Heard Around the House...

Well, in the midst of the Christmas fun, I accidentally left my camera on the floor. A very curious little man who will remain anonymous decided to force open the lens of the camera, thus breaking it. Thank goodness for the Black Tie Protection and the hottie Geek Squad guy who helped me get this taken care of. The good news, it's "free" to get fixed, and my camera will return. The bad news, I'm without my camera to capture any Flat Daddy moments for the time being.

Asher has taken to Flat Daddy. Flat Daddy is usually propped up in the kitchen or dining room of our house, and I have found myself getting creeped out only a few times by the large man "standing" there in the room (when I catch him out of the corner of my eye). Today Asher mentioned how large Flat Daddy's head is. Ahhhh yes, like father like son, my dear boy!

On the first morning after we received Flat Daddy, on his way out the door to daycare, Asher called, "Bye Flat Daddy!" Didn't take long for Little Man to love his "stand in" Daddy.

Flat Daddy has also made sure to "remind" Asher to keep his feet off the table during dinner time, to not chase Sadie with the plastic bat, and that yes, he does in fact, have "stinky toes."

Flat Daddy cannot, however, join us in the fun that we have swimming at the YMCA or playing in the snow, but he does join us for dinners at the table frequently.

Flat Daddy joined us for Christmas fun, and even my parents' dog Husker noticed his presence. As we were decorating the cookies, from the next room came barking. When we went into the dining room to see what was going on, Husker was barking...at Flat Daddy/Jake, who was propped up at the CELEBRATE! plate!

Sometimes Flat Daddy will hang out in his recliner while Asher plays in the living room or watches a video. It's not uncommon for Asher to look at me and say, "That's a my Daddy. He's a shouljer. He is very strong. He's in Af-ghan-is-tan." *SIGH* I wish our 2 year old didn't know the word Afghanistan.

Tonight, after many "daddy stories," Asher, bucking bedtime, had once again busted through the baby gate attempting to keep him inside of his room and made his way down the stairs. He stood at our side door, trying to jostle the child proof door handle free. He looked at me with his precious little face and said, "I want to get in the car and see my Daddy in Afghanistan." So do I, little one....so do I. Just a few more jellybeans (a month!) and we will both be in his arms again.

~Emily