Zoralee around the house

a perk of whole body dish washing: instant skin-flavored drinking water

getting an early jump on baby-wearing -
(I guess going shirtless makes breast-feeding a cinch)

urban rock climbing

breakfast on the porch


helping Papa make coffee -
(I bought a cute fabric to cover over Spiderman, but I dunno. He has grown on me. Zoralee says he's going potty, and I can't really argue with that.)

This is a brilliant Montessori idea - put tape on the floor in a shape that gives the child a target (M's big into letting kids help around the home, with child-sized tools). Honestly, I put most of those buttons inside the square myself...with the adult broom I accidentally left in the shot. Doh. But Z's still too young to handle the broom well, and I've been itching to try this.

A trick we learned from my mom is to give a kid their food as raw as possible, or, ironically, as packaged as possible. Anything they have to undo themselves keeps them busy and gives them dexterity practice. Plus, at meals, they're at the table longer, with more chances of eating bites! Zoralee loves to pick out each pea with her teeth or fingers.

"Watch cartoons" is a new favorite phrase, now that we have a TV. Isn't there something wrong about her long-day-at-work look in that first shot? And that was first thing in the morning! Although, for somebody of Zoralee's energy levels, a little laying around never hurts. It sure lets me have a breather. I can't BELIEVE how fast-paced television is these days. Commercials are irrationally loud and numerous. We decided to do Netflix, which we can watch instantly online. The only thing I'm cool with is Dora the Explorer, because it's slow and educational, and the lead character wears a backpack and consults a map during each adventure. Right on! But the artwork is super chinsy. Program suggestions, friends?