But it's been a good day. Yesterday Jean painted one of the walls in Colette's bedroom. We want to paint her room yellow, but we want to make sure we get the right yellow. So just one wall. Even though the wall was dry, there was still a bit of a smell last night, so Colette spent the night in our room.

So I got to wake up looking at her first thing. She was in a little circular pad, about the thickness of a comforter, that my parents gave her some time ago. She was awake but quiet, her two feet flailing in the air above her. She's become fascinated with her feet lately. Sometimes, when she's in her crib, we'll walk into the room and see her feet waving to us.

Jean went out of her way today to make my day an especially pleasant one. I have to admit it's been nice not to do chore after chore. But my favorite part of the day was my present from Colette. On Friday at day care, Colette made her first drawing for me. That's it up there in the corner – if you click on it you'll see a larger version of the tie. It's amazing to me that Colette can hold something like a pen to paper, even with someone's assistance. Just a short time ago she couldn't even open her fists. Now I have a tie for our refrigerator, at least for a few weeks.

Another small present from Colette: this morning Jean and I verified that her first tooth is beginning to come in. A few nights ago I had my finger in her mouth (an emergency procedure when no pacifier is within reach), and her bottom gum line felt sharp. I looked but couldn't see anything. This morning it was there: a small white dash in the middle of all that pink, a little tooth bud. Just for kicks I put my finger in her mouth again today, and now it really hurts. I won't be doing that again for a while.

Colette is downright fun these days. She's just beginning to be reliably ticklish, and I can almost always get a smile from her, even if she's crying for her next bottle. She's discovered Pasta and Neon now, and they in turn have started to spend more time with her. Every morning when I've dressed her for the day, we head down the hallway on our way to the living room where she has her bottle. At the end of the hallway we stop every day so she can see herself in the mirror there. A few weeks ago she would stare, see me, and smile. Now she has found herself in the mirror, and each visit to the mirror is a new discovery.

In a few more weeks, she'll be able to sit up unassisted (already she's doing pretty well at the sitting end of her little blue bathtub). She'll start solids. New tooth buds will emerge. She'll be even bigger than she is now. Today's been a good day because Jean gave me the time to sit back and soak in these fleeting moments with Colette, now, before she changes on us yet again.

And that's a better Father's Day than I expected.