The Reach Exceeds The Grasp Edition

And so it begins... My winter/spring semester starts tonight with the European Reformation...that silly Martin Luther, what an upstart. Today's heretic is tomorrow's establishment...just like Arnold Schwarzenegger...but with muscles. Come to think of it who knows...maybe Martin Luther was totally pumped. Anyway, a few snippets of life of late. We spent New Year's Eve alone at home. Not willing to brave the snow to go to the big city but here's hoping you all made it through safe and sound. Last Friday I took Ginny Grace into Shelley's work to see some folks and pick Shell up. We spent some time with Morghan who humored me enough to listen to me drone on for a while. It was such a nice afternoon (thanks Mo!) Ginny Grace is really starting to come alive lately, growing outside of her little shell and reaching out to the world around her. She's starting to do these little new things that just amaze me in their simplicity, and yet to her they are wondrous new discoveries. She's started to really vocalize and enjoy hearing the sound of her own voice. She'll sit in one of her chairs and just chatter on in a string on noises that I'm sure, to her, make sense. She's also begun to look more deeply at people, especially Shell and me. She'll be making her normal eye contact but she's staring more and more, taking us in, watching our mouths move and you can really see the thought process beginning in her mind. She's reaching out for things too- starting to move beyond her fingertips to grasp the things just out of her reach- I hope that's something she NEVER outgrows. Everyday in fact is like a fresh series of experiences which is how life should be for all of us. Today for instance she decided to hold her own bottle as I was feeding her. It's just things like that that expand her world exponentially that I'm glad I get to see and share with her. And while my wife is at times saddened that she doesn't get to see as much of it as I do, I try and reassure her that there are plenty of things even I don't catch, there's plenty more that she'll discover when Mommy is with her...AND while I'm the one that gets the bigger percentage of the cool stuff, I'm also the one that gets the higher percentage of poopy diapers and being barfed on! Ah the Karmic balance... Well I've got so much reading to do that this will be a short post I fear so I should get on with the pictures now shouldn't I? This Week (or two) in Gracie... In purple and ruffles... GG got a gift from her Auntie Lauren all the way from Australia... She also got to finally play with one of her big exersaucer gifts...so many toys... Making funny faces... Having a laugh with Gramps... Catching some zzzzzzz, all pink like gum... Oh yeah? Well nyah... Practicing her "hello sailor" look for when she's visiting Grammy and Gramps' boat next summer... Hanging out in the office while Mommy and Daddy pay bills and clean...this is easy livin'... Whiskery kisses from Daddy... Heh, I drooled on Daddy's shirt... mmm....Daddy's arm...yum... See what I can do everybody... Now scram so I can finish this bottle... Have a great week peeps. For those so inclined, you may want to check out the entry in the right hand column titled "2006: A Look Ahead" , with some assorted political comments...I know some of you missed the political corner that has been absent of late so check it out. Until next week, Cheers!