Little One on facing demons

Little One has learned that some things are ok, even encouraged! While some things are generally frowned upon, and some are strictly forbidden. But you know, there are SO MANY things to classify into categories! And so many variables to consider.
Take the complex subject of hair bows. Is it, for example, never ok to eat your hair bow, or just not at home? How about in public? In the car? With a fox? On a box? If there are two hair bows per braid on a Sunday in June and a train leaves New York at 2pm, is it ok to eat only one?
There are a lot of parameters to define. But She has developed a system! When in doubt, draw attention to oneself. Then reach slooooowllly for the intended object/area, while watching for adult reactions. It will become immediately apparent whether one should: go ahead at leisure, change plans ASAP, or grab it really-quick! before someone takes it away.
This system has worked pretty well! Of course, like any scientist, She has to account for the random and verify results through duplication. Once She's certain, She's pretty good about avoiding the Forbidden Thing.
But She's still sometimes tempted. "Dishwasher buttons!" She thinks, staring up at them with a tumultuous heart, "Why must you tempt me with your shiny green light and smooth pressability?! I'm trying to toddle the straight and narrow!" They whisper promises of interesting noises and venting steam. But She tells the dishwasher (or busy street/outlet cover/jewelry box/other Forbidden Thing) that She's not falling for that doo-doo!
She puts one foot squarely in front of the other. She puts one hand on Her hip. She raises a pointed finger, sets Her brow to Steely Glare and scolds, "NO! No no no no nononononono NO!" If it's a first-degree tempt, like an open body of water, She throws in a stomp and some vigorous head shaking.
"That's right, Little One!", we say, "no dishwasher buttons!" Approval! Yes! This means She has won the battle and stayed out of time-out, despite the nefarious efforts of the Forbidden Thing!
So She smiles in victory, pokes Her finger out at Forbidden Thing one more time before walking off to play, and tells it, "HA."

Home again

Trying to survive a house left to bachelorhood for 4 months....please excuse me for a good long while. I will be suiting up hazmat style and decontaminating things for many days to come....but then I'll be back with pictures!

Little One Meets Leggy Baby

This is Little One, trying to be as cool as Leggy here.

Once upon a time and long ago, I was in college. Leggy Baby wasn't an infant then, when I started looking after her, but she was still sort of my first baby. Leggy was growing up with a single mom- who was amazing to me by the way- who had to work crazy hours, and so I ended up lucky enough to spend a LOT of time with Leggy, picking her up from school and tucking her into bed, sometimes even getting her all to myself for whole weekends!
My friends referred to her as my "child", and I can't say I minded at all. Leggy's mom and I were at team during that time, and so I did try to be a good "parent" to her. We still laugh about how strict I was; making her eat her veggies, earning the title of "homework nazi", and having look-me-in-the-eye-and-listen-to-me-good chats in the parking lot when I dropped her off for parties. Take a good look at your future, Little One! Bwaaah haa ha! But we also stood on the furniture and danced to the radio until we fell over laughing, had food-fights in the kitchen, and did our nails while watching Gilmore Girls.
Leggy taught me all about the cost-reward balance of parenting. She taught me how a few jilted tears can totally break my heart. She taught me about staying up all night sick with worry. About canceling plans at the last minute because of a forgotten science project due tomorrow. She also showed me how catching those tears in a hug is such an honor, how someone else's good decisions can be the proudest you have felt, and how glorious it is when a report card comes in and you hear "wow, I guess I am pretty smart!" She showed me, definitively, that the hard work of being responsible and the ache of not being able to make the world perfect enough for a child you love is so totally worth the payoff. And, thank goodness, she helped me to be far less terrified of parenting a pre-teen. It can be pretty fun!
So you see how it was really cool and a little bit surreal for me to see Little One and Leggy together in one spot. Leggy, who is now older than I was when I started taking care of her. All grown up in college, eating all her veggies and everything. Sniffle. They grow up so fast!
Leggy you turned out even awesomer than I hoped you would. Please send your mom a big high-five for me on that one! Please know that even though we could theoretically go get a cocktail together at a bar now, you will always be my baby. I will always be proud of you and want to beat up people who are mean to you. And I will always race over at 95mph if you are alone and call me crying at night, so that I can catch the coral snake in a spaghetti strainer, throw it into the desert, and sing you back to sleep.

