(I’m listening to “Lucky Man” by The Verve)

Tiny said, “Hi!”  It was clear as day.  The wife, Tiny, and myself were sitting in the sun room.  Littles walked in and Tiny waved to her and said, “Hi!” with a huge smile on her face. It was like watching a spaceman making contact with a martian for the first time.  All of our jaws dropped.  We got excited!  Communication has begun!  Tiny has been saying “Momma” and “Dadda” for a little while now, but for some reason, “Hi” seems different.  Tiny’s 1st birthday is next week and now she can say “Hi” to all of the guests at her party.  I can’t wait to hear Littles and Tiny jabbering away to each other.

Tiny also had milk today.  Straight milk.  She’s been a formula baby since graduating from the boob, but today we decided to see how she handled milk.  Here’s the result:

I’d say she likes it.  Her first taste was great.  She kind of looked at it and took a sip from the straw.  She paused, her eyes lit up, she got this amazed look on her face and said, “OH! Mmmmmm,” then quickly put the straw back in her mouth to take another drink like it was going to disappear.  It was like me taking a drink of something that I thought was water, only to find out it was Diet Coke or something else that’s awesome.  It was a priceless moment.

The switch from formula to milk will also a game changer…oh man!  No more mixing bottles; just pour some milk into a sippy cup and we’re good to go.  Also, I might be able to buy a whole cow for the price of a container of formula.  When I go to Costco to get formula, I feel like I should buy stock in the company so I can at least reap the dividend.  The biggest bonus though, is to my sense of smell.  Old formula bottles just smell awful.  Uncorking the smell from a formula bottle that’s been in a diaper bag all day is the equivalent of shoving a dirty diaper up your nose.  It kind of smells like when I have to open the dishwasher mid-cycle to put in a forgotten plate, only if you mixed that with a faint whiff of someone else’s fart.  It’s just awful.  It’s worse when I go to put some dirty dishes in the dishwasher and there are 8 dirty formula bottles that have been stewing in their own stench all day.  Ugh.  If we get to straight milk, that all goes out the window!

So, with those two magical moments, seasons are changing at our house.  Much to my dismay, the season is also changing outside.  Today was the last day of the ski season at Loveland Pass, and that means I don’t get to use this anymore.

The transition from Winter to Summer is always a rough for me.  The wife jokes that I have Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder, which actually could be true.  I do get a bit grumpy and depressed during the summer, but I’ll get by.  I’ve told myself I’m going to do more hiking and biking this summer.  It has been a great season, and when I can get up to the mountain 30+ times while having a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, I have no complaints.  Here are some highlights of my ski season:

It’s sad to see another season come and go, but I’m always grateful.  I have my health, a supportive wife who helps make time for me to go, a new riding partner, and I only have to wait 146 more days until another season begins!  Like the song I’m listening to says, “I’m a lucky man.”  I might go have some milk with Tiny to celebrate.