Rise and Shine

I love getting Harper out of bed in the morning. She's always in a good mood. I took this video this morning and it's pretty typical of our morning routine. Notice that as soon as I open the door, she says "two." Every morning, I count to three and turn her light on. For some reason, she really likes the number two. In fact, if you ask her if she can count to three, she says "two, two, two." Every morning, as soon as she hears her door open, she says "two". I love it!

Elton, Spiders, Music, and Listerine

Sometimes Harper likes to channel Elton John.

Spiders are not cool. Spider webs on my front porch bedazzeled with dew are cool.

I heard on my local public radio station this morning that the station is going to stop playing classical music during the day. Instead, they are going to have news programs all day long. While I thoroughly enjoy listening to NPR during my morning and afternoon commutes, I find it troubling that a public radio station in Music City is no longer going to play any music. I also find it disappointing that no other radio station in the Nashville listening radius plays classical music at all.

One more thing for today...why does Listerine have to burn the crap out of my mouth? Just wondering.

Yea Harper!

It was a big night at our house last night. Harper went peepee on the potty! Don't worry, I have no intention of chronicling every trip to the potty, but last night was the first so it deserves special recognition.

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).