Flash Forward

I was recently reading an interesting article* by a couple of physicists I admire. The article basically says, "phooey to you, Einstein!" It throws the whole space/time continuum thing out the window by theorizing that, among other things, time can flow like ocean water, back and forth, with future events sometimes leaking into the present or past. I'm all about E equaling MC squared and all. But these guys are pretty smart, and besides which, I have circumstantial evidence that may experimentally prove their theory! For instance. As you can see here, in Diagram One, a 4th dimension tesseract has occurred, causing events happening 10 years from now to leak into the present. And to leak, all over Little One.

*[This Week in Physics ( April 27, 2009) Sandu Popescu, Physics 2, 32 (2009)] Pretty interesting stuff!

Beauty Queen

Grandaddy (looking lovingly at Little One, eating so elegantly with Her spoon): If that's not the picture of a beauty queen, well I don't know what is.

Little One: BwaUUuuuuurrrrrrppp!


I guess She's good on the talent competition.

AZ- Teeny and Neeny

It's pretty awesome to visit with the "Aunties". We do girl stuff.

Like be ladies who lunch.

And shop!











And laugh. And laugh. And gossip. And laugh!


Fun for Little One, who can never have too many amazing aunties. And fun for me, to see my "little sisters" and marvel at how outstanding they are growing up to be. I kept feeling amazed at how they took such good care of Her. Wait- but you two were my babies just a second ago! How did you get all responsible? And smart? And better than me at shopping sales?! Sheesh. At least I'll always be taller. HA!





Thanks for visiting us, aunties. We love you THIS much!

Next Year, We Will Bring Pom-Poms.

Easter is a wonderful holiday, isn't it? For so many reasons, but partly because it is so precious to watch your children experience all the traditions. Aw. Of course, it's more fun if the children survive the holiday. And so, Easter is a bit tricky in the Little One camp. A yard full of eggs is like a minefield!
But hey, the Easter Bunny is basically a nice guy. He does a lot of damage to parents every year who have to deal with children strung out on sugar, but he doesn't want anyone hospitalized! So he was thoughtful enough to fill Her basket full of toys and books. And to leave only plastic eggs, filled with raisins, rice cakes, and cheerios. (This was, in fact, Her first ever cheerios. And therefore the most refined sugar She has ever had. That Easter bunny always sneaks it in there somehow!). In the end She made a pretty decent breakfast out of it. I think I might take to hiding more of Her meals in the bushes, one bite at a time. It sure keeps Her busy.
Later on we found a Cathedral and went to Easter mass. I'm happy to say that not only did Little One behave Herself, She had fun! Catholic church is a great toddler activity- all the sitting, standing, kneeling, standing again. Shake hands with your neighbor, and turn yourself around. There is singing! Music! People randomly shouting things in unison! Don't get Her started on that big silver ball they swing around with the smoke coming out of it. You have to pay for that stuff in Vegas! We got to sit by a floor-to-ceiling stained glass window, which She kept tracing Her finger along and sighing, "Wah-ow!"
Of course religion is serious, though Peanuts. Serious. So I'm happy to say that in addition to pointing out the "doggies" on the altar (dog, lamb, whatever), She did pay attention to the homily. Which I know because at one point the priest said the words, "go and out and serve the Lord". And Little One pumped Her fists in the air and hollered into the reverent hush, "GO! GO! GO!"
Later, there was the part in every mass where the congregation lifts their hands. She was paying attention! She threw Hers up too, shouting at the top of Her lungs, "YYYYYAAAAAAYYY!!!"
A commentary which I think pretty much sums up the day. Happy Easter! Go have some fun celebrating all the silly fun and serious meaningfulness you can find in your own backyard and beyond. If you can't do it, no one can! Yeeaaaaaaayyyyy!!





