My Parents Were Saints

Despite my relatively anti-pet mind-set at the moment, I have had quite a few pets in my day. Here's a list of all the animals I (which really should read "my parents") have had.

• multiple dogs
• multiple cats
• litters of rabbits
• 2 chinese king geese named Sally and Biter - both very mean
• a horse named Chico - would look for the nearest pile of manure to buck me off into
• chickens
• a rooster named Chipity - only liked me, would peck everyone else on the foot
• a turtle named Sancho
• ducks - the ones that looked alike were named after the days of the week, the 2 that were unique were named Webster and Brewster and would occasionally get to hang out in my room
• love birds
• lots of fish
• a leopard gecko
• a hedge hog named Groucho

There maybe more, but that's all I can remember. What's your pet history?

Swings and Things

Have I mentioned that I love our new neighborhood? Last night was such a beautiful night that Harper and I spent a lot of time outside. We walked down to the community playground and played on the swings.

You may have noticed that the kiddo has a new accessory. She got a new sippy cup on Saturday and pretty much refuses to do anything without it. Some kids love their binkies, some love their blankies, mine loves her sippy cup...

Flappy Duck

Now that we actually have a yard and a driveway and a sidewalk, Harper and I have been spending a good part of our evenings outside. She loves it. In fact, as soon as we get home from baby school, she grabs flappy duck and pretty much demands that we go outside and take him for a walk.

Car Talk

Last night Harper and I had a little time to kill before we met our friend Katie for dinner. So... I pulled out my camera and we had a little conversation.

When the Science Hits the Fan - Monogamy, Nature Vs. Nurture?

This is a prairie vole.

This is a meadow vole.

Cute little things aren't they. Scientist have recently been studying these two particular types of voles to gain insight into whether or not there is a genetic component to monogamy.

The prairie vole is monogamous - they form life long bonds with their mate and both mates participate in the raising of their young. The meadow vole is a solitary animal who has multiple mates and does not co-parent, so to speak.

Scientists have discovered that while these voles are almost completely identical on a genetic level, changes in the expression of one gene could account for the differences in their behavior.

The gene in question is the vasopressin V1a receptor or V1aR for short. Basically, this gene codes for a protein that grabs the hormone vasopressin out of the bloodstream and targets it to different areas of the body so it can perform its function. Wherever the vasopressin receptor is expressed, vasopressin can hone in and do its job. In the body, vasopressin is known to play a role in very diverse processes including water retention, blood pressure regulation, memory formation, and tendency toward aggression. Recently, differences in the expression of the vasopressin receptor, V1aR, have been linked to differences in mating behaviors in voles. You can read the official study here.

Below are pictures of cross sections of vole brains. The one on top is from a prairie vole and the one on the bottom is from a meadow vole. The black coloring on the pictures indicates where V1aR is expressed. You can see that there is a lot more black on the prairie vole brain than on the meadow vole brain, therefore the prairie vole brain has more V1aR expressed.

Here's where things get interesting. The scientists decided to block the expression of V1aR in the brains of prairie voles. Guess what happened. The prairie voles became promiscuous! Then the scientists used some fancy schmancy science tricks to ramp up the V1aR expression in the meadow vole brains. And guess what - the meadow voles became monogamous! Pretty cool, huh?

Now before people like Mark Sanford start getting excited about this information, there is a catch. You can't blame your cheating ways on bad genes. Even the scientists that conducted this study state that a single gene could not possibly act alone to control such a complex social behavior. Like most (maybe all) things in nature, a particular outcome is the result of a combination genes and environmental influences. The bottom line is that it's complicated. But, this study does presents an interesting idea that genes can not only influence biological processes but also social interactions as well.

Stinky Feet, Phones, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

As you can tell by the title of this post, I have a couple relatively unrelated things for today:

1. Harper and I have a new game. It's called stinky feet. She takes her shoes off and then I ask her if her feet stink. She then proceeds to smell them. It's pretty funny. I took this picture in the car last night as we were sitting at a red light.

2. My mom is a teacher and she went back to work yesterday. I hate it when she goes back to work because when she's off in the summer, I can call her on my way into work in the morning. Now that she's back in school, I can't call her until after work. My morning commute is much less enjoyable without our morning conversation. So...if anyone would like to volunteer to call me in the mornings, that would be great.

3. Our new neighbors brought us some homemade chocolate chip cookies last night. So awesome. They're super nice and have 3 little boys for Harper to play with. I love our new house and our new neighborhood.

Boons!

Harper LOVES balloons - or as she likes to call them "boons". She recently acquired a couple and has become very attached to them.

I took this picture after we got home from church yesterday. Notice the death grip she has on them even though she's asleep. After I got her out of the car, I tried to lay her down for a nap. She cried until I let her sleep with one of them. Don't worry. I cut the string so she wouldn't hang herself.

This is a shot from breakfast this morning. She refused to eat until both balloons were present. Also, notice her facial expression. This is the face she makes when I tell her to smile.