Hi Maimy

Catelyn's drawing from her last Father's Day Outing.

So, each year for father's day (at least for the last five years), my husband's family has had a special father's day weekend plan:  the men go fishing, and the women go out and do something fun.


The first few years, the women went to an IKEA store a few hours away.  On year 3, Catelyn was about 1.5 years old.

By then, Catelyn could say 'hi, Sara, mama, daddy, papa, grandma, grandpa, Uri, bye, baby, milk, elmo, no, no way, uppies (up please), hello, eyes, go, whee, bitte (please/you're welcome in german)' and other things.  She had a few 2 word phrases (no way, hi baby, bye baby, hi Sara, hi mama, etc).

Well, we were shopping at IKEA, and Catelyn's aunt was pushing the cart.  We decided to see if we could get Catelyn to say 'Amy', and instead, she said, "Maimy".  She put an 'm' in front of Amy.  The rest of the day, as we wandered around, it was "Hi Maimy" all of the time.  It was so cute.  It was like her own little nickname she created.

Today, I was singing "The Name Game"....it's an old song by Shirley Ellis.  I was singing lots of different names, and I came to Amy.  

Let's do Amy!
Amy, Amy bo Baimy
Bonana fanna fo Faimy
Fee fy mo Maimy,
Amy!



Which brings me to 'Hi Maimy'.  
Sigh.

A fun memory from a sweet girl....
Man do I miss her.

Walk a little slower daddy.

Father's day...

In 2011, Catelyn helped my husband open his Father's day gift.  She had tons of experience opening gifts in December (Christmas & birthday), and after that, she couldn't leave any packages alone.  It was rather sweet...

...and she was an excellent helper, of course.

Years ago, I worked at a daycare.  As a daycare teacher, we tried to come up with fun gifts for parents on their special days.  We used the poem below for Father's day.  It's a beautiful sentiment...extremely hard for a bereaved parent, but beautiful nonetheless.

"Walk a little slower Daddy"

"Walk a little slower, Daddy!" said a little child so small.
"I'm following in your footsteps and I do not want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast, sometimes they're hard to see;
So walk a little slower Daddy, for you are leading me.

Someday when I'm all grown up, you're what I want to be.
Then I will have a little child, who'll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right, and know that I was true;
So, walk a little slower, Daddy, for I must follow you!"

Author: unknown