And some sweet Easter goodies...



So many we had to switch to a wheelbarrow!


Discovering that the fun colored rattles have yummy stuff inside. This is Her guilty, "am I supposed to be doing this?" face. It took Her awhile to be convinced She wasn't going to get into trouble. Some things seem too good to be true!


Once She knew what was in there, She ate the contents of every egg as She went, then returned to the stash to empty those. She sat out there even after we got bored and went in.


Though She saved a few to share with friends.





She's right, of course. Some things do seem too good to be true.

AZ- Another Birthday

One of the first things we did after arriving in AZ was go out and celebrate J's mom's birthday. Little One visited at work with presents, and then we all went out to dinner. Even though it was past bedtime, the restaurant was SO exciting, what with the funny lights and many people and the waterfall of pasta crashing to the floor when a server lost his balance behind us. For Little One, really, that was the highlight of the whole thing. Except maybe the candles. Oooh. Fire. Pretty. For me the highlight was that She stayed happily in Her high chair for the bulk of the party, which meant that I got to enjoy some time with all my in-laws at once, who I see far to rarely. It was fun! So fun, that I think Little One's Grandma should have birthdays more often! She might not agree, of course. But I'd argue that clearly, so far, birthdays have been good to her. Plus, there is cake.

18 Months

After She hit the big 1 year mark, I stopped doing monthly birthday posts. But a half birthday is pretty exciting! And so much has happened, a metamorphosis really. 6 months ago Little One took Her first tenuous step. Now She is running. Fast! Out the door and into the Forbidden Cabinet and back. So fast that if She didn't have such a terrible poker face I wouldn't even know to check Her hands for containers of shoe polish.

She can not only run but climb, and even slide without letting Her booty get ahead of Her head, flopping backwards. She can dance like a rock. Star. She can carry the potatoes from the car to the kitchen.

In fact, She's getting pretty useful! She very carefully tears the lettuce into perfectly sized pieces, and puts them, one by one, into the salad bowl. She unloads the clean silverware from the dishwasher. She cleans up little spills on the floor, and wipes the windowsills with Her little sponge. Sometimes She wipes down the whole house, below knee-level. Including knees. She "sweeps" the floors and driveway with the hand sweeper. Aw. My own little mini-indentured servant! So handy! She helps me remember to put clean clothes away, and not leave them folded into piles on a chair. Because clothes that are out go in the hamper, of course. She throws Her used diapers in the bin. She picks up leaves and pebbles from the entryway and holds them out in front of Her, wrinkling up Her nose. "Tash!" She says in disgust, as She walks it into the kitchen and throws it away.

Oh yes, She says Tash. And that's not all! There are few words that She pronounces perfectly (one of which is the unfortunate byproduct of something She heard when a dish broke recently) but She is currently working very, very hard at practicing them, on repeat. The amount of new words She has added to Her vocabulary just in the last week is amazing, and they are becoming exponentially more clear. Between signing and speaking, I am starting to have real little conversations with Her, and it is SO cool. Or as Little One would say, breathlessly, "CooOoo!"

And She understands everything we say. I mean everything. Lordy! Watch it from now on missy! Everyone else, too. She is still little, and still doesn't say too much, and so it can be easy to forget how smart She is. Until grandmother wonders aloud where she set her glass, and we all can't find it, and I keep shh-ing Little One because we are trying to find something. And then I look at Her finally, and She is standing in the corner, pointing up at the glass we are looking for. "Dat!" Why yes, Little One. That. That is the one we needed, thanks. How She remembered when 3 adults did not, and when we thought She was paying attention to stacking the tupperwear, I do not know.

