favorite

I predicted this. 

Before M was even born, I knew that it was inevitable, and now it has come to pass. She likes her dad more.

I get it. I really do. Daddy is tickles and monster sounds and climbing games and being held upside down. Mama is all, "Let's put your arm in the sleeve," "It's time to brush your teeth," and "We need to clean your face off before you can get down and play." Given the choice, I'd like Daddy better, too. 

M follows Dad around the house in the mornings, hanging from his legs while he makes coffee and trying to hold the toothbrush while he brushes his teeth. Whether she's waving goodbye or just throwing her arm in the air when he leaves for work is still up for debate. The high fives are real, though.

When Daddy comes home at the end of the day, he gets smiles and giggles. And what does Mama get? (If you've ever had a toddler living in your house, then you know darn well that five-thirty in the evening is not smiles and giggles time.)

I'm fine with it. Like I said, I was counting on this happening all along, so I've had plenty of time to prepare myself. Besides, the two of them are so dang cute together that sometimes, it's more than I can stand.

matchy-matchy

We sure as heck didn't do this on purpose. Once I noticed what was going on, though, I knew it had to be documented. Enjoy it now because it's not going to happen again anytime soon. Probably not until M is fifteen and I enroll us in a Mommy-and-Me Fashion Show. Because I'm going to be super-cool like that.

where we've been, part 3

In this final installment of catch-up posts, here are a few more moments I couldn't resist sharing with you. This will be the last dive into the archives for awhile. We'll try our best to keep things more current from now on...

Standing on the couch to look out the windows is the new cool thing. We watch the crows, recycling trucks and bicycles. Random people walking by have been known to wave at us. It's kind of great.

Funny. Daddy gets the same look on his face when he finds there's no coffee in his mug.

Somebody has to keep an eye on Grandpa R. That guy is trouble.

Rocking her fancy cat hat from Auntie Meg.

We've recently instituted family dinners, which makes this Mama incredibly happy. We get to gang up on M, and she gets to see both of us at the same time for more than two minutes. There's also some pretty entertaining eating. Favorite foods: hard-boiled egg yolks, cottage cheese, sardines. Least favorite foods: bananas and, um, bananas.

Although she loves both of the cats, Finch seems to be M's regular playmate. It's possible that they have the same number of brain cells. They are both prone to getting stuck in boxes.

One of our favorite new hangouts is the zoo, although M could care less about the animals there. The toddler play area, though, is definitely her cup of tea. She's especially fond of harassing and abusing the bigger kids and trying to climb in places I wish she wouldn't.

Doing the can-can? Showing off her new legwarmers? Just generally being awesome.

Until next time, Earthlings!

outtakes

What? What's that you say? Where's the super-cute Valentine's Day photo session?

We're too cool for that, obviously.

We'll just chalk it up to creative differences, I guess. Maybe we'll try again next year.

Happy Valentine's Day!

where we've been, part two

We left for Ohio with a baby and returned home with a toddler. We knew on the flight back that this was the case, but it took a good week for us to really wrap our heads around the idea. The end result was a mad dash of babyproofing, a project that still continues on a daily basis, as our small person gets smarter and bigger and faster.

As it turns out, it's not the crawling that causes all the trouble. For us, at least, it's been the standing. A few days after our return from Ohio looked like this:

And not long after that, the most interesting game in the world became Clear the Coffee Table. It was a really long game and would probably have continued on for the past few weeks, except for the fact that Mama got tired of re-stocking the game board every five minutes.

Clear the Coffee Table Champ of 2013!

Of course, it hasn't all been fun and games. Somebody, for instance, has to taste test the laundry.

It's thankless work, people. Fortunately, the laundry basket is prone to falling over, which apparently signals quitting time.

And then there was the discovery of the DVD library.

Those sliding cabinet doors are, it turns out, rather intuitive.

Having another small creature to collaborate with was a dream come true for the cats, who'd been trying to master the door thing for awhile. M, on the other hand, seemed surprisingly unwilling to share the fruits of her labor.

After a couple of days of this and lots of DVDs piled on the floor, we rearranged most of our living room. The coffee table is now serving as a barricade in front of the movie library. M, of course, has moved on to bigger and better things...