Ahh, Makes me Think of Crazy Days of Youth, Fearless

FRAMED-Andi Wittmann Rider profile from Felix Urbauer on Vimeo.
SHOULD BE VIEWED as FULL SCREEN! 

Lil' Mister Curious aka our Owen

For the Love of Kitty Kats ~ #18

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece."

-Leonardo DaVinci

Eat Your Veggies!

I've smothered 'them' in cheese, I've hid them in flaky pastry, and I've dipped 'em in every dip imaginable and in every delectable cream sauce there is. Nonetheless, our Jellybean, who used to love broccoli and peas and carrots and sweet potatoes as a baby, alas, she will not eat her veggies... She's sick tonight, waking every 30-40 minutes, so I'm up, researching "toddlers eating veggies" - - somehow I don't think this is gonna cut it:

http://youtu.be/KmjLqddPqZQ

18 Months Old: Part I of II

This post was left in my 'DRAFTS', untouched since October 1st, 2010. Yeah.  Although it was never finished and it's a little over a year since it'd been written, it's initial subject should still be dealt with, even a year + later...

It's time to get something out of the way officially... before I continue gushing about just how cute my 18 month old daughter is!

Over the past few months, I've come to realize many of our out of state family and friends who follow my blogging have mistakenly come to believe 'baby sweet potato girl' or the simplified 'sweet potato' is the active nickname we use at home for our lil' girlie, when we do not, not at all. So, from now on, I'll refer to her as my "Jellybean," capitalized to give it proper noun status.

EXPLANATION FOR THIS CHANGE AND THE HISTORY INVOLVED: First of all, I don't want family to feel embarrassed if and when they refer to our girlie using 'sweet potato' and we respong looking utterly perplexed. Secondly, our 'baby sweet potato girl' is no longer a baby. She has become a fledgling toddler, amping up her new found running skills and talking up a storm, adding new words to her spoken vocabulary, all on a daily basis. Originally "baby sweet potato girl" came from a sonogram appointment, during which we were told our babe inutero was about the size of a sweet potato.  This size reference stuck as a nickname, but only here in the blogosphere has it been used beyond the mere 2-3 weeks our babe was of sweet potato size. At home, our 'baby sweet potato' is instead known by a variety of nicknames, like Punky, Boo-Boo, Sweets, and most frequently, with the greatest adoration, "Juli-bean," spoken much like 'jellybean' but with the 'J' pronounced as it would be if speaking with a French accent... spoken like the French word "jous" and the 's' is silent there, those strange Frenchies and their silent word-ending consonants.

Back to now, October 17, 2011: After writing the above explanation (that was written over a year ago - - oh, did I mention that part already?), I never continued with the rest of the post, which was meant to go on and on and on about how awesome my lil' babe was at 18 months of age.  She is now 2 n' a 1/2 yrs old, and she's only gotten unbelievably more awesome over the past year. I could go on and on and on, as to how unbelievably awesome she is. Have I ever mentioned how awesome my lil' Jellybean is?

Her Latest Top Ten - Keep in Mind, She's only 2 n' a Half Years Old

My toddler's latest Top Ten List, her most favorite song(s) listed first:

1) Firework by Katy Perry TIED NECK N' NECK with the cover of Sing by Pink Martini - - If you ask her for her favorite song, just one, she'll tell you both 'Firework' and 'Sing,' every time.
2) Bad Romance by Lady GaGa - - Both my honey-man and I, we cannot believe how much she enjoys this song.
3) Here It Goes Again by OkGo TIED NECK N' NECK with Always on My Mind by The Pet Shop Boys
It should be noted that the first time she heard 'Here It Goes Again,' she interrupted the song about 30 seconds into it, yelling at me from her car sear, very frustrated, telling me that "They're singing too much! Too many words, momma! I don't know what he's saying momma! What's he saying!?!"
4) Hot n' Cold by Katy Perry - - She calls this Katy's Elmo song, having seen on YouTube Katy Perry's Sesame Street spoof of Hot n' Cold with Elmo. 
5) Rolling in the Deep by Adele - - For now, this one barely has an edge over Adele's Rumor Has It...
6) Rumor Has It by Adele - - Lots of head banging and sing-along for this one. 
7) Monster by Lady GaGa - - To ask for this one, she says, "Momma, I want 'That Boy is a Monster' please?"
8) Victor Vito by Laurie Berkner
9) Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles
10) Twinkle Little Star by Jewel

NOTE:  