Who Said A Funeral Can't Be Fun?

This guy really puts the f-u-n in funeral. Behold:

Go Fish

Today I want to tell you about something that has significantly contributed to my sanity over the last few months. Harper and I listen to this cd just about every time we get in the car. It's wonderful. You can listen to audio clips at the bottom of this page. Harper literally cheers and claps her hands as soon as the music starts. It's by a group called Go Fish. Their motto is "Great music for kids that won't drive parents bonkers!" Mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned. In fact on some mornings, after I drop Harper off at baby school, it takes me until I get to my parking garage at work to realize that I haven't turned NPR on and Go Fish is still playing. To all of my friends with little kids, I would highly recommend getting this album. It has made our car rides infinitely more enjoyable.

Anniversaries and Potty Chairs

Saturday marked the one year anniversary of Junk DNA. You can read my very first post here. It's what the name of this blog is all about. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that I was able to keep it up this long. I'm sure that it has something to do with the community that has unexpectedly popped up around it. I am so humbled by all of the people who read this (I really only thought my parents would) and leave such kind comments. Some of you I've never actually met, but I feel like we're friends anyway. So cool. And for those of you who don't leave comments, thanks for reading and do leave a comment sometime. I'd like to get to know you too.

Ok, enough of the gushy stuff. Here's a video of the kiddo from Saturday. We got her a potty chair. I know that it's probably a little early to start potty training, but she seems to be getting the hang of it. This is completely uncharted territory for me, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Morning Dance and Teddy Bear

I shot this video this morning. It's a little random, so here's some background:

I love Harper's baby school because even in the 1 year old classroom, they have a curriculum. Each week has it's own theme. This is Teddy Bear week so all of the activities and art projects etc. have to do with teddy bears. Today, the kids are supposed to bring in a teddy bear to show the class.

Also, Harper loves to dance - especially when she is showing off new shoes. Yes, today I caved and let her wear a different pair of shoes to school. Well, I didn't really cave. She didn't ask to wear them. I just thought they would look cute with her outfit and it's raining here, so I don't think the kids will get to go outside to play on the playground (ie. no red playground dirt).

Bats and Brad Pitt

Bats are like Brad Pitt. They aren't beautiful, but they're just so darn cool that people start to think they're cute. This bat has decided to hang out above the stairwell door of my parking garage. I like him. I hope he sticks around.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

It was an interesting morning at my house today. Harper slept in a little longer than usual and woke up in a really good mood. When I went in to get her, she was talking to Lola (her glow worm) and when she saw me, she pointed at her diaper and said please. This is a big deal because she usually thinks morning diaper changes are a big waste of time and throws a fit. Everything was going great. She brushed her teeth. She brushed Lola's teeth. She got dressed. She let me comb her hair. Then came the shoes. My daughter is 18 months old and already has an unnatural love of shoes. She talks about shoes all the time and regularly takes her shoes out of her dresser and plays with them. She has one particular pair of tennis shoes that I have designated as her school shoes. She wears them to baby school every day and gets them covered in red playground dirt everyday. But it's ok, because they are her school shoes. Today, Harper wanted to wear her new pink crocks (which are way to big for her anyway) instead of her schools shoes. You would have thought that the world was ending. There was crying and shoe throwing and rolling on the ground. It was bad. And then it was over just as quickly as it began. I don't think I currently have the necessary skills to effectively deal with this new phase of life. But, I better get on it because these little outbursts are becoming more and more frequent. My general plan is to ignore it, which is pretty easy to do at home. But what do you do when you're in a public place? Any suggestions?

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?