Category Archives: kiddie-do

friday reads

Posted in Kiddie Hangouts, kiddie-do by

so my job is pretty awesome. i get to hang out with a brother + sister band:

they do this cool trick in the middle of the set where they change instruments

they’re really good and gonna make it big time someday.

that’s my friday in a nutshell. speaking of friday, here’s some things to read:

Dear Baby Blog’s post and discussion about birth in the united states this day and age.

husband turned me on to large hearted boy. a good summation of music-ing and book-ness.

and lastly, my good friend meg posted this this week and i loved it. we should all be more like ben franklin. or maybe not according to this short.

cincinnati or bust???

Posted in it's cool to school, kiddie-do, parenting apparently? by

here’s our day:

all three key players loaded into car. only one of us has egg on her face: success!

arrive at beautiful cincinnati museum center: success!

take in some architectural elements: success!

explored exhibits: success!

deliciousness at our lunch spot discovery servatii: success!

and, as always, a little silliness: success!

i’m reminding myself of the successes of the day b/c a good portion of the second half was a total bust. no rest for the weary girl. no rest for the weary parents. behavior issues from toddler caused behavior issues from parents. okay, just from me. and why does she insist on having a full force surge of independence show down every single time we’re in a parking lot? it’s all trivial stuff in the long run but by the end of the day i wanted to bang my head against the backseat window. oh yeah, did i mention i had to ride smushed in the backseat with wild child while the ikea purchase took up most of the room in the car? i’m sorry to complain but i’m trying to poke fun at the chaos more than anything. also it’s my writing so ICanDoWhatIWant!

despite the pitfalls, we discussed with jubilant enthusiasm (jubilant i tell you!) returning another day and time. we only scratched the surface of all that the cincinnati children’s museum has to offer. and with our reciprocal museum membership we have no excuses.

a narrative of pictures

Posted in kiddie-do, love and happiness by

here’s mikey’s first week home in pictures. we’ve been up to a lot lately. A LOT OF LOVE, that is.

watercolors with daddy. she has a hard time sticking to her own canvas. momma knows what you’re going through, darla. oh momma knows.  i have a hard time with that too.

on to our coffee house breakfast. i call this one “darla with a butter packet.” gotta admit i don’t think this is gross. wonder where she gets it from?

love seeing that face over coffee

and there’s me. i’m seeing generations of genes on both sides in this picture.

 there’s darla’s indignation after we took her 3rd tootsie roll away to be saved for later

this is why we buy in bulk

yes, she insisted on wearing her tutu to gymnastics. yes, she was very excited about that blow pop. a man at our dry cleaners gives her one every time we go in just because she’s cute. this didn’t really do much help with my “don’t take candy from strangers” lessons.

 mike doing curls with darla inside our laundry bag. i swear she asks begs for this to happen. don’t call CPS

and now for lady date sequence:

my drink: the salty dog. i like my drinks how i like my man

yay for gal pals

it’s the pits. i like my snacks like my drinks and my man

what happened to bobby fischer?

hey, um, you left your broom down at the courthouse. were you sweeping up justice?

and the best part of the week: mike and i had not one but TWO date nights this week. shuhhup! yah we did! and i got a lady date so i’ve barely had to be a parent this week.

so we went for drinks at betty’s and then dined at rigsby’s where we made lots of sexy looks at each other like this

and come hither looks like this

sorry about the lighting in these but it was one of those way too sensual for lights kinda places.

that’s what i captured for posterity. looking forward to more weeks like this one.

it’s a family affair

Posted in kiddie-do, love and happiness by

our first day back together. i gotta say it felt pretty damn good. i cried. a lot…only in the morning, though.

first, lunching at the big happy greek

then onto visiting our creature friends at the ohio wildlife center open house

one is fantastic and one is my spirit animal. can you guess which is which?

guess what? i get to be in pictures again. yippee!!!! i’m happy that these photos highlight my highlights. i got my hair did hours before mike returned. thanks again to jenna and cole for making this magical hair day a possibility. oh yeah back to my family…

the wildlife center was a pretty rad place. now i’m happy that the middle aged volunteer we ran into at mozart’s bakery talked our ear off about the place a few months back. my personal favorite was meeting wendell, the narcoleptic woodchuck. oh and seeing darla and mike together in the woods. that made me feel shades of laura ingalls wilder. we’ll be returning again in futures near and distant.

