The Sponge

It's been almost a full week since I started my new job. For the past 4 days, I've been acting as a sponge with all the information that's been thrown at me. I've come home every day exhausted at the amount of information my brain has had to take in. It's my job to retain all of that information, and hopefully be able to either hold it, or more importantly, spit it all back out when someone squeezes me (hmmm...that sounds weird, but you get the point). What dawned on me today is that this would be a lot easier if I was 11 months old.

During dinner, it dawned on me that Kaylani is the real sponge in the family. I sit at work and am asked to remember/learn things that have been in people's minds for 2 years or so. Kaylani sits anywhere and is being asked to do the same, but for things that people have in their minds for 20+ years! I have to remember things like who our target consumer is, or what's the next deadline for a website build, or what's my budget. Kaylani has to remember things like where's my head, how do I clap, and what the heck did I just eat. Sure they sound like the same, but for Kaylani, it's far more impressive for her to remember.

Actually, the most impressive part is how smart she is. Within the matter of a week, she's learned to put both hands on her head when we ask her "where's your head?" She's learned to feed herself with her own fork, or to put food in her mouth when we say "put the food in your mouth, not in your hair." She's even learned to touch our nose when we say "where's your nose?" (close enough). If you take her out of her high chair and say, "Kaylani, bath time!", she'll take off towards the stairs and head on up. If you put her on the floor of her room and say "bath time!" she'll run to the bath tub and stand up. She's learning so much each day that I'm surprised her sponge of a brain isn't full yet because mine's getting pretty close.

I only hope that Kaylani's sponge continues to get bigger and fuller because it just shows that she's healthy and developing. I'd wish the same for me, but you know what they say, you can't teach an old sponge new tricks. Well, something like that anyways.

Past, Present, and Future

Today we took a ride in our time machine. Throughout the day we had a look at the past, spent some time in the present, and even got a glimpse into the future. And I have to say, all three look pretty good to me!

It started off with a trip to the Princeton Battlefield. We walked across a long field that General George Washington did so himself, but we did it with much less conflict. I'd elaborate a bit more, but frankly, I don't really know. If you're interested in that kind of stuff, feel free to visit their site). At one end of the long field, we visited the past where an old preserved house stood showing items from over 200 years ago. There were men dressed up in old clothing, firing cannons, and even reading the Declaration of Independence to commemorate that same act 223 years ago. Of course, Kaylani wasn't remotely interested in any of this so we just sat nearby, had her lunch, then took a few pictures with a recently fired cannon.

After that, we went back to the present in the form of Downtown Princeton. There, Mommy and Daddy grabbed some food and we all sat down in Palmer Square to enjoy a live band for us. Kaylani hung out on her blanket, sat, fell down, and reached for everything she could get her little hands on before it was time to go. With the weather finally cooperating and us finally having some free time, we thoroughly enjoyed our first time hanging out in a park as a family.

For dinner, the Harrison's were gracious enough to have us over for an impromptu BBQ, and that's where we got our glimpse into the future. Sloan, who is 23 months old, and Darby, who is 4.5 years old, ran around doing various things that we're looking forward to Kaylani mimicking in a few years. From advanced activities like zip lines and rope swings down to water tables and baby pools, we watched as the girls ran from one thing to the next, including Kaylani.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that Kaylani will be old enough to do things like that in the not to distant future. As we sit back and wait for Kaylani to start crawling, it comes with the fact that once she crawls, she'll be walking, running, then zip-lining in no time at all. A glimpse of the future is all it takes to step back and enjoy Kaylani for what she is now. Tonight, she even clapped on her own for the very first time. She's all growed up and we don't even know it. America is another year older today, but to us, Kaylani is still just our little girl, no matter how big she may be. And we're going to enjoy every minute of it. Happy Independence Day!