In case you were wondering, I’ve kept my distance from San Francisco ever since my bad juju put the Giants down 0-2 in the Division Series. I’ve been watching from home, though, and have greatly enjoyed the Giants amazing, come from behind victories against the Reds and Cardinals to advance to the World Series. This is all very exciting, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last couple of weeks it’s that trying to watch a stressful playoff game with a toddler is almost impossible.

Annie actually wasn’t much of a distraction during last night’s game, but getting to watch the game proved problematic anyway because it was on opposite the presidential debate. I suggested recording the debate and watching it after the game, but Heather wasn’t crazy about that idea, so we came up with the somewhat loony solution of muting the game on the TV and watching/listening to the debate over the computer.

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This worked out pretty well, although at one point I did momentarily get confused about why the announcers were discussing Iran instead of baseball.

Luckily, there weren’t any other scheduling conflicts during the playoffs, but there were plenty of Annie related conflicts. For one of the games I was home alone with Annie and Rigby, and though I’d hoped the three of us could have a little playoff party, neither of them was nearly as interested in the game as me.

The First Inning

….began with me reclining on the couch until:

“DAD! DAD?!?!?!? WANNA PLAY PANDA BEARS WIF ME?

The Second Inning

…began with me playing panda bears on the floor and stealing looks at the TV until:

“DAD! I NEED A DIAPER!”

The Third Inning

…began with me in Annie’s room frantically changing her diaper until:

“DAD? I’M HUNGRY!”

The Fourth Inning

…began with me in the kitchen, hurriedly whipping up some mac and cheese until:

“RUFF!!! RUFF!!! RUFF!!!

The Fifth Inning

…began with me waiting impatiently for Rigby to do her business in the backyard until:

“DADA? PLAY BLOCKS WIF ME?”

The Sixth Inning

…began with me stacking blocks in the playroom and straining to hear the announcers on the TV until:

“GRRRRRR!!! GRRRRRR!!!! RUFFF!!!!!”

The Seventh Inning

…began with me opening a can of dog food and filling Rigby’s bowl until:

“DADA! DRAW A SHARK, FLOUNDER, ARIEL, ARIEL’S DADA, AND ERIC!”

The Eighth Inning

….began with me hunched over the etch-a-sketch until:

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I finished this masterpiece.

The Ninth Inning

…began with me at last back on the couch and hoping to watch the final inning in peace until:

“DAD?!”

I spun to Annie, annoyed. “What is it now, Sweetie?”

Annie smiled and said, “LET’S GO GIANTS!”

And then…

CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP

That’s right. Annie was doing the rally clap. How awesome is that?

So yeah, my kid’s pretty cool even if she was an endless source of distractions during the first eight innings. Let’s just hope that the World Series brings a lot more rally claps from Annie, and a lot less of all the rest.