Laundry Basket Puzzle

She did eventually figure it out.

Welcome to consumer culture

Now that Juniper is three, she has started getting a weekly allowance of $3.00. $0.50 is for saving; $0.50 is for sharing (donating); and the remaining $2.00 is for spending. So far, I think Juniper has lost more than half of her spending money. We're working with her to come up with a system that will allow her to access her money, but still have a specific special place to keep it where it won't get lost.


For her very first purchase, we took her to the used comic shop. I was able to talk her out of "Spiderman Loves Mary Jane" and steer her back to actual superhero comics, but unfortunately she didn't take the bait on "Her-oes: the Women of Marvel."



She was very proud and excited to make the actual transaction. (And, thankfully, the salesperson was very nice and there wasn't anyone else waiting.)

Coming soon to a runway near you

If superhero and astronaut don't work out, I think she's got real potential as a fashion designer.

Open wide

Juniper helps her cousin Luke eat his breakfast.

That's my name

Today at lunch we realized that Hazel knows her name! Call out "Hazel," and she will turn her head to you, smile, and make eye contact. Call out some other word (potato, cucumber, hot dog) in the same singsong baby voice, and she does not react.

All good things...

...must come to an end. Today was my first day back at work after a wonderful, 6-month maternity leave. I'm lucky to work in such a family-friendly office; many people would not get a positive response if they went to their supervisors and said, "I'd like to take 6 months off when I have my baby. And then I want to come back just three days a week." I'm still envious of the more generous parental leave policies of most other countries, but that's another topic entirely. Most of all, I'm grateful for my two happy, healthy girls and for my supportive partner who never hesitated in making my long maternity leave a priority for our family.

Hazel had a terrific day with Aaron. We were worried that she might have a rough time without me for the full day. Despite repeated attempts, she has never taken to a bottle. We've tried different types of bottles, different milk temperatures, different positions, even spoon feeding her. Nope, nope, nope. Today after her morning nap, she took her first bottle like she'd been doing it for months - no fuss, no problems. She ate well throughout the entire day, which was a relief for both of us. Three naps, lots of happy play time. All in all, a very good day.

Overall pretty similar

Seven weeks is not such a big difference. Luke is far more mobile (crawling AND cruising) and more advanced at peek-a-boo type games, but they are already about the same size. They both smile and babble and sit, though Luke doesn't like to sit still. It won't be long before they are both crawling around the house getting in to anything we are foolish enough to leave within their reach.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Rockstar

Last week Juniper's preschool had a potluck picnic, with musical accompaniment from one of the dads. In good preschool fashion, there's a mic at kid height. During one song break, Juniper blew us away by unexpectedly, and quite seriously, striding up to the microphone and belting out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She needed no prompting or encouragement, just a guitarist who was willing to keep up.

Perhaps one of these days Aaron and I will stop being so amazed by the boldness of childhood. No fear, no hesitation, just the simple idea that singing as loudly and clearly as you can in front of a big crowd seems like a fun thing to do.

Sittin' pretty

We realized with Juniper (and Violet) that milestones can happen in very different ways. Some have a definitive start date, while others just sort of creep up on you--a slow growth in ability that gradually turns into a new skill. I couldn't tell you exactly when Hazel went from almost sitting to actually sitting, but it was sometime in the past week or so.

And now she sits. Hurrah! Welcome to the start of the head bonking year, my love.

Where's Juniper?

Alternate title: How to entertain a preschooler at a restaurant.

On a completely unrelated note, Juniper and Aaron were playing a very simplified version of Yahtzee this evening. At one point, Juniper very seriously informed him, "In Ancient Greece, they just called it Yaht."

Good night, sleep tight

Most nights, Juniper falls asleep reading. It's heartwarming to wander in an hour or so after bedtime and find her curled up with Hippo, her encyclopedia propped up before her closed eyes.

5 months

Hazel with her elf ears.



Juniper with her jack-o-lantern nostrils.

Stars - they glow!

Depending on your monitor, you may need to click on the photo and get the larger version to see what Juniper is up to (pun intended).

Hide and Seek

These days, Juniper is interested in playing hide and seek, but she's still got a ways to go before she has truly mastered the game. She will often announce where she is going to hide, and she sometimes gets agitated if I start counting too soon: "don't count until I'm hiding!" Most endearing of all is her complete inability to imagine the scene from the other person's point of view. She knows that you can hide behind trees, but it doesn't occur to her that she needs to hide on the opposite side of the tree, away from the seeker. During a recent hide and seek game, I opened my eyes after counting, and this is what I saw:

In the Tent

Hazel grasps...



...while Juniper wiggles and flames.



Juniper actually got TWO tents for her birthday. They are obviously from people who know her well; she loves playing in both of them. We've designated one for inside and one for outside, which seems to maximize playing opportunities while minimizing mess. Hazel, Juniper, and I had a fun time in the inside tent yesterday. As you can see in the video above, Hazel spent much of her time intently focused on one of door flap ties. She also enjoyed some nice, frantic kicking. At one point, I was outside the tent and looked down to see one fat, flailing leg sticking out of the tent window.

