Blowin' After The Wind

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a Dad?

It was a stormy night last night here in Seattle, readers.  With winds gusts up to 60 miles and hour in our neighborhood, Lukas was having trouble sleeping.  He even described looking out his window once to see what he thought was lightening.  But since there was no lightning in Seattle last night, we think he actually saw some transformers blow.  Either way, it was an impressive show to him.

There were a lot of power outages as a result.  But not ours thankfully.

I sat with him in his bed for a while, reassured him that the windows weren't going to shatter, then left him to go to sleep, which he eventually did.

For Annabelle, on the other hand, the effects of the big blow seem to have had a more lasting effect. Because she was actually blowing stuff herself when she woke up today.

She slept through all the wind but who knows, maybe something cosmic took place.

I could say "Mind Blown!"  (Making an explosion sound while also making that obnoxious gesture where I open my fists which were previously closed at either of my temples)

But to be  more accurate I would say "Nose Blown!" (Now making that nose blowing sound while opening one fist that was previously closed at the base of my nose.)

Yes, Annabelle has finally successfully blown her own nose!  The importance of this early childhood development, is mainly that it signifies to weary parents that there is hope left in the world, that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  That the Snot Gods are finally smiling on you for a change.

And the fact that this development is coming right as the cold season is upon us, makes it all the more special.  No more will we have to wipe at a runny nose every few seconds lest a stream of gooey goo roll over the top of her lip and make it's way quickly towards her chin.

Instead, I can just stick a Kleenex up there and ask her to "Blow Sweetie", which will at least give me a few extra moments where I don't have to deal with seeing my child lick a stream off her upper lip in the middle of a public place, while I try to make it look convincingly enough like I tried to get there in time.

As a bonus, I just looked up when a child should be able to blow their own nose and Master Google says 'by about age two'.  Annabelle doesn't turn 2 until next week, so she is obviously developmentally right on track , or ahead even, in the nose blowing spectrum.

Win.

And it that weren't enough of a boon to start my day, Annabelle also successfully blew something else for the first time today.  It had nothing to do with her temperament, either, like blowing her top. Yes, she does get frustrated on occasion these days.  Like nearly every other 2 year old.

No, think Blues on this one.

If you guessed 'a harmonica' -  ding, ding, ding.  You win the internet for the day(use it wisely).

That's right. as we were getting ready to leave the house this morning for a Halloween party, Lukas blew on a harmonica then stuck it in Annabelle's face.  She smiled, gave it a blow, then shrieked in delight when music came out the other end.

She proceeded to blow on it a few more times, and for some reason many of the resulting notes came out sounding like a Dylan song.  Maybe all of them.

It was pretty awesome to watch.

Yes, how many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a Dad?   The answer my friends, is blowin' in wind.

No, the answer my friends, is blowing in the tissue.