Profiling Cute

Posted on January 17, 2007 by Natalie

Two words: Crawl. Ing.

Posted on January 12, 2007 by Natalie

For the past couple of months, Porter’s method of getting from point A to point B involved a convoluted form of what could only be described as â€œrollingâ€. It went something like this: Heâ€™d start in a sitting position. Then heâ€™d maneuver himself onto his hands and knees. Then heâ€™d straighten out his legs so that his body formed an inverted â€˜Vâ€™. Then heâ€™d flop back over to a sitting position. And, voila! He had moved about six inches in any direction. Not exactly a method that was going to set any land speed records, but it got the job done to his satisfaction. That is, until he made loving eye contact with the catfood dish. Neither Hell nor high water was going to prevent him from answering it’s haunting call.

He’d call to it from across the room. He’d lay on his belly and attempt to air-swim towards it. He’d attempt to maneuver closer by executing his patented “rolling” method, but short it of sprouting legs and walking to him, nothing was going to bring those two together. As we neared our departure for the Christmas holiday, he and his beloved were still separated by a sea of linoleum.

And so it was that on December 28th, heady off the aroma of Christmas, our little McGoo officially started crawling.

Within a few short hours of being home, we had to fish a handful of catfood out of his mouth, and then caught him gnawing on the plug of the dining room lamp (that he had so masterfully released from the confines of the outlet). For reasons we cannot yet figure out, the bathroom seems to call to him like no other room in the house. It is as though he has developed an extra sense that immediately alerts him whenever we have been careless enough to not bolt it shut. Same goes with the laundry room – or, as I am sure he calls it: That Beautiful Place Where the Golden Delicious Nuggets From Heaven Are Kept.

Staying true to my long string of desparate acts as a mother, I figured out a way to use his obsession with grazing from the catfood bowl to my advantage. By simply replacing the catfood with a bowl of dry cereal, I am able to keep him happily occupied during those times where I might otherwise be trying to keeping one child from diving headfirst into the toilet and the other from covering herself head-to-toe in Band-Aids.

A new low, you say? Need I remind you that I am the same person who pays my child to wear her clothes?

The most beautiful gift

Posted on January 10, 2007 by Natalie

This year’s Christmas holiday had us on the road for 14 days. While gone, we did rounds to both the Anderson and Walston households, took a side trip to the Walston Cabin, and then Steve and I took a mini-trip to Las Vegas. You could say that we are crazy, or you could just chalk it up to plain old garden-variety, family-related holiday travel. When it comes to holidays and family, this is just what you do.

Each year, Christmas with Stella gets more and more fun. This year was the first year that the concept of Santa even registered on her radar. I’m still not sure that she completely understands how the whole puzzle fits together, but she was an excellent sport about playing along. I may actually take her to see Santa next year – but no promises. Uncle Scott even made her some reindeer food to sprinkle out on the front yard. (It was made of oats and glitter and was consumed – in entirety – by Lily who then left beautiful and sparkly presents all over the lawn the next day.)

Although we received many, many wonderful gifts, one of the most touching moments of my entire Christmas season was receiving a bag full of hand-made gifts from Stella. When I went to pick her up at school on the last day before break, she excitedly handed me a blue gift bag with a little note attached addressed to Mommy and Daddy. As we were walking out to the car, she excitedly explained to me how she had wrapped them all by herself with paper and tape. Her enthusiasm and genuine excitement in explaining that these were her Christmas presents to us immediately made my eyes start to water.

I have always remembered something Annie once said about her mom. “I could have handed her a stick, and she would not only tell me how much she loved it, but that it was the most beautiful stick she had ever seen. And she’d mean it.” After meeting her mom, I have no doubt this is absolutely true.

Later that night, as we opened all of our gifts to each other, Stella ceremonially presented us with her little blue bag. Inside were two small balls of tissue paper bound together with about 6 feet of scotch tape. In the paper we found a small, decorated baby-food jar with colorful paper glued all over it and a tea light inside, an orange studded with cloves, and a little yellow fleece scarf. “Look Mommy, I made these for you and Daddy. Do you like them?”

To which, I said, “They are beautiful. I love them.” And, with all of my heart, I couldn’t have meant it more.

(click on photo to see entire set)

Winter Wonderland

Posted on January 10, 2007 by Natalie

The trip to the cabin went something like this: Stella, this is snow. Snow, this is Stella. I am sure you will both be fast friends.

I have always remarked that I think Stella was born with an impaired fear instinct. As in, she seems to fear nothing but the vacuum cleaner, the hand-vac and the hairdryer. Snarling dog? Doesn’t phase her. Careening down a hill on a toboggan? Bring it. She even went so far as to get mad when the afternoon snow got too slushy to provide adequate speed. I fear she is going to head into her adult life with a dirty house, bad hair style and as a career contestant on Fear Factor.

Building a snowman was a fleeting pass-time until she could once again go out front and scale the snow-mountain that had been created at the end of the snow-plow route. She scoffed at the steps that were loviningly carved into it by her doting Gramps, and opted to scale the opposite side like an arctic mountain goat.

And don’t even get me started on the pleasure she took in getting free reign to throw snow at anyone who would come within 10 feet of her.

As an added benefit, Stella’s need to leave no snowflake unturned provided Porter with ample opportunity to indulge in his favorite pass-time: watching his sister.

As for photos, yes there were many, but here are some of my favorites…