So, looking at the NOAA map, we seem to have gotten somewhere around 8 inches of snow over the weekend. That amount of snow hitting the Deep South means that town pretty much shuts down until the roads clear themselves. One consequence of town shutting down is that Ashley, Emily, and I are all cooped up together in the same house for 3–4 days straight. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my daughter. However, she is very much 3 years old and has decided that she really doesn’t need to have a nap at all. Now, this wouldn’t be too much of a problem if we could get her out and about for a bit, but when we are snowed in, that doesn’t really happen. So, over the course of the past few days, Em has been, let us say, creative in figuring out things to do.

Sunday afternoon, while she was supposed to be napping, she managed to “paint” her fingernails and toenails along with applying makeup to her three Barbie dolls. Monday afternoon, while she was supposed to be napping, she somehow managed to pull over the changing table that we use as a dresser in her room. Luckily, she did not pull it on top of her, but it did hit her on the way down. When I figured out what was going on and got up there to right the changing table (and trying to call down the screaming child), I noticed that she had taken a marker to her forehead and, strangely, to both of her feet. I never could really get a straight answer out of her as to what she was doing to pull the changing table down, but she had to have been climbing on it. This morning, Ashley and I made the mistake of, at 6am, telling her to go up to her room to play quietly instead of getting up with her immediately. Instead, she started drawing on her mini-easel with marker and, getting bored with that, drawing on the coffee table. Luckily, I was able to get most of the black magic marker out of the oak table, so no real harm done.

By lunch today, I braved the cold and lingering snow so that I could go in to the office and get 4 hours or so of peaceful work done without a running, questioning commentary on what I am doing.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out my new site, peruse my thoughts on having a Kindle and an Apple TV and how that is changing my media consumption.

When Did I get a Teenager?

• One of my top picks for Emily’s name was Massey — it would have been fitting given her red hair.
• Kids grow into sassy little teenagers sooner than you think — this picture nails Em’s attitude exactly.
• Apparently, the boy–girl divisions start around preschool. Last week, Em informed me that boys are yucky and since I am a boy, I am yucky too.
• Kids become devious sooner rather than later. After telling me that she didn’t love me and was not my friend, I informed Em that I only read good-night stories to my friends. She then quickly changed her mind and stated that I was her “best friend”. This lasted until I put her to bed, where she grinned and told me that I was yucky once more.

I think that three years old is just about the perfect age of wonder and amazement. This morning, Emily was so excited about her birthday that she was awake before we were, sitting at the top of the stairs (safely behind the gate), reading one of her Llama, Llama books. The first words she said to me were “I’m Three today!” When I got her down the stairs, her eyes lit up at the sight of her new princess bike, which I carefully assembled and set up after she went to bed last night. After eating breakfast, all she wanted to do was sit on the bike.

Today, we are having a little party for her at school. Then, tonight, we will let her choose what she wants for dinner tonight, let her have a piece of Dora cake, and let her open her presents from family. Tomorrow, we learn how to ride a bike

This morning, Emily was in our room with me while I was putting on my socks and shoes. This is not all that unusual, but for some reason this morning, she was obsessing over one of the pillows that goes on Ashley’s and my bed. I stopped pulling on my shoes and watched her for a few minutes; then, I realized that she was hissing as she was twirling the tassels on the pillow.

I asked Emily what she was doing and I got this response: “I see snakes.” I asked her where and she pointed at the pillow and then swung her arm around to point at a random place on the floor. “Oh no! Snakes!” she exclaimed. I decided to play along, so we spent the rest of the morning, until time to go, chasing around the house, hunting for snakes and catching them.

This evening, after we got home, I was sure that she had forgotten all about the snakes. However, after dinner, she suddenly turned to me and, in that cute little two year old voice, whispered “Daddy! Snakes!! I get two snakes, kay?”

The great snake hunt of 2009 was on again.