Trouble

Bedtime has been shifting here over the last few months.  I typically put Noah to bed and we play a game on the iPod Touch (or iTod Poch as he says it).  Meanwhile, Lily and Amanda play "sissies" where Lily pretends to be Amanda's older sister.  They snuggle in bed.  Sometimes Lily plays the thunderstorm sound on our alarm clock and "comforts" Amanda.  Amanda reads Lily a chapter from a book (lately it's been Heidi) and then Amanda reads Lily her Bible story and puts her to bed.  Meanwhile, I go downstairs and start working on homework or whatever else it is I have to do.

This is not bad, but I have come to realize that we are starting to hit that spot where Lily would much rather spend time with Amanda than me.  This is good and natural, but it's something I need to fight a little bit.  When Noah was younger it was just Lily and me in the evenings.  Now Noah stays up later and I feel like I'm losing that connection to her.  Given what tends to happen to girls who don't have a good relationship with their dads, I don't want to have that happen.

Amanda and I talked about this and instead of them playing sissies we played a game of Trouble last night.  It was a good game and Lily won, which is always good for her.  She and Amanda kind of teamed up on me, but that was OK.  The important thing is that we got to do something together.  My next step is to talk to her about going out on a date of some kind.  I need to date both of my girls.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.