But it is clear that She is quickly growing up. She can understand multi-step directions and see them through. She can understand concepts like "later", "after" and "first". First we close the bottle. Then we shake it. She can hold an idea in Her mind and understand permanence and absence. She is able to miss people when they are gone. She can understand consequences. She can remember something and want it without seeing it. "shide!" She pipes up as I walk by Her, sitting in Her stroller with Her hat on and Her shoes perched on the tips of Her toes. "Go!" (shide= the playground slide).

She's always busy busy, always in motion, needing the next thing to do, to learn from. It's like She's on a mission to figure out the world, and knows She has to take it apart to do it. She's horribly vulnerable in the face of just this much too much hunger, sleepiness, or boredom. Melting like ice cream into a puddle of whimpers with a pouty lip on top. Or winding up and up and up into a frenzied knot of uncontrollable energy, totally unable to keep out of forbidden places or from throwing something on the floor. "Little One, do you need a rest?" "BAHH HA HA HA HAAAaaaaaaAAAAaa!.......(and then in a whisper, collapsing into my shoulder) "wes."

And Peanuts She loooooves that shoulder. She is still such a snuggle-bug, and I love it. It's like She has to keep a certain level of cuddles on hand, tanking up for the night with a good five minute nuzzle under my chin after bedtime stories, and then starting the next day with a great big bear hug first thing and refueling periodically throughout the day. She has no regard for timing, striking when I'm covered in some deadly food product or carrying boiling water or 10 minutes late. But then I ask Her, trying not to be exasperated as She dangles from my pantleg, "what do you need right now, Little One?" And She holds Her little hands up. "Hug?" The girl makes an irrefutable point.

It's nice to know that in some ways She still likes to be my baby, because I spend so much time these days staring at Her and shaking my head in disbelief. I see it coming, Peanuts! It's on the horizon! Having a baby is one thing, but having a child, well. Yikes, that's another. And it's happening to me! I'm partly terrified, and partly thrilled. Little One is becoming my partner in crime and I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of fun. I'll still take as many of those snuggles as I can get though.
Happy Birthday Little One!

Taking the Show on the Road-II

Day two of the trek to AZ had a rather inauspicious start. Awakened at 4 by my neighbors uh..activities, I decided to just get the heck outta thin-walled dodge.
Nothing was open for coffee. Trying not to wake Little One, I couldn't find my comb in the dark. So you see that I was looking rather ragged by the time I got to the AZ border, just as the sun was waking up. There is a checkpoint at this border. You stop, and the guy with the reflective sunglasses and crossed arms asks you if you are smuggling in any fruits, vegetables, or illegal aliens, and then you are on your way.
So I stopped. Sunglasses sauntered up, paused a sec. Frowned. Popped his head in through my window to take a nice look around. The dog snarled. The baby wailed. The following conversation ensued:

Sunglasses: "So......where ya headed?"
C: "Tucson."
Sunglasses: "Uh huh. You....moving?"
C: "Huh? No, just, a long visit I guess".
Sunglasses: "Uh huh. You....alright? You....need anything?....know where you're...have somewhere to...you know...need any...uh....."
C: "um. I'm ok. Thanks. Sir."
Sunglasses: "Ok. Well. Ok. You travel safe now. Be safe. Bye then."

Sunglasses hesitates. Tips his hat. hesitates. Steps back and waves as I drive off.
This is pre-coffee, now. 5 am. So it took me a minute of utter confusion to figure out what the heck had happened, but Peanuts, lets see this from Sunglasses' point of view.
Here comes this exhausted and disheveled looking woman, at the crack of dawn, with all of her dependents in the car, clearly on edge snarling and crying, surrounded by mounds and piles of stuff, mostly packed into garbage bags*, in the middle of the dessert.
I am fairly certain he thought I was some poor abused wife, escaping in the middle of the night.
He was so worried, he forgot to even ask about fruit!

