Changing Tastes

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I'm watching the MLS All-Star game on the DVR. I'm surprised by how little I care. It's not the format or the fact that it's an exhibition. I used to get very excited about these all-star games, especially since the MLS all-stars began playing against foreign clubs instead of each other. I just don't care as much about soccer as I once did. Sometimes I watch out of a sense of obligation - I'm a soccer fan, so I should see such and such game. Or maybe it's habit.

I used to soak up every moment of a soccer game, starting days earlier with the pre-game predictions and analysis. National team and DC United games were must-see. I'd watch the pregame (if there was one), the half-time show, and all the highlights several times. I saved tapes of exciting games and watched them over and over. I kept tapes of the 2002 World Cup for years, until they were soaked in a flooded basement. Early in my relationship with Betsy, I told her that, one way or another, I was going to go to Germany for the 2006 tournament, which we did together.

Now? I skip more United games than I watch. I sometimes even skip national team games, or else fast-forward to see the goals. Maybe I'm growing up, or maybe it's that I'm a dad and have a demanding job. Maybe I'm realizing that it doesn't make a lot of sense to invest emotional energy in an event where I have no control over the outcome.

Of course, I am awake at 1 a.m. watching the end of the game... on a work night. Maybe I still have some growing up to do.

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Wise Beyond Her Years

Sometimes Zoe stuns me with phrases you would expect from someone much older. I'm sure this is a product of her mimicking things she hears, but it still catches me off guard sometimes. Recent quotes:
"There goes the mommy, without a care in the world."
"We can just play with some toys, or whatever."

Songs

Zoe likes to insert silly words into well-known songs: "Twinkle twinkle little banana! How I wonder what you good morning!" Inspired by her example, I sang her a new version of Peace Like a River (one of her favorites):

"I've got pizza delivered, I've got pizza delivered, I've got pizza delivered to my door..."

I try to branch out and sing new songs the proper way, but if I hesitate she stops me and says "Daddy, you don't know that song." Sigh. I'm trying.

The other night, she buried her head in the space between her mattress and the bed rail, and said she was looking for a song. I said I didn't think she'd find one there, but that I had a song in my heart. She rubbed her belly and said "my heart hurts!"

Nouns that can be verbs

On the way in to work this morning, I saw a trash truck with its slogan emblazoned on the side: "Good Friends Waste Management". Such a shame.

Everything I Need To Know I'm Learning From My Two Year Old

We adults like to think we are the font of wisdom. We know best. We sternly chastise our children when they don't eat their vegetables, or act playful instead of sleepy at bedtime. But after the kids are tucked in bed, we sneak into the kitchen and grab a soda and a handful of cookies, then another handful. Then we stay up too late reading or watching tv, and forget to do the dishes. Zoe eats much better than I do. She goes to bed at a reasonable hour. She gets plenty of exercise every day, while I spend most of my waking hours parked in front of a computer or a television.

Zoe, like many toddlers, frequently tries my patience with her antics and delay tactics, and I try to model good behavior by staying calm and helping her see why what I want her to do is really in her best interest.

She is teaching me too, though. I marvel at her artistic freedom when she paints. She has no need to determine form in advance; she just paints. Lines, circles, dots. Hoops that represent jump ropes, then cradles. Smudges that are babies and mommies and daddies, eating other smudges that are cookies and cake and cupcakes and chocolate tea "mixed with some million dollars."

When something doesn't work out--a block tower topples--Zoe laughs and starts again. If she succeeds, she announces that she did a good job.

And she surprises me every day with her wit and observations. At the playground yesterday, after swinging for a long while, Zoe declared, "That was a refreshing swing!"

Lately Zoe has been working on bravery. Things that scare her, like mommy or daddy leaving her room at bedtime or dropping her off at daycare, prompt her to prepare herself by saying "I'm going to be brave and not cry."

Creative freedom, bravery, laughing at failure and trying again -- what better role model could I have than my 2 year old daughter?