"I took a nose dive."

Those were Louisa's exact words to her Mimi during a phone conversation. And she was pretty accurate, it appears. To top it off, the night of her playground face plant at school, a mosquito bit her cheek while she slept.

Team Work

I'm at home with Gus on Thursdays also. And like Tuesdays, he makes a mess. All day. And I clean it up. All day. Today we had a break through moment. A real bonding experience. And of course, I had to get it on film.

Tuesdays with Gus

Like our typical Tuesdays, Aimee and Louisa's departure for school leaves me home alone with Gus.

I know today is Aimee's birthday and not mine, so I'm trying really hard to not open the bottle of wine that I got for her. You'll see why:




After cleaning Gus up, I began to work on the floor. I heard a few giggles as he came stumbling down the hallway and I looked underneath the table to see that he attempted to dress himself--in one of Louisa's bathing suits. Before Louisa left for school yesterday, she had a spontaneous "beach party" in which she dragged out all of her bathing suits, hats, toys and my shoes and spread them across a towel on the floor of the TV room.

Aimee's Birthday

Aimee turns 37 years young today. So everyone wish her happy birthday. I quickly made a few pictures of her before she headed off to campus with Louisa. She wasn't happy about it and Louisa was sour that she was being left out of the picture.

The Beloved V-Day

Louisa has been clamoring for a few weeks to rip open her Disney princess Valentine's Day cards. She and Aimee finally started to write them a couple of days ago after receiving a list of classmates and the announcement of a school party. Maintaining interest for about 2 minutes Louisa then decide it more fun to write on other objects--like furniture or August.

With minutes to spare, we finished all of them at 9:07 this morning as Aimee frantically ran about the house preparing for a full day of class. Aimee's first class starts at 9:30.

Louisa enjoys writing her name, save for the "u" and resisted with all of her might the encouragement to do so. This, not making matters any better since she had to get her shoes on, get out to the car and buckled in, along with dragging all of the necessary school items. Gus sat idle in his high-chair mashing blueberries into his mouth and hair and crumbling a heap of Graham Crackers onto the floor.

After their departure Gus decided he also wanted to make a Valentine's Day card. He was pointing and grunting to no end towards the table. I gave him everything from the pepper mill to blueberry and cracker mush that had hit the floor--5 second rule--but nothing made him settled down until he received an Ariel card and marker. His grin would have lit a blackened room.

Flamingo Rodeo

I couldn't restrain myself from purchasing a pair of Don Featherstone plastic molded yard flamingos on eBay. I like tacky things sometimes, so why the hell not. Louisa enjoys them too and even named them princess themed monikers that now escape me.

I took the kids into the backyard to make some pictures for the blog (see I do think about posting) and brought along the flamingos. Louisa dressed herself that afternoon and completed her costume with a crown (her party hat that was skillfully made of a brown paper bag by Grandma Carleen just before Gus' b-day party earlier in the month).

Instead of standing still and posing with the flamingos, Louisa decided to ride them. Once the one had proven too difficult to mount, she decided the other might be easier.

I actually think she got both feet off of the ground on her first attempt. And by the looks of it, she may very well have succeeded.

Potty Time

OK, probably not the best post to start off with, but I couldn't resist. Gus is now one and seems to have gone straight to the terrible twos. He is cute as ever, but boy, what a handful. If he isn't trying to get into the trash, we can usually find him in the cat food or checking out the toilet. Yes, I am proud!

Louisa enjoys being potty trained, which she has been for sometime, but now likes to spend lots of time in the bathroom, just doing her thing. Maybe she has advanced to the grown-up stage of potty time. Good thing she can't do crossword puzzles, we'd never get her out of there.

So here are some photos to illustrate: