Crackers and Grapefruit

The dinner table has become a type of laboratory. We assemble a variety edibles onto a tray and place it in front of a pair of waiting hands. The food rarely makes it into her mouth. Most of it ends up on the floor, on her face, or if we're lucky, in her hair. Monday evening, we experimented with grapefruit. The rind seemed to be her favorite, though she thoroughly enjoyed squashing the fruit between her fingers.

Visit

Tua spent Thursday morning at Phare's house. There, the two pals played nicely with bears, bags, and each other. Below are some winning shots of the morning fun taken by Bug of the two girls and their hostess and activity director, Bekah.

Winter Gear

Close inspection of her new, very pink, boots. We haven't taken the tags off yet in case we decide to swap them for the blue model instead. Either way, they are rated to -25F.
I was just thinking the other day how she was losing her baby cheeks...maybe not so much.
She has plenty of wiggle room in her new bunting.

Junk Mail

Tua received her first piece of junk mail today...what is worse is that it is about planning her first birthday party from Toys R Us. I tried to explain to her that she doesn't need to do all the things described in the brochure to have a nice birthday party. For example, it lists a) selecting a theme 4 weeks before the big day, b) arranging for extra party helpers 3 weeks before the big day, c) buying favors and helium balloons 2 weeks before, and d) calling those who haven't responded to the invitations 2 days before the big day. I suppose Toys R Us is trying to be helpful, but I suspect that Tua has now kicked up her expectations a notch or two since reading this pamphlet. I was thinking more along the lines of simply making a cake.

Snow

Proofing the House

For about two months now, Tua has been advancing both in skill and bravery when it comes to stairs. When the stairway was completed last year, we figured that we had a good two years before we would have to worry about child-proofing. As the pictures below will show, we have already had to come up with a solution for keeping the climber at bay. Today, we created a ceiling newel out of an old barn rafter. This is the vertical piece which rises from stair 3 (visible below. Into this will run both the handrail (from the top of the stairway) and the gate (across stair 3). If all goes according to plan, this should keep Tua from unauthorized ascensions.





Tua, Bug and Tua's favorite book.