So I am watching my New York Giants completely obliterate the St. Louis Rams last Sunday afternoon and the Tornado decides to watch too. She is great to watch the game with as she really likes sports. I watch baseball games with her sometimes, but football is her absolute favorite. This makes me so proud, especially since I pray to the football gods.

So we are watching and the Tornado starts saying her usual, “BALL! BALL! Daddy look, BALL!” Then she starts yelling, “RUN! RUN! RUN! YEAH!” Tears started to build in my eyes. My little girl is such a great little fan. She’s giving me high fives. When the Giants score yet again, she throws here arms up as I yell touchdown.

Watching football on Sundays is a totally new experience now. I like watching the game with her more than watching the game with friends. It’s funny, she has always liked football. When she was an infant she would sit with watching the game. When she got a little older she would crawl to me and sit on the couch and watch with me for awhile. Now she cheers and gets into it and makes the game a real event.

The Tornado has a new catch phrase. Anytime she does anything remotely cute or humorous she says, “I so funny.” Mom tells her that if she has to say she is funny then she probably isn’t funny. I absolutely find it cute and can’t get enough of it. It’s not so much what she says, but how she says it. She has a slight chuckle in the delivery. It’s great.

On behalf of my family, I just wanted to post a small remembrance for September 11th.  I will never forget where I was when I heard the news.  So many different emotions were brewing in my gut.  Feelings of sorrow, fear, anger, excitement, curiosity, you name it I probably felt it.  I don’t want to dwell as there are countless spectacles occurring today.  I just want to pay my respects to all of those that were injured, died, and survived seven years ago.

The Tornado used to be on such a strict schedule when it came to sleeping. She was in bed every night by 6:30 pm, if not earlier. She was up at 6:00 am in the morning with a nap around 10:30 am. This schedule came about because my wife was working in the morning and need to be driven to work at 7:00 am. I worked nights and my wife, a school teacher, needed time at night to grade and/or lesson plan so Tornado needed to sleep in the evening. It worked like a well oiled machine. Now that my wife is home on leave the Tornado’s sleep schedule has changed dramatically.

The early stages of the change seemed a little bumpy. The Tornado is going to bed closer to 8:00 pm and sometimes even later. For a short time she seemed to wake up at midnight and then back to sleep at 1:00 am and she would sleep until about 7:00 am. She napped around 1:00 pm. This new schedule made the Tornado a little groggy and cranky. She was going to bed later mainly because we are more active now as a family as we have three days off together a week as opposed to the one day we shared when wifey was working. (Did I mention I only work 4 days a week, I know you’re jealous.) So, with the extra time together we seem to go out more and entertain in the home more. We were pretty apprehensive to continue with this new sleep schedule, but in the long run it isn’t too bad.

The Tornado seems to have adapted to the new schedule quite nicely. She now goes to bed between 8:30 pm and 9:00 pm. Normally, she will sleep through the night, though when she does wake up late it is only for a short time. Here’s the best part, in the morning she wakes up at 9:00 am or later. This is ideal for our household as I get home from work around 1:00 am and my wife is a night owl trying to get her web design business off the ground and often goes to bed after 3:00 am. This new schedule is great. The Tornado is no longer tired when she wakes up, nor is she moody. We all get plenty of sleep, much more than we used to and there are no more arguments about who will get up with the little one. We naturally seem to trade off as one of us seems to be ready to get up when we hear her.

The Tornado still gets a nap during the day, normally early afternoon, and everything seems great. Believe it or not, the whole household seems to be happier. All this and we, and when I say we I mean my wife, weaned the Tornado off of the bottle too.