B day celebration

Posted in it's cool to school, kiddie-do, parenting apparently? by

no annual milestone over here, just our letter of the day. and what a B-eautiful day it was, too.

we started of course with breakfast of bread and butter and berry yogurt

it was at this point in the meal that my daughter jumped up and ran out of the room yelling “oh i forgot something.” she returned 20 seconds later wearing her ruby slippers. only her ruby slippers. she stripped out of her sleeper and put on a pair of buckle shoes in a speed that is going to make me very frustrated then next time it takes me 18 minutes to get her in or out of an outfit.

i think she took B day literally and so wearing her birthday suit was entirely appropriate. 

after getting dressed with a lot of attention paid to the letter B – braid with a blue hairband, boots and a birdie shirt we hopped on cordelia and biked to the audubon center for bird learnin’. hence the appropriateness of the bird shirt.

i know i post about the audubon park a lot but it’s by our house and is really a beautiful, magical place. this town does a great job with it’s parks. here’s our little bird watcher.

using the binoculars (the wrong way) to spot what she says is a “jerry bird.” huh?

and there he is. just imagine my sugar sweetness congratulating her for being able to spot an 8 FT PAPER MACHE GULL. ohhh, i laugh at life.

in the center we: read books about birds, bats, bugs, butterflies blah blah blah. visited the salvaged art butterflies which are still holding up with original coolness factor and did some of the center activities testing different bird beak designs.

we discovered a new room with lots of grand activities including bird and butterfly costumes seen here as well as a simulated climbing tree biosphere complete with root system too.

but the greatest resource discovered at the audubon park today….

BIG KIDS

i have previously noticed the magnetic pull that exists between pre-teen/teenage girls and toddler girls – probably toddler boys too but i don’t have as much experience with that. darla first adopted this group of homeschool kids and they were impressed that she knew words such as “audubon,” and  “insect.” i think they were most impressed by her cowgirl boots, though. they then adopted her and entertained her for 15 whole minutes. i ate and entire apple in peace!  all three were jumping, hand in hand, from atop this fire pit thingy, pretending to be birds and chanting “we fly so high in the skyyyyy!” it was very cute and gave me hope that one day darla, too, will grow into a lovely pre-teen and give a weary mother a break by bossing her toddler around for her. thanks again, universe.

ruby tuesday

Posted in kiddie-do, love and happiness by

someone is now obsessed with all things dorothy and ruby and wizardy and ozzy. this was the best i could do to appease her fashion desires of looking the part of dorothy gale. i now also hear a lot of “lions and tigers and bears. oh my!” around the house. i gotta say that i’m having a ball getting reacquainted with the wizard myself.  revisiting past loves with my child = cryfest.

dear salty sailor,

Posted in kiddie-do, parenting apparently? by

ohhh man we did some STUFF this week. check it.

we zoo-ed it.

she likes to wear you clothes just as much as i do.

new artings at the library. she said she was inspired to draw so she did.

discovered some gnarly, antique doors in our hood. i told her they were secret doors.

she noticed this root system at the schiller park playground grown in a circle. decided this is where gnomes and faeries have dinner together.

in which she discovers a spider’s web, touches it then freaks out b/c it’s on her hand

nom nom at the north market + our treats for being good. she had the little girl and i had the dog dressed as a pig. japan, you so crazy!

you just go ahead and run it out, you crazy lunatic

these last two are at highbanks metropark in the natural play area. this is the best sycamore tree i’ve ever seen, said sycamore featured on the right. i asked darla to pose in front of it and she laid down on the ground and rolled around like a dog. she’s special.

a word on highbanks metropark: they have these little shelter houses that have fireplaces in them. i don’t care how cold it gets, when you get home you will take me there and darla too. you will build me a fire in one and you will like it. you will woo me with your manly survival skills and we will sit in front of that fire whilst darla goes buck wild at the nearby playground. i will probably have some yarn and a darning needle in my hand but i won’t be using them. they are just props b/c that is what a lady is supposed to hold in front of a fire.

that is all.

i can’t even keep track of all the funny stuff she says anymore and i’m getting lazy b/c you’re almost here so i don’t wanna. i feel that way about chores around the house. it’s like i think you’re already here so i don’t want to do it on my own but ‘taint the case.

i do remember that she has figured out how to be three people at one time instead of just two: toddler approaches. tugs on my shirt to signal that my attention is needed. says “mom, i’m mai pretending to be gumby” and then bounds off. i am very frightened for the future at this point.

you missed a pretty magical first for darla’s life – her first viewing of the wizard of oz. i would give anything to have captured the look on her face when dorothy opened the front door to reveal oz and all its vivid splendor. darla’s eyes grew saucerlike and she gasped. she then sat enraptured. if i had known it was going to be that spectacular i would have waited for you to be home before we watched it. also, I FREAKING LOVE JUDY GARLAND.

well i better sign off so i can write you a honey-do email so you know what you’re going to do when you get home.

i love you more than cheese.

wife former fwife

sunday funday

Posted in kiddie-do, love and happiness by

i meant to post this picture update earlier in the day but we were busy with adventures.  the motto for this s’ennight could have been attention to detail. we made lots of new discoveries- secret old doors in the neighborhood, odd trees, new parks and playgrounds. learning is getting more comprehensive. such as when i show her the veins running through the leaves and then compare them to the veins in our wrists. she understands they serve the same purpose in both beings – the transfer of oxygen and nutrients. at least she understood for 2 minutes. it has probably floated away, out of her brain by now but FOUNDATIONS ARE BEING LAID! i am an educating force to be reckoned with. cackle cackle cackle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway here are some of my favorite pictures from our outings.

OhYeahandI’mHereToo