I thought this was funny. Until. A hundred miles and two closed gas stations later, I was racing towards the burger king exit so that I would not pee my pants. (that nasa girl may be on to something, after all). It was in my sight! I was almost there! When I saw the flashing lights!
Not only did this officer not care that I had to pee, he did not care about my plight as an escaping wife! Apparently. Because he gave me a ticket, for going seven miles over the speed limit. Which wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't in a special "safety corridor" where the fines are doubled, and if I didn't have a little, um, history of traffic tickets. The speed cameras in DC are sticklers! So at this point, I was certain that I had indeed become an fugitive wife in danger after all, since J would surely have to kill me.

Later. For the moment, I still had to make it to Burger King. Where I finally got to pee, and get some coffee. I was pouring when we were backed into a corner by this guy, poor thing, who was in very bad shape, and very upset:

Booger man: "YOU!"
C: "uh, yes. Good morning!"
Booger Man: "what? NO! Don't you know? You never know. They never know!"
C: "I suppose not. Tell me!"
Booger Man: "Well don't you know who I am? Don't you know who yer talking to?!"
C: "Let me guess!"
Booger Man: "You'll never believe it!"
C: "you're probably right. Just tell me then".
Booger Man: "You HAVE TO KNOW THIS!"
C: "Ok. I'm listening."
Booger Man: "I'm Santa Clause!"
C: "Oh!"
Booger Man: "Well I AM! (pouting a little) And I've had a very bad Christmas morning!"
C: "I can see that."

He would not let us out of the corner until he knew that we were truly convinced of his true identity. At which point he became quite jovial, telling Little One how cute She was and that He would remember Her next year as being a good baby. He promised Her a pony. And waved us off with a "Ho ho hack cough ho!"

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, but I can tell you we were all relieved to finally arrive in Tucson and settle in. I'm happy to report that J even agreed not to kill me after all, so Santa, Sunglasses, Little One, Doggies and I can all rest easy! Whew! But please let me know if you would like a pony, next year. I'm not sure we have room to keep him.

Taking the Show on the Road

After leaving Big TX, J had to go back to DC for some training. Little One and the doggies and I had a long trip to make, driving aaaalll the way to Tucson, AZ. We left before morning, and Day One worked out beautifully. We stopped for Little One's meals, and the doggies got to run around and play fetch. We all stretched out and played awhile then were on our way again. We got to see trains, cheer "Caaah!" when a car or truck passed us, and sing as loud as we pleased. As long as She had the doggies to entertain Her, and Her new bestie, Puppy, to snuggle, She was happy as could be back there in the piles of stuff.
We stopped outside of El Paso when we were all sick of driving. To make up for strapping Her into a chair all day, I took Little One down the street to the shopping mall play area. She had so. much. fun. Her little pint sized self was the star of the show. She was so clearly wanting to play with the other kids, but so clearly too shy to jump in, that the older ones noticed and took Her under their grubby wings. They took turns leading Her around by the hand, giving Her hugs, and demonstrating the fine arts of tunnel crawling and ball rolling. It took a team effort to get get down the slide, but they were rewarded in giggles and hugs.

It was wonderful to watch. Kids are so inspiring I think, I the way they can just meet and make friends in an instant. We wrapped up with a ride on the carousel.

What a day! We were all happy to do a little reading and crash into our comfy beds. We were so worn out we all fell right to sleep. Which is good. We needed it for what was coming.

TX- Big Goodbye

Ah, Texas.
We had good times! We made some new compadres.

We hunkered down in our Fort.


We blazed some trails.



We got a long, little doggie. Got to see one, anyways.


We had our first ride on one of them thar train engines.


We 'et some cactus.


We rode our hosses off into the sunset.

We got to spend a long, purty time hanging out with some of our favorite people and exploring a new place. We had Big, Texas-sized fun!
And we will never forget.