Cheese Face

You'd think that I would wipe her face before recording these precious moments...

Frosted Flakes

Tillie had a cupcake at her friend Oliver's 2nd birthday party earlier this month. Or, at least I thought she did. I found the cake part uneaten on the floor later--she had simply eaten the 1.5 inches of frosting. When I say "eaten" I use that term loosely. Really she just mashed if all over her face, shirt, and hands. See Figure 1 below. Zoom out (Figure 2) and you'll see that Oliver managed to get chocolate frosting all over his feet. When is cake not sweet enough for you? When you are two!

Figure 1

Figure 2

New York Adventures

I just got back from a refreshing vacation (solo!) in New York. I took an informal tour of all the chocolate boutiques of Manhattan with the lovely Kharissia. Plus, since my travel adventures must include all things gustatory, you can guess that I also ate many delicious pastries, pastas, salads, risottos, sushis, pizzas, and Chinese soups. I also enjoyed finding great discounts on all the sale racks in Soho.

An exotic highlight of the trip included helping my friend Amy prepare for a ready-to-wear fashion show as part of the New York fashion season in Bryant Park. Not only did I pick up some very useful sewing tips (this season's line included some fabulous jackets, six of which I pinned and pressed into submission), but I got to rub elbows (quite literally because the room was too small) with some fashionista fancy-pantses.

The three days of mad sewing was an adventure in itself, but the actual runway show was an incredible thrill--lasted only about 15 minutes, but what an exciting 15 minutes! Imagine tall, elfin models teetering on stick-like legs with bored expressions, hair frizzed to there, and glowing eye makeup. All around them buzzed the team of black-clad makeup artists, hair stylists, concept designers, producers, dressers, seamstresses, and shoe-putter-oners (my job). While lacing up the $2500 Manolo Blahnik boots (a task that took 20 minutes each), I had take furtive breaths at strategic moments in order to avoid inhaling a cloud of hairspray or bronzing powder. My proudest moment involved the last-minute stitching of a zipper so that it wouldn't spring open and reveal the model's bony butt as she pranced down the catwalk. I even got to yell "Dust!" so that the make-up artist would quickly smudge the pale stitching with brown powder so it wouldn't stand out on the dark skirt. Days of little sleep and backbreaking labor payed off, as I earned a mention in the show's program--please refer to me as Accessory Coordinator from now on.

PS. I do not understand how you can fit the normal allotment of human guts into the narrow body of a runway model--it's a biophysical paradox that I suspect involves some sort of hidden mini-dimension.

Chocolate F(r)iends

Molly Takes Manhattan

Runaway Runway

Cow Girl

I used to get on these same stone cows when I was a kid. Delighting little wranglers for 25+ years and counting...very impressive!

Lunch Lady

A trip to the zoo included feeding the goats. Tillie now wants to hand feed everything and everyone--dogs, cats, neighbor kids...

Frank Talk About Pluto

If you have not been following the Pluto controversy, I highly recommend reading up. No, knowing about it will not affect any part of your day, year, or life. No, ignoring it will not put anyone's lives (or livelihoods even) in danger. However, it is one of those purely intellectual quandaries that make us delightfully human and I don't want you to miss out on it.

The debate also brings to light what science is about and how it can and should affect society and education--but it does so without threatening anyone's religious beliefs, health, or budget. (A la evolution, stem cells, and global warming...) It is a lovely, accessible thought experiment. And, everyone from all walks of life seems to have a strong opinion about it. I am dying to know what Tillie and her generation will have decided in 30 years.

I just read something (old news, well, not even news really) that blew my mind. "Pluto last crossed Neptune's orbit on Jan. 23, 1979, and remained within it until Feb. 11, 1999." (from NASA's website) I had heard this, that Pluto spends 20 years as the 8th planet rather than the 9th planet from the Sun every 250 years--no biggie. However, I didn't realize that this was occurring NOW! (That was "then" of course.) It was happening while I was learning about Pluto!! Pretty much from the time I could understand what a planet was and that there were 9 of them and that they were in a certain order--until the time that I was beginning my career as a textbook editor--Pluto wasn't even where it was I thought it was in the solar system. Nobody mentioned this to me!!!

Why is this little factoid important? Well, if you feel that Pluto's status as a planet hinges on tradition--then perhaps you should consider that Pluto itself completely disregards tradition. He (or is it a girl?) says, "Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally, but my very educated mother just served us pine nuts and NOT nine pickles, at least while I'm on my tropical sesquibicentennial vacation in the sunny part of Neptune's orbit, hah, hah, hah!" What a little imp!

Meanwhile, Tillie shops for a revised poster of the solar system...

Road Trip

I took a quick solo road trip yesterday. I love to drive for a few hours by myself. I used to hate it, but that was when I had more time in my life, more time for thinking and not doing anything. I can't just lay and stare anymore. No time. I could be working, reading, cleaning, child-minding, home-repairing, laundry-folding, show-watching, crafting, catching up on sleep, etc. If possible, I should be doing two of these things at once, which means no thinking. The great thing about driving is that you can't do anything else at the same time. You are not tempted to multitask. You can only think. Just in time, too--the old mind files needed a good dusting.

Splitzville

Reasons to Adopt:
You don't have to be pregnant.
You have a choice when it comes to the health of your child.
It is the ultimate low-carbon footprint.
You are helping a woman and a child who are very likely desperate.

Reasons Not to Adopt:
It is very expensive.
It is a lot of red tape, emotional strain, and effort. (Wait, this might go word-for-word in the first list!)
Governments, adoption agencies, and passersby will put you through the wringer, judge you, reject you, and make you feel inadequate.
People you will meet or already know will have issues with the genetics, race, and politics associated with your choice for the rest of your life and your kid's life.

Other thoughts:
I was going to put something about prenatal care concerns under "not to adopt" but then I realized that I still had those as a birth mother. You always wonder if all that coffee and wine you drank as a preggie had some lasting effect on your kid.

Also, I gave up long ago on the good genes/bad genes worries, when I realized that any biological kid of mine is more likely than an adopted kid to have depression, obesity, alcoholism, and myopia in his/her DNA.

I can't help wondering (with great excitement) if the kid we might adopt in the next year or two is alive yet...

Mariposa

Recently picked up Tillie at daycare and she was wearing this butterfly costume:

Ewrphans

I just recently finished a craft I started last fall--three stuffed elephants for Tillie--they are so cute! (I blogged about making them as gifts for kiddos last Christmas--just never got around to finishing the ones I cut out for my own daughter.)

Tillie loves elephants, which she calls "ewrphans." This sounds a lot like orphans, which I've had on my mind lately. I would like to adopt one. If you have any suggestions--like especially if know of someone who is wanting to give up their kid for adoption--please send them my way.

I spoke with a couple of adoption agencies in town and they said they would not accept a couple who is fertile. After much boohooing and feeling how unfair that was, I matured about 20 years (from an emotional age of 2) and realized perhaps being fertile is quite lucky and maybe I should stop my whining. Next realization: there are not enough unwanted infants or desperate pregnant women in America for all the adopting parents out there--this is a good thing. So, this means we will have to go international.

For the first time in my life I wished I knew more pregnant teens and/or unfit/poverty-stricken mothers. Again, please keep an eye out for those for me.

Occupation

Ug, work is painful this month--feels more like a military occupation of my brain and I'm a rebellious local. How does one get a better attitude about it? Sometimes I wish I had a boss to keep me in line and check my morale. I could also blame him or her for all of my problems.

Will Tillie be a firefighter or a librarian when she grows up?

Plate-Letting

I donated platelets today in honor of a friend who is needing them. Too bad I can't fedex my particular bag of life juice directly to her. Hopefully, there is some sort of domino effect with my giving blood causing a line of people giving blood to cascade in her direction all the way to Houston. Still, it feels good to give something, and it has the added bonus of being a futuristic, science-infused endeavor. I find blood chemistry fascinating! (By the way, did you know that the inventor of the blood bank was an African American? Charles Drew. These are the kinds of things that we textbook writers file away for future reference.)

The lady at the blood bank said that she had me down as last giving in 1994. Yikers--I was 19 then! So young, so generous. What happened to me over the next 14 years that I didn't give blood again? Why does it take a personal friend going through hell for me to hike it over to the blood bank? Please check back in with me and see if I've turned over a new leaf and made this a regular thing--preferably sooner than 14 years from now.

More busy baby vacay pics:

Old Biddies

Ug, I just dropped Tillie off at daycare in a mismatched, stained, wrong-weather outfit with shoes that don't fit, a bag of apples because we ran out of her favorite (bananas), and throwing the worst tantrum because she wanted to stay home. Plus she has a horrible yellow-brown bruise on her head from falling down last week, which really just tops off the neglected child look. It felt awful. I mean, I know what Mondays are like. How do you explain them to a two-year-old?

Oh sweet vacation, how I miss thee...

Can't you just tell what these two are going to be like in 80 years?!

Splashy Maddy

Cousin Madz likes a good splash:

Motor Mouth

Tillie did not say a word on her first motor boat ride with Uncle Mike. However, Little Miss Chatty would not shut up the whole rest of the trip!

PS. Life vests must be tasty.

Vacay Vids

Tillie meets an infinite number of Tillies:


Excitement at the Cincinnati Aquarium:
(When Tillie visits the aquarium, she sprints from exhibit to exhibit, spends no longer than 30 seconds at each one, and screams "Fishies!" the whole time.)


Stop, Hammer Time (complete with dance):


Refreshing sprinkler fun:

Monkey See

The Tilminator saw some little girls at the playground hanging from a bar and had to give it a try. She has officially reached a new stage of cute/annoying. If she is not copying everything you do, she's bossing you around officiously.

Staying Cool

Taking cues from the dogs, Tillie uses her tongue too.

Rough Day at the Sand Mines

Shew--operating a back-hoe is tough work!

Fortunately, union workers get a 15-minute snack break--barely enough time for these hamsters to stuff their cheeks with fruit.

Brushing 101