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?

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.