In typical fashion, I've nicknamed my daughter. I believe it's only natural that we spend months agonizing over a first name and then a middle name (normally combined) only to discard them almost instantly once the child is born.

My daughter's is Bean. Not Jelly Bean, or Beany Baby - just Bean. Occasionally we mix it up a bit and call her Halloween Bean, or Christmas Bean - well you get the point, Holiday's come and go and so do the names. She's five, but already a carbon copy of me in the critical ways. Sometimes I'm thankful for that, but most of the time I'm just scared. Be honest, you know about all the bad things you did growing up and how much you got away with.

So, today I've decided that my Bean needs to have a record of some of her more interesting exploits. And because of a more personal matter, I want to make sure it's documented in a fashion easily seen by family and friends alike. Thus, the blog! This is my first blog and first diary of any kind. I hope in years she'll have the time to read this and to see what it is like for me, her father, to watch her grow up and mature into that frightful stage we call womanhood.

A little about me and then we'll get back to the Bean. I'm twenty-seven, divorced, and have a great girlfriend who's passion for the liberal things in life drives me mad. I live in Virginia, around a small family set that cares deeply for me and my little one. The childs mother lives in the area also and we share custody. I have to be up front here and say that the arrangement is rather loose and that currently I spend quite a lot of time with the Bean. The personal matter that I wrote of earlier is simply this: I need to track how much time I have her versus her mother. In the event that she ever tries to take her away, I want to be able to point at something tangible and say "Look! That's my life with my daughter. Why would you ruin it?" I'm not being vengeful nor anymore selfish than any other parent would be. I just want my little girl around.

My daughter started kindergarten on the second of the month. I took her to my sisters and put her on the bus. I'd attended her 'get to know you' school meetings and then after school started the 'Open House.' The ex-wife slept in on the first and just couldn't make it for the second due to some random medical condition. She's attempted to send her to school without shoes and underwear, although we can both afford to have them - and do have them - only to be (thank god) intercepted by my sister before putting her on the bus.

Today I sent her to school with four words cut out from Good Housekeeping. They needed to have four words they could recoginize for a book entitled "I Can Read" to be made for school. Hers were: Halloween, Disney, Milk, and Stop. We had to cut the s off of Disney's, but otherwise I think she'll do fine as long as we keep on remembering to put shoes and underwear on her.