Cutie Break

I never get tired of looking at this guy!

[Tearing Hair, Gnashing Teeth]

Aargh! Tax season is always so stressful for me. I must remind myself what IS fun and lovely in my life...

Aaaahh, that's better!

Adventures in Potty Training

The hardest thing about potty training for me isn't the fine layer of human bodily waste that gets distributed over everything in your home--a box of Clorox wipes and a reliable washer-drier take care of that quite handily. It is the introduction of a new subject of screaming tantrums that's the kicker. There is nothing more demoralizing than arguing about the importance of this chore with a non-reasoning child. Why should we all be responsible for disposing of our own effluvia in the toilet? Wouldn't we all rather play legos uninterrupted? I cannot explain it in terms she can understand. She sees no shame in wearing a diaper full of her own excrement and the diapers-are-wasteful/environmental angle always falls flat.

I've started bribing Tillie with a single Skittle for successful achievements on the potty. This is extremely effective, as she will now invent any excuse to go to the bathroom and get this coveted reward. One drawback, however, is that the incentive program produces even more yelling fits on top of everything, because she gets only one Skittle when she is successful and she gets no Skittle when she produces no output. This is harsh, I know, but you have to be consistent.

Tillie's teacher has kindly volunteered to be the soldier in the trenches for potty training. This week, she offered to take care of everything should I just send Tillie to school in panties and five changes of clothes. Boy do I feel like I'm getting money's worth out of daycare tuition! The only downside is that I did get a bag full of five poop-covered outfits at the end of the day.

Texas State Flowers

We always participate in the yearly Texas tradition of photographing your children in a ditch...I mean in a bed of bluebonnets.

Cuteness Parade

This is the cuteness that I am witness to every day after school:

Mugs and Bugs

DJ smiles.


Tillie observes bees.

Cannot Seem to Simplify

Kids grow so fast, you cannot keep up with their clothing. I seem to have piles of little outfits everywhere. Some are hand-me-downs from friends that Tillie is not yet big enough for. Some are hand-me-downs from Tillie that Django is not yet big enough for. Then there are the smaller piles of clothes that they have both grown out of and I need to get rid of. You'd think it would be an easy task, but they don't grow out of everything at once. Instead, they subtly grow out of one item, but you aren't quite sure so you put it on them and they look funny all day. I wish it were more formulaic, where I had 10 outfits that fit and that could be retired all at once and replaced by the next 10 outfits. Its not like I've even mastered sorting this out with my own clothing--winter from summer, fatter times from thinner, dressy from casual. I have more clothing than my dresser and closet can hold, but I don't wear all of it. When we lived in Dallas, I had the most glorious walk-in closet. I miss it. I'm not really a clothes horse, but I do like a good place to store the piles.

Yodeleihoo

Which should Tillie take first: guitar lessons or riding lessons? Well, from the looks of it, she needs neither!

Tillie's friend Kate found what must be Tillie's inspiration:

[image from: http://www.hlsr.com/concerts/images/history/autry_gene.jpg]

Diane Tilbus

Tillie took portraits of all the members of her family. She has a certain style, no?

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Mooblie Reviews

Tillie's Oscar Picks:

Today is the day that I get to really nerd out on movies. I just adore the Oscars. I love the challenge of trying to see all the nominated movies before the big day, I love drooling over the red carpet outfits, and I truly love bitching about the results and about how my favorite indy movie got beat by some blockbuster crap. (It is a yearly tradition since the Titanic swept in 1998.)

I managed to see 23 out of the 43 films nominated this year--not my best work, but I get a "good effort" award for having done this while maintaining a full-time job, raising a 2-year-old, and adopting a newborn. Here is my list of nominated movies that I saw and my one line review of each:

Avatar – pretty fluff
Coco Before Chanel – inspiring and chic
Coraline – spooky fun
Crazy Heart – heartbreaking with good tunes
District 9 – awesome, smart, and gross
An Education – smart coming-of-age
Fantastic Mr. Fox – cool, but also too cool
Food, Inc. – horrifying and extremely informative
Harry Potter and Some Guy – dark and dumb
The Hurt Locker – war sucks but this movie doesn’t
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus – dazzling weird-cool (We all miss Heath.)
In the Loop – high-larious and cussy
Julie & Julia – dummy and yummy (Streep was brilliant, though.)
The Last Station – beautiful and sad
Nine – lameness to music (Go see an actual Italian classic instead.)
The Princess and the Frog – fun but formulaic
A Serious Man – seriously interesting and gorgeously shot
Sherlock Holmes – charming adventure with sass and blasts
A Single Man – sad and pretty
Star Trek – cornball adventure with blasts only
Transformers – truly awful
Up – delightful with one truly brilliant scene
Up in the Air – engaging but over-rated

And, because you really came here to see the picture of a cute kid, here is one that Scott took of us and used an iPhone ap to cartoonify: