A Resounding PLOP (and other assorted snippets)

St. Louis is Melting

We don’t get to play outside much these days. You see…it’s hot. It’s so hot they had to shut down at least one local road to fix buckling asphalt. It’s so hot cooling stations have been set up throughout the city to help folks without access to air conditioning. Basically, it’s too hot to do anything other than look out the window and marvel at how hot it is on the other side of the glass. During the winter months, I think of my Canadian readership with something akin to pity. Today…I would gladly teleport myself northward. Or perhaps I’d teleport them here so I could watch them stagger under the oppressive humidity. Both have their perks.

At the Sound of the Grunt…Run Away!!

I am thankful that my daughter grunts when she poos. This may seem an odd thing to offer thanks for…but I truly do cherish this trait. For one, it offers endless amusement to my wife and I. But more significantly, it kept us from having to rebathe Little Lutine last night.

Norah manically scooted about in the tub, chasing her bobbing toys while splashing great sprays of water onto both her watching parents. She giggles. She screams. And then grows very serious. She hunkers down. She grunts. I spring to action and hoist her from the water as quickly as I can. My reward is a resounding “PLOP” a mere instant after her little feet cleared the water line. Success!! Moonshot howled with laughter and Little Miss, for her part, looked about with confusion, unsure what all the fuss was about. Sure…we had to clean the tub and the toys, but we didn’t have to do it with super speed while distracting a naked baby so that we could resanitize our child.

Thanks for the warning, Norah.


Up, Up and Away

It seems Norah is to become a climber. It was probably inevitable with her father being somewhat of an irrational monkey who looks at the world as his own personal jungle gym. So, while it comes as no shock to find Norah pulling and clawing her way unaided onto the couch…it still fills us with dread. Her reach just keeps gaining height and we have to keep getting more and more clever to keep things out of her reach. But material destruction aside…I’m more than a bit concerned that we’re talking about a child who has yet to learn that head first is not the proper way to exit her parent’s bed. Onto this fearless child has now been bestowed the ability to climb.

I’m considering taking up praying.


So Many Pictures

As good as her word, Stephanie delivered a cd full of pictures from Norah’s birthday party. They are wonderful and beautiful…and overwhelming in their sheer volume. I will try to have them up soon…but between these and the shots Moonshot’s folks left with us…I’ve got some wading to do.

I did manage to post the July pictures up to but not including the party and I’m noticing a trend. She’s getting harder to photograph. She just doesn’t hold still anymore. Once upon a time, you should make a funny noise and capture a cherubic face. Today she runs from one toy to the next and makes it increasingly difficult to capture the cuteness we see on a daily basis. If I’m able to master this…I may have a career waiting for me in sports photography.