Parenting from Scratch

When your toddler says her first swear word.

Sadie, Trevor and I were having lunch yesterday at the cafe at my office. Sadie wanted to take over peeling the orange, so I handed it to her. After a few moments, she accidentally dropped it on the ground. “Shit,” she said. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

I looked at Trevor. “Did she just say ‘shit?’” “No, surely that was ‘sit.’ Sadie, sit?”

“Shit.”

Well, you’ve gotta hand it to her, that was impeccable context.

Fortunately, swearing isn’t the only verbal development Sadie’s had in the past couple of months. Her vocabulary is exploding, her grasp of syntax is improving, and it seems like every day she’s got a new phrase.

Sadie do it.
I like it.
I don’t want it.
I need some.
I try it.
Come on, Mama.
Okay, guys, that’s enough. (Where on Earth did she get that one?)
Hear me?
I watch the pig.
A little bit more.
Bye, everybody. (That was today’s.)

We’ve also been up to other, more physical shenanigans. Like these:

A happy birthday, indeed, was had by miss Sadie Diane. We are all wiped out (and still awake, cripes!), so here are just a few phone snapshots for now

I was trying to get Sadie to say, “Kiss me, I’m Irish!” this morning. Instead,
I got two kisses. <3

So, I’ve kind of always had a thing for penguins. I still remember the first time I saw a penguin exhibit. I was 20, and it was at the New Orleans aquarium. They’re just so darn cute. Naturally, I wat totally excited when I had the opportunity to have a special preview of the Laura P. Nichols Penguin Pointe at the Little Rock Zoo.

Penguin Pointe is fantastic, and if you’re in the Central Arkansas area, you should pop in to the Zoo this Saturday (March 5, 10am) for the Grand Opening. Or at least get on down there sometime soon.

Here are a few tidbits about Penguin Pointe:

• The exhibit is designed to allow you to you see the penguins both above ground and underwater. I thought this was awesome. When Sadie and I met up with Stephanie, Sean and Jasper at the Memphis Zoo last fall, Sadie was really into the penguins. But we weren’t able to see them swimming from an underwater perspective. This makes a huge difference.
• As of now, there are a total of 11 penguins living here in Little Rock, and they are all African blackfooted penguins. In the exhibit itself are seven males and two females (one bonded pair so far!). Two additional penguins, Laura ans Skipper, live in their own quarters so they can attend presentations, events and school visits.
• Laura and Skipper are available for educational birthday parties! Yes, please.
• All of the penguins were bred in captivity as part of the Species Survival Plan.
• The African blackfooted penguin is an endangered species, so the Little Rock Zoo is doing its part to help conserve these awesome little creatures.

Just a quick preview of the sweet new penguin exhibit opening at the Little Rock Zoo.

I’m waiting on an info sheet with more details about the penguins and the exhibit, and we’re going to be out of pocket this weekend, so this will have to hold you over.

It’s been pretty quiet around here lately.

I don’t think it’s just me, but I’ve really noticed that there’s quite the dearth of photos of me in existence these days. I’m not super crazy about being photographed, so that’s part of it. I think it’s mostly to do with always being the one holding the camera, while it’s Trevor who holds the baby. Or something like that. So the solution I’ve come up with is to do a series of self portraits for a while. That way I can remember what I looked like. I’m using the Instagram app on my iPhone, and I’ve got it linked to a new Tumblr account, which I’ve added to a page here on this blog (See that, up at the top? Portraits of the Self.). You can look at them if you want. I feel stupid smiling when I take pictures of myself, so expect to see my perma-frown for the most part.

It’s just how my face looks, yo.

In upcoming news, Sadie and I are getting to preview the Little Rock Zoo’s new South African Penguin exhibit tomorrow. We’re supposedly going to get to meet a penguin in person. Hopefully Sadie won’t be too “sceered” of the little penguin and will let me take some cute pictures. I’ll absolutely be posting about it, so tune in!

Having spent three days last week in day care, it’s no surprise Sadie came down with a cold just in time for Super Bowl Sunday. Rather than drag her along to a party an hour away and infect the other wee ones, we decided to haul the TV out, set up a little coffee table spread, and do a little Super Bowl party of our own. Sadie rocked it out till halftime.

Trevor decided to dress Sadie in Packers colors. So, according to her wardrobe options, Sadie's a Green Bay Baby.

Getting into the game.

Attempting to recline. Ha!

Hamming it up for the camera, doing an impersonation of a player wrapping his gloves.

Even Too Big Baby gets in on the Super Bowl action. Like me, she's just watching for the commercials.

Meet Sadie’s new, 7 month-old baby sister, Too Big Baby. Sadie insisted on taking Too Big Baby home with us from my sister’s house Sunday night, and they’ve been attached on my at the hip ever since. This baby is too big! In some ways, it’s hilarious. The adorable sounds Sadie makes when she’s trying to hoist Too Big Baby up when she holds her. How she says, “hebby” when the burden is too great to bear. Let me tell you, though, this is one awkward baby. Trevor and I have both had the joy of carrying Sadie AND Too Big Baby around Sadie’s dark room, because there’s no way Sadie’s putting her down. She’s been hauled to and from the car (Miraculously we’ve been able to convince her Too Big Baby needs to stay in the car for a nap when we’re out around town), fed bottles, read to. I made the mistake of covering Too Big Baby up during Sadie’s “nap” yesterday, only to hear, a few minutes later, desperate cries for HELP! Too Big Baby’s blanket had come off, and Sadie couldn’t get it back right. On the up side, I’ve yet to have to change Too Big Baby’s diaper or nurse her. I don’t know how I’ve managed so long.

Of course this is all tongue-in-cheek (for the most part–she really is big and heavy). It still brings me enormous joy to see my baby caring so much for all of her babies. I do wish she wouldn’t hit them…

And, hey, I guess this kind of gives us some practice for whenever Spawn II comes around.

But, y’all, it’s only Tuesday!

I’ve, uh, been blogging somewhere else. And there’s so much more to do over there. Here are links to the Heifer Blog posts I’ve done about my Africa trip so far. (If you make it to the bottom of the list, you’ll be rewarded with the two funniest photos of me from the trip.)

Biogas/Appropriate Technology

Biogas in Uganda–Any Questions?

Biogas is Important for Rural Women

Biogas is Important for the Environment

Biogas is Important for Rural Children (I made a video!)

Appropriate Technology Keeps Your Hands Clean

Uganda

The Storks of Kampala

The Roads of Uganda

Heifer

Pierre Ferrari Samples Local Yogurt

The Casual Conversations

The Top 5 Reasons Heifer Africa Rocks

Energized and Heiferized

Changing the Way We Look at Rural Development

That's a monkey. About to eat a peanut off of my head.

It is shocking. How huge and thick and slimy a giraffe's tongue is. Shocking.