Category Archives: Life

Toddler Talk: Nipples and Swimming

Our daughter is at the age where her toddler talk has us cracking up. constantly. I’m upset I didn’t start writing some of our conversations down earlier. Well, I did mention how well-versed she is with human anatomy already, but now it’s time to document some good ones in a post.

toddler talk, cute, kids, parenting, funny, humor

She’s giving Going Mom and I enough material to make several posts per day, but for now, I’ll stick to just once a week of something good. Maybe I’ll include more than once conversation on some, but today it’s just one quick discussion I had with Avery. And yes, it has to do with both nipples and swimming.

For context, I was in a hurry trying to make good on my promise that we’d go to the pool if she behaved at the store. Well, she behaved, but it was getting close to lunch before nap time. After going potty (her, not me), the conversation went like this…

Me: Okay, good job, Avery, now lets wash our hands and get ready for a quick swim.

Avery: Ooooo, I both pee and poop!

Me: Wow, you did, good job dear! Do you want to flush?

Avery: Yes!!  <—- it’s like a reward for her to get to flush

Me: *toilet flushing* Okay, now we need to wash our hands.

Avery and Me: Singing Itsy Bitsy Spider as we wash.

Me: Now, since this will be a quick swim, I’m not going to put your swim shirt on, okay? You can just be shirtless like daddy! <—-the thing is kinda of tight and she cries every time I work it over her head, so just not worth the trouble for 10 minutes of swimming.

Avery: Yes. We can have nipples!

Me: *laughing* Yes, dear, we can have nipples.

Avery: Daddy has hairy nipples.

Me: True, they are kind of hairy….

I went on to explain how guys usually have hair on the chest and belly. She said something about standing on her froggy stool and then we went for a quick swim. The result?

Swimming by herself_smiles

Yeah, she’s loving it. No one else is going to our neighborhood pool since it’s been cloudy outside and fairly cold, so we get it to ourselves every visit so far. She’s already swimming by herself with her floaties and you can tell how proud she is for the feat.

Do you document the funny things your kid says?

Care to share any?

Dear Frog, I’m Sorry For Killing You

We’ve had a frog friend around our home for almost a year and always enjoyed searching for him when we went outside each day. Avery was a tad bit reluctant to get close to the frog at first, and I’m sure I didn’t help matters much.


As a reptile/amphibian lover, I couldn’t accept her not liking our new froggy friend, so I would gently hold him up to her hoping she’d find the courage to pet the little guy.

petting frog, kids, amphibian, reptiles

I was just happy when she didn’t run the other way when I held him up to her. At a safe distance, of course.

petting frog, kids, amphibian, reptiles
Yes, Dad, I see it. That’s far enough!

Over the months, she found enjoyment searching for Mr. Frog burrowed in one of his several spots in our backyard. For a while, her and Going Mom would find him in a hole at the base of one of our trees. They’d peek down inside and tell him “hi”……he never responded.

Eventually, the frog made use of our rain barrel by seeking shelter underneath the raised water capture device while enjoying the perfect amount of shade and moisture. Every time I mowed our lawn, Avery would follow and find him venturing out from his hiding spot. Maybe to say hello, but I’m thinking the mower had something to do with it.

Sometimes he’d be burrowed in a muddy spot right in front of us and we would never see him until he finally spooked and jumped away to the safety of the rain barrel cover. Then we’d just get on our hands and knees, to stare at him as most likely hoped we just left him alone. Normally, we stopped trying to pester our amphibious friend, unless he reemerged from under the barrel.

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on


I’m just happy she’s into the cold-blooded insect eater now. Every dad’s dream, right?

Well, this dad I know…aka me…..put an end to our froggy fun this past weekend. I was mowing in the back like normal, careful to check all around the area Mr. Frog hung around before passing over, but never saw his bumpy skinned self in sight. So I carried on with mowing expecting to see him later when all of the sudden I hear “thump-a-dee-thud-thud-errrrr” emit from the blades.

Sh*t

Out of the side discharge shot Mr. Frog, or what was left of him. Apparently, he found a new spot to burrow. Unfortunately, it was not as muddy there and he couldn’t burrow himself down enough to allow the mower to make a clean pass. That was the end of our backyard frog friend. At least we still have the burrow spot to keep him in our thoughts.

dead_frog_burrow

Avery was there, but her attention was devoted to screaming “dandelion” at the top of her lungs as she just recently learned their name and loves picking them. Plus, she still doesn’t understand death, even after seeing the frog’s torn carcass.