Near the end of Juniper's video, she makes a comment about a Flame On book. She got a wonderful treat at school yesterday. A few weeks ago, when they were learning about the sun, they did some paintings in Juniper's ideal color palette: reds, oranges, and yellows. Her teacher often turns the kids' art into books, and she made these sun paintings into book that could not be more perfect for Juniper. The full text of the book is approximately as follows:

Cover - What time is it?
Pg. 1 - It's time to FLAME ON.
Pgs. 2-7 - It's time for [child's name] to FLAME ON.

Each kid had a page, and when Shannon read the child's name, it was her turn to run flaming around the classroom. The kids all loved the activity, especially Juniper (who was conveniently wearing her new flaming costume from Janet).

Just yesterday

Violet and Juniper entertain themselves with the junk mail. Insert preferred sentimental cliche about the rapid passage of time and fleeting nature of childhood.
(Photo taken October, 2008)

Among the Buttercups

Spring is in glorious full season here in Atlanta. We recently went for a walk along the Chattahoochee River. The natural beauty started right next to the parking lot, which is where we found this lovely field of buttercups.



The whole time Janet was here, Juniper pretty much only had eyes (and ears and hands) for her. DeeDee did all baths, naps, and bedtimes and was Juniper's constant companion. At one point, Juniper was on the verge of a temper tantrum when I found her missing shoes: "But I wanted DeeDee to find them!!!"



On a few nature walks, we've talked with Juniper about the role of fallen trees. A newly fallen tree conveniently located next to an old rotten tree gave us a great visual aid for this discussion.



Thanks to Janet for snapping the rare photo of all four of us!

Sushi

After reading Aunt Katie's My First Sushi Book, Juniper was very excited about going to a sushi restaurant for the first time. (So was Sally, after staying away from raw fish while pregnant!)



She liked it! (Especially the shrimp.)

Henry's first visit

Cheryl, Jason, Violet, and Henry recently came for a visit. Jason was coming for work, and it was Violet's spring break, so they decided to bring the whole family along on the work trip. We wish that Jason more often had work bring him and his family to Atlanta.



We enjoyed seeing all of them and were delighted to meet Henry. He's everything a baby should be--cute, snuggly, and full of squeaky noises. As a bonus, he's also mild mannered and mellow.



The girls had a great time playing together. Making jam squares at Nana and Dzaidzi's was a particularly fun activity.



Leaping Lizards ("the bouncy place") was also a big hit.



When they needed a brief rest from the running, bouncing fun, the chalkboard was a nice break.



Check out Aaron's website for more jam squares, Leaping Lizards, and lots of portraits of the kids.

Fly-away Luke

Neverending Birthday

Juniper's birthday just keeps on going. Janet (AKA DeeDee) arrived in town on Saturday for a week-long visit. Saturday night before bed, Juniper got part 1 of her present from Janet: a superhero quilt. Juniper was delighted. She insisted on removing all other bedding and carefully smoothing the quilt down on top of the bed. She did later consent to have her pillows UNDER the quilt. She was very clear that NOTHING was to go on top of the superhero quilt.

(Aaron is especially pleased that the mixing of DC and Marvel characters clearly indicates to anyone in the know that this must be a homemade item. Janet's just sorry she couldn't find any Fantastic 4 fabric.)



Between Janet's arrival and her excitement over the quilt, Juniper was pretty keyed up long past bedtime. Thankfully, the promise of reading her "Superman" library book lured her into bed. It was a cool night, so Janet tried to convince Juniper to get under the quilt. She briefly gave it a try, but was immediately agitated by how that rumpled the quilt. Back on top. After Juniper was soundly asleep, we ducked in to cover her up with a blanket.



Sunday morning, Juniper got part 2 of her superhero birthday gift: a flaming-on Johnny Storm costume. She was flaming with joy.



Juniper-Johnny flaming on in an igloo on Pluto. (At least I think that was what was going on here.) That's one happy superhero kid. Kudos to DeeDee for making the best superhero birthday presents ever.

Yes?

You called? I'm all ears...and eyes.

She's babbling up a storm and loves "talking" with her mom, dad, and big sister. This evening Aaron discovered that her hips are ticklish. Very, very ticklish. Unstoppable-gales-of-laughter inducing ticklish. Life with Hazel is pretty darn good. Or, as Jason would say, "If this isn't nice, then what is?"

Super Duper

Two capes, glasses, and goggles. Yep, that's our girl.

Lucky Hazel

Hazel is really lucky to have such a great dad...



...and such a great big sister.




Not pictured here, but she's also lucky to have her aunt Katie. Slackers that we are, Aaron and I would have spent months meaning to get her one of these bouncers, and then given up the idea once she was past the appropriate age for it. Once she knew we were interested, Katie just called us from the consignment store and asked us if we were ok with paying $7.50 for a bouncer. As you can see, it was $7.50 very well spent.