Owl + Owl

"It's an owl, just like I'm an Owl!"

At Juniper's preschool, all of the classes are named for birds. This year, she is an owl. This photo is a few months old, taken the weekend before she started school. She was very excited about her new class.

Let me in that bath!

Can you tell which photo is Juniper and which is Hazel?







Hazel's love of bath time is immense and enthusiastic. When we tell her it's time for a bath, she will excitedly and quickly crawl to the bathroom. She bounces and squeaks when she hears the water running and will try to climb into the tub. She helps to get ready by pulling off her shoes and socks and by stepping out of her pants, once we pull them down past her diaper. Once in the tub, she loves all of it--playing in the running water, splashing, kicking, pouring. It's all good.

Juniper's enjoyment of bath time these days is a little more complicated, full of the negotiations that characterize her 3 year old life. Aside from needing a little help reaching the very back of her long hair, she can fully clean herself. Her ability to get clean far surpasses her motivation to get clean. We try to back off and give her the space to do it on her own, with occasional intervention to promote a reasonable bedtime or avoid excessive filth. Sometimes we strike the right balance; sometimes we don't. I'd like to think we're getting better at finding that balance, but the real solution to our occasional bath time dramas probably has more to do with Juniper's maturation than with our parenting skills. I have no doubt that we will get there one day.

And, for the record, the first photo is Hazel; the second, Juniper.

The Dark Knight at Rest

Happy birthday, Hazel

Last Sunday was Hazel's first birthday. She had a fantastic day, though for her the birthday shenanigans were largely incidental.



Over breakfast, we opened a couple of presents that had come in the mail. Hazel was far more interested in her toast.



Those of you who know Hazel well are familiar with the scowl she gives to unfamiliar people. She wasn't quite scowling at the lit candle, but she was definitely a little suspicious of it.



With her public health mom, Hazel's "cupcake" was a sugar free pumpkin muffin sweetened with apple juice and frosted with cream cheese. At first, the muffin didn't seem to register as food. She played with it and smeared the cream cheese, but expressed no interest in eating it.



Once we broke the muffin into smaller pieces, however, she figured out what to do with it and fully enjoyed it. (The next morning at breakfast, when the muffins made their second appearance, she enthusiastically started signing food, food, food!)



Contrary to the photographic record, Hazel did not in fact spend her entire birthday in her high chair. After lunch, she got to play outside for a bit, which is one of her very favorite things to do.



And Kelly read her some birthday books from DeeDee. Reading is another favorite activity, right up there with eating dirt.



All in all, it was a good day.

Hazel is one!

It's hard to believe that she's gone from this:



to this:



Birthday party photos to come soon.

Fun times at the playground

Happy Halloween!

Let there be cuteness!



Not yet walking, Hazel is delightful as a 4-legged creature. You'll have to imagine the cow in motion.



Normally on our blog, we try not to have too many pictures of the same thing...



...but our moderation and good sense have been destroyed by the cute powers of Super Cow...



...and her trusty sidekick, the Green Lantern. (Juniper did christen Hazel Super Cow, but I'm sure she'd insist that Hazel is the sidekick.)



We went trick-or-treating with Juniper's friend Thomas, who got hooked on the "Ghostbustards" at the DragonCon parade.



I think we can safely say that 3 kids, 4 parents, and 1 grandparent all had a good time.



Juniper and Thomas got a lot of smiles, and there were far too many indulgent adults who encouraged them to "take as much as you want to."



Thomas was very excited to come across this house, obviously in need of his services. He dutifully busted the ghost on the front door.



Juniper was excited about the candy but didn't actually eat very much on Halloween night.



For both kids, playtime was obviously far more appealing than candy. (Just don't ask how much candy she ate today, without Thomas to distract her from the loot.)