick, so I knew I probably wouldn't be seeing her today (her "regular" day with me). Realizing that I saw her on Tuesday has "helped" (somewhat), but I am sure hoping she's feeling better since it's really really lonesome here without having her to babysit and play with me. Lailah - It's not the same, looking at the (thousands of) … [Read more...]

I had a last minute visit by "my" little girl last night. Her parents had an event to go to and they dropped her off so that she could babysit me. I had gone to Cub (Foods) earlier (yesterday) and I, again, wandered past the small area/aisle of toys (which is really strange, I feel, for a grocery store to have), but I again noticed the Hot Wheels display, and I looked thru them, remembering how … [Read more...]

My cup runneth over this week: Had a great sleep-over with Lailah on Thursday night, she then babysat me all day long on Friday (until her dada came by at 5 PMish to take her home), and I also got a chance to be with her tonight at the Saint Paul Ice Carnival. While walking from the parking ramp, we pass the Landmark Center Building, and while looking upward and pointing at it (the tall … [Read more...]