I took Zoe and our dogs on a walk to the park the other evening. Kris was at work so we went for a stroll. The weather was great and we had nothing to do. I told Zoe that we were going to look at the stars from the park. We walked over to the park and went out into the middle, where the lights didn’t shine, so we could see them better. I told her the best way to see the stars was to lie down and look up at them.

We both laid down in the grass, in opposite directions with our heads touching. I pointed out some of the stars and she said in her sweet little voice, “Yeah, more stars over here.” We laid there for about 10 minutes looking at all the pretty stars and an overwhelming feeling of joy washed over me.

It was a perfect moment with my daughter.

The next day I was telling a guy at work about how great of a moment it was and hetold me, “Just wait until she’s 15 and can’t stand you.”

Thanks, chucknut.

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While sitting on our new picnic table out back Saturday morning, I asked Zoe if she wanted to go play at the park. It went kind of like this..

Zoe replied, “Yes!”

“We need to take a shower first, OK?”

She replied “No.”

I responded, “Yes Zoe, shower first, then we can go to the park.”

Zoe the dropped her head into her hands. “Zoe sad!”

This was the first time that she actually verbalized her feelings and I just thought it was remarkable.

Endnote: I acquiesced to her desire to not shower prior to our visit to the park.

We stunk as we played in the sand and ran around the jungle gym.

Oh, yeah. This was the foirst time that Zoe actually got to fly a kite. I was watching Zoe jumping in the air trying to catch another kite being flown when I pointed out to her that I saw an Elmo kite. She ran over and tried to catch that one. The person flying the kite asked “Zoe, you trying to catch the kite?” I got upset for a minute wondering who this guy was addressing my daughter when I realized it was my friend Brian flying an Elmo kite while his wife and daughter were playing on the swings.

Brian asked Zoe if she wanted to hold the kite and she said yes. Brian handed her the string and she held on tight as I envisioned myself running across the field chasing down the kite. She held strong and eventually handed it back to Brian.

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Kris took Zoe to watch me play in an ice hockey game the other night. It was not Kris’ first time watching me play hockey, she has been watching me play for years and has been to at least 3 of my games. It was cool for me because I knew she was coming and was pretty excited when I started. I kept looking for them in the stands and  when they finally arrived, Kris pointed me out to Zoe as I waved.

I tried to look up and wave to her as much as I could without screwing up on the ice. I screw up enough when I am concentrating  on what I’m supposed to be doing.

I didn’t have a great game or a bad one either, skill wise, but it was probably the most enjoyable game of my life. I played knowing that Zoe was there cheering me on, not caring how I did but just feeling happy that she was watching her Daddy having so much fun. It was really a satisfying feeling.

When the game was over, I asked her if she wanted to come with daddy as I got changed and she sad “yeah!” She sat quietly and patiently as I changed. Afterwards, Kris told me that Zoe kept yelling “Go Daddy, Go Daddy!” as she ran back and forth in the stands following me up and down the ice. She even told Kris that I was in time out when she saw me sitting on the bench. Of course, Kris confirmed with her, “yes daddy is in time out!”

I thought back to when I was 11 and first started playing street hockey in Connecticut. Remembering thinking how cool it would be to impress a girl with my hockey skills, having one there to watch me play. I have thought throughout my whole life how cool it would be to play in front of a big crowd that was cheering me on as I played my favorite sport.

As it turns out, after my whole life waiting, there was only one fan that I was truly waiting for, my Zoe!

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So I found the height and weight growth chart in our baby instruction book the other day and decided to see where Zoe fit in the height percentile. I often enjoyed the fact that Zoe was taller then most of the kids I see her play around. Weight you ask? forget it….She has her daddy’s thighs, enough said? anyway, so I walked into the front room where Zoe was watching Dora the Explorer, vegging out learning. I told her to come over to the wall where we measure her. Its near the kitchen. Because Zoe has hyper-focus issues like everyone else in my family, as she walked over to me, her eyes were firmly focused on Dora.

I grabbed the pen and backed her up against the wall as she intently focused on Dora and her latest expedition. I marked the top of her head and couldn’t believe that she had grown over two inches since the last time I measured her! Coincidentally enough, it was exactly one month earlier. Zoe bolted back into her worn out spot on the rug in front of the TV as I reached for the tape measure. Then it finally hit me – Zoe was on her tippy toes trying to watch Dora over the back of the couch!

“Zoe, get back here you little stinker!”

Turns out, she grew about 3/4 of an inch for a grand total of, get this, hold on to your seats, the 55th percentile.

SNAP!

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