Mother's Day Special

Why you should never give your small child even one square of chocolate when on public transit:

I believe it's called creative play

Yes, I gave her those lentils. She was nicely sorting them into an egg carton, when the spirit moved her to dump the entire container on the floor and make lentil angels.


Here, some more traditional toddler activity, with the homemade extra-salty playdough (to deter consumption).


And another Iris-chosen outfit:

This week's words include door, bib, a couple things we can not figure out but which are repeated and repeated and then again for good measure ("shark" for fish? have to ask her daycare teachers whether they're doing some sort of ocean unit), and poo. All in all, many exciting topics of conversation here.

Chilling

Yes, that is Iris in a poncho and rain hat sitting in her stroller to watch her show. The outfit, stroller, and show were all her idea.

Arts and Crafts and Dancing!

One morning earlier this week, in the time it took me to get a cup of coffee, Iris did this:


And in the time it took me to say "I-RIS!" she did this:


(Grandparents: that second picture is really worth downloading. Import it into iPhoto and rotate it there. And yes, I tried doing that before posting it.)

Mardi Gras!

Why is Blogger rotating all my pictures?

Note the excellent ear tufts.

Dress-up

This week's words include porch, neigh, caterpillar, fish, snake, mouse, elbow, and coat. Porch and coat figure in the pictures below, in which Iris insisted on putting on her poncho, fleece jacket, and a knit hat and then going out to the porch, where it was about 70 degrees.

Later, she took a very sweaty nap in her poncho and a rain hat.

(I have no idea why these pictures are rotated. Tip your computer to the side, I guess.)

Arts and Crafts

Iris has added a number of new words to her vocabulary in the last week, all about her favorite things - drawing, the park, and eating. Marker, chalk, tree, bubble, and bean. Also car, not entirely sure where that one fits in, but a welcome nonfemale-gendered addition for the baby who loves dolls, dress-up, and little babies. (And bike, bear, and girl, but I have a suspicion she's had bear and girl for a while and we just didn't notice.)

Iris temporarily lost marker privileges for using markers off-paper, but they were reinstated after she started asking for them by name, because really, who can resist that?

(You might need to enlarge the first picture to appreciate how it relates to markers.)




Like all Gen X parents, we make Iris play with the toys of our childhoods. Like old school Seseame Street, the colorforms have been a hit.


Iris enjoys stacking her blocks, especially the green ones. Here, a moment of triumph after a successful balancing act.