So, frog, my friend (we’re still friends, right?), I just want to personally say Sorry. Had I known you were in a new spot in our yard, I totally would of avoided mowing there or tried to relocate you. Most likely holding and petting you first, but still, safe and still alive. Again, sorry, and I hope you’re in some sort of  special froggy land catching the juiciest of flies with that extra long and sticky tongue of yours..

The good news is that we still have a frog at the front of our house. We see him sitting on our front porch each night as we finish dinner, and Avery makes sure to say goodnight to him with Mommy before her bath. Hopefully he doesn’t find a new spot to hang out next time we mow!!

Have you ever killed a wild yard-dweller by accident?

What about on purpose?

Crib to Bed to Floor & A Cold Pool

We made the transition from crib to bed a week ago with mixed feelings about how our two and half year old girl would take to the change. It wasn’t a huge change since we have a convertible crib, so it just took a little rearranging/removal of the existing crib parts.

crib to bed, cute, kids, toddler

Still the same organic mattress she’s had since birth, but we’ll be upgrading to a brand new full-size Naturepedic mattress in a few weeks. Stay tuned for a review of their top notch mattresses for kids. Safe sleeping material is more important than I ever knew before I read up on how vital it really is.

I made the switch right before naptime with high expectations that Avery would put on a good show through the baby monitor. Much to my surprise, she was excited to get in her big kid bed to read a story before nap time, and never even got off of her mattress after I left. I could see her thinking about it through the monitor, but in less time than she usually takes to finally fall asleep, she was out quick.

crib to bed, sleeping, kids, toddler, cute

Such a precious girl. When she’s out, she’s out! Hence the reason I was able to get such a close shot as she slept. Of course, I couldn’t stop there, this moment called for a daddy-daughter selfie, even if she didn’t know it was happening.

crib to bed, selfie, funny, cute, kids, toddler

The first night went quite well too. She took longer to actually fall asleep, but still kept on her bed the entire time. The next day she started to test the waters more and more and got on and off the bed before finally giving in. Every night since, she’ll wander around her room, put stuffed animals we said were too big back on her bed, and sing aloud restlessly before she sleeps.

Despite wandering all over her room, which I suspect is normal at this stage, she has taken to the freedom of her big kid bed really well. Going Mom, on the other hand is a little more reluctant for the change. Gone are the days of rocking our little baby to sleep as she sings to her, Avery now demands we read to her in her bed and refuses getting rocked. They grow so fast is a cliche saying we find ourselves repeating several times a day. As always, it’s bittersweet.

Apparently, sleeping on her mattress is bittersweet as well. A couple nights in a row, I peeked at the monitor in the middle of the night/early morning to find Avery nowhere in sight. Naturally, I go to check on our missing tot to find her on the floor. No blankets, just face down with legs curled or stretched out. The first night I quickly moved her back to her bed, but the second night, I had to capture the moment first.


Instagram was an obvious outlet to share with the world.

Hopefully she doesn’t start trying to make a break for it by opening her door. We have a door knob cover for her door, but those only last so long until those little hands figure them out. We can’t wait to get her sleeping on the bigger Naturepedic mattress, hopefully that will give her more wiggle room on the mattress and keep her from wandering all over. Hopefully….

It’s been abnormally cooler than usual for mid-May in Texas, but we made several attempts to swim in our recently opened neighborhood pool. The first time we ventured to the pool, the sun was out, but still not that warm. She insisted on wearing her floaties, but only made it so far.

swimming, kids, cute

The timid look on her face says it all. I’m not going a foot further!

I plunged into the cold water in an attempt to get her to join, but no luck. We were in and out of the pool in 5 minutes.

The next trip was sunny, until we started walking down for a swim. As we walked, dark storm clouds rolled in right over us. WTF!? But being the stubborn guy that I am, we went for it anyway. Avery gave another shocked look upon first getting her feet in the still very cold water…

feet in cold pool, swimming, kids, water

But this time I held her to get all the way in and although she was super tense the entire time, we enjoyed a little splashing around together in the kid pool. Then we went over to the adult pool for a daddy-daughter swim with plenty of throwing her in the air. She had fun…..for a few minutes, but the increasing wind and dropping temps had her shivering, so we ended the swim and made our way back home hoping for warmer days ahead. Not sure if it was a sign, but we saw this poor dead snake on the walk back.

dead snake

And if it was a sign, who knows what to make of it. I sure don’t. As a reptile lover, I don’t think it’s a good one though. Poor guy…

The forecast is showing warmer temps are coming, as if there’s any doubt in Texas, so I’m sure our third attempt will yield a successful swim. Although, I don’t mind a nice cold plunge myself.

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Have you made the transition from crib to bed for your kiddo? How’s it going?

How do you feel about cold swims?