2 and a half

#7

This picture doesn't need much narrative. It's cute and funny on the one hand but tough, authoritative and confident on the other. That's my daughter.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Suzanne, Audrey and Grace,

I am thankful for all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daddy

Watching a movie

As we are watching a movie on Saturday night:

Mommy: "After this is over it's time to go to bed, okay Audrey?"

Audrey: "Are you going also?"

Mommy: "No, it's late and it's time for you to get some sleep."

Audrey: "But you're not going?"

Mommy: "No, Mommy and Daddy need Mommy and Daddy time."

Audrey, after thinking for a moment: "But wait, I need Mommy and Daddy time too!"

Mommy and Daddy look at each other. She's pretty quick for a 3-year-old.

Mommy: "Okay, you can stay up for a little bit after..."

What else can you say?

IDMyBag

I've always said Audrey was destined for the silver screen. Because she takes after her mom, that is, who has been on the silver screen once or twice. Check them out in the commercial below about 0:18 in and, if you're interested in getting someone a simple gift for the holidays, go to IDMyBag.com to get him or her a personalized luggage strap!

Estes Park

Every once in awhile my wife takes Audrey and Grace up to Estes Park to see Grammy. Like today. It is a special place to Suzanne because she spent time there growing up and her family has lots of roots there. Not to mention it is beautiful. This is what you get see when you drive there from Boulder.

The tortoise and the hare

This morning at breakfast Audrey exclaimed, "Look Daddy, I'm eating quickly. I'm not going to take a long time today!" And sure enough, she had taken a number of bites of her cereal and finished within 15 minutes or so.

I told her how happy I was with her because lately she's been taking her sweet time to eat her meals, sometimes stretching well past an hour. Dinner can be particularly long because she's too busy doing other things and then she'll conveniently get *very* hungry right at bed time.

Breakfast can be frustrating because, as things go, we're often under the gun to get her over to preschool. And if she goes to preschool on an empty stomach there's no telling what sort of behavior lurks ahead, particularly when Mommy picks her up. Like Daddy, she needs food in her tummy to keep her spirits up.

So we've been telling her that there will be no treats or other privileges until she decides to eat with the rest of the family and finish within a reasonable amount of time. We're not talking about racing through meals. Like the French, we try to sit and enjoy ours. But there is no reason it should take 30 minutes to eat a banana. Or 45 minutes to eat a bowl of oatmeal. Or an hour and a half to eat a helping of macaroni and cheese. I am laughing as I sit here writing that but it has happened many times.

Grace, meanwhile, is ravenous. She'll eat as much food as you give her. A chopped up banana will be gone in 5 minutes. She'll eat an entire avocado in one sitting. Two bowls of oatmeal? No problem. Clearly she's going through a growth spurt and we're trying not to invite comparisons, but it's like the tortoise and the hare. And it doesn't seem right that a 1-year-old should be eating faster - and *more* - than her 3-year-old sister.

This morning was encouraging though.

Frosty's cousin

It snowed again and Audrey and I built another snowman. Introducing Frosty's smaller and slightly odd-looking cousin.

Seeing is wanting

A bottle.

A cup of coffee.

A wine glass.

A piece of paper.

A hairband.

A pen.

A remote.

A toy.

An earring.

A cell phone.

A cup.

A book.

A tissue.

A brush.

A spoon.

A bowl.

An avocado.

An apple.

Whatever Grace sees, she wants. Seeing is wanting.

A walk, a deer and a coffee shop

What to do on a lazy Saturday? That's the question Suzanne and I faced this morning. So we decided to take Audrey and Grace on a walk to the park and then to the coffee shop for a pastry and hot chocolate. Despite the fact that less than two days ago it was near 70 degrees, the forecast was for snow.

It took 30 minutes or so to get out of the house. Grace needed to be changed (diaper and clothes) and fed and bundled up in her too-big, one-piece, purple-ized cold-weather suit. And we had to find larger shoes for her because her feet are now too big for size 4s. Good thing we have hand-me-downs from Audrey.

Audrey's clothes needed to be changed (she lounges around in her pajamas if we let her) and then didn't like the fact that her shirt had stains on it from when she was painting the other day. It was clean, we explained, despite the reddish spots, but she protested. Another 10 minutes gone. Finally she decided it would be okay to wear it and willingly put the shirt as well as her black pants. Then came the snow pants and coat and hat.

Phase I complete.

Phase II was mommy and daddy getting ready before the girls got heat rash from being inside with so many clothes on. 3 minutes, done.

We brought sandwiches for us and the girls to eat while we walked to the park. Grace is capable of eating one on her own but I worry the entire time about her choking since she's only got 4 teeth (although others are coming in). She does a great job but sometimes takes that one big bite that really makes me sweat.

We walked by a house that had at least 8 deer in the front yard which is always a novelty for someone not from Boulder and even for us when we see a buck since we nearly always see the females.

And then it began snowing. Just like that. And it came down harder as we walked. We stopped at the park for 10 minutes or so but the temp was falling so we opted to keep going.

Shortly thereafter we arrived at the Sip House which was bustling with people warming up or working on their Mac laptops. We sat near the back - the only area with available seats - and Audrey was fascinated by a gentleman who had long dreds and makeup on. "Daddy - look at her face," she whispered. "You mean his face?" I asked. "It's a boy?" she wondered. "Yes..." I replied. "Daddy - look at his face!"

We got one dripping, chocolate-filled croissant to share (you can imagine Audrey's excitement) and drinks for the table. Audrey and I had hot chocolate, Suzanne a latte, Grace water. All our cold weather gear was scattered on the floor. To our amazement, Audrey could neither finish the pastry we gave her nor her hot chocolate. Halfway through she complained of a stomach ache. I guess there really is a limit to everything.

We wrapped things up and stopped at Ideal Market for ingredients for home-made chicken noodle soup. And then home. The snow had slowed considerably and Grace was clearly ready for her nap. Daddy was too.

A good Saturday outing.

Day off

Not for me. I wish. But for Dennis Hwang over at Google. No creative demonstration today. Just a normal "Google" logo. 

What could Dennis have done if he wasn't being lazy today? 

If he was looking way back in history he might have commemorated the massive Mt. Vesuvius eruption in 1867:

Or, since today happens to be the day that the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic in 1936, Dennis could have done something like this:

Seeing as how Google is headquartered in the Bay Area, that would have been very apropos. 

Now I admit that Audrey or Grace likely could have done a better job drawing these than I did. But so you have it.

But neither of these was meant to be. Just the regular old Google logo today. Seems like a letdown after so much Sesame Street art over the past week or so.

Sesame Street ensemble

This may be the last Sesame Street theme Google does, by the looks of it. Can you name them all? I came close but had to look a few up. From left to right: Bert, Ernie, Count von Count, Rosita, Cookie Monster, Zoe, Elmo, Oscar the Grouch, Telly Monster, Grover, Big Bird, Murray Monster and Abby Cadabby. Oh, and you know what? You can just make out Slimy the Worm too. 

Another interesting tidbit is if you look up all the Sesame Street characters that have been on the show over time you'll find ones you've never heard of. A quick example is Kami, who is a mustard-colored, HIV-positive monster who only appears in the South African version of the show. Who knew?

To another 40 years, Sesame Street.

 

The Count

This one is interesting. It clearly doesn't spell "Google" though. I hear they are better with numbers versus words over there anyway. Does the number 600,813 have any significance? No idea. The square root is 775.12128 which likely means nothing. But I'm sure Dennis Hwang had something in mind.

Bugaboo

We're selling our Bugaboo. It's such a great stroller but when you've got two kids versus one it just doesn't offer the needed functionality - even with this 5th wheel contraption we've got that you can attach to the rear axle for a toddler to ride on. So we haven't used it much at all since Grace was born and instead have accumulated other strollers instead - we now have 5. In addition to the Bugaboo we have a side-by-side double stroller (our current go-to stroller), one in-line double stroller (which is kind of awkward to push - I'll be selling that one too), a jogger (a.k.a. the "Bob"), and a single umbrella stroller (good for travel because it is small and light-weight).

If you know of anyone in the market for a Bugaboo have them send me an email. It's in great shape and will cost them a lot less than a new one.

Tickle me Elmo

I wrote about Audrey's first experience with Elmo here. She has since recovered but still won't go near a TMX. But Google as Elmo is my favorite yet.

 

Oscar

They could have easily included Slimy the worm here. What's with the banana? Oh well.

Frosty no more

The spot pictured below is where Frosty stood just over one week ago. Yes - we have gone from 23" of snow to a high near 80 degrees today. That's what's amazing about Colorado.

Because Frosty contained so much snow relative to the rest of the yard you can still see a bit of dirty old snow there in the grass. It could be the last bit of snow in the entire city of Boulder for all I know.

R.I.P. Frosty. Until the next snowstorm.

Bert & Ernie

Who knew Google could dress up as so many Sesame Street characters? I'd like to see them do Slimy the worm next.

Cookie

Google is really on the Sesame Street thing this week. First Big Bird, and now Cookie dressed up as Google. Or is it Google dressed up as Cookie? I dunno. 

Audrey doesn't much like Cookie, though, despite what you see in the picture below from when she was a baby. That's because she eventually figured out that when you squeeze his hand he grumbles, "Me want COOKIE!" and it scared her to death. The trauma lasts to this day. Grace remains ignorant to him since Cookie has since gone into hiding.

Sesame Street anniversary

The folks at Google are paying attention - it's the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street. I used to watch it as a kid and now my girls do too. Although Barney provides some pretty tough competition.