It may be noted that I’ve not been writing much here lately.  I’ve been busy with a variety of things, not the least important both (a) a certain little girl’s birthday preparation, and (b) a slow, painful recovery from (a now confirmed diagnosis of) food poisoning.  I recommend the former, but stay away from the latter if you can help it.

On an upbeat note, today marked not only Claire’s actual, factual, official-as-writ birthday, but also day two of the daddy-daughter experiment. We made particularly good use of our short time together and accomplished a number of tasks, both fun and not-so-much-fun.

I’ll skip over the boring bits about meals and nap time. If you want to hear about that, too bad.

Task 1: Take the Girl to the Toy Store for her Birthday

Far be it from me to impose some kind of consumerism crush on the poor thing, particularly on her first birthday. And what better way to spend your birthday than at the toy store with your dad? So around eleven in the morning we braved the rain, climbed into the car, and drove to the local Toys R Us, where after wandering the aisles for half an hour, little hands trying every button on every eye-level item, we left with a small package of “Little People” to go along with the play set that she got from Grandma and Grandpa on the weekend.

Task 2: Get the Girl a Library Card

Did you know that any kid under the age of two who signs up for a library card (and it’s free by the way) gets a FREE book. I didn’t, though we cashed in on that particular deal as Claire and I spent an hour at the Riverbend branch of the Edmonton Public Library this afternoon after lunch. And, to boot, Claire (along with her dad) now has her very own library card. She had quite a time picking through the toys and bookshelves there, and I think it might become part of the weekly routine: stop by the library and pick up some new books for the week.

Task 3: Those One Year Needles

I mentioned “not-so-much-fun” right? Claire’s mother was kind enough to schedule her immunizations for her birthday — and dad got to be the bad guy and take her to the clinic for three — count ‘em, THREE — shots. The good news is the little girl is right on track for her growth-chart-dealies (75th percentile) and took the vaccinations like a trooper, giving dad a big hug and patting him on the back when it was all over.

Task 4: Birthday Dinner with Mom

We got back to the house just a few minutes before Claire’s mom got home from work and after a grueling ten seconds of debate, opted to invite her out for pizza with dad and Claire. The three of us enjoyed a quiet dinner at the local pizza place, and Claire devoured a kid’s size cheese pizza of her very own, and even saved room for a cupcake when she got home. Don’t believe me? There are photos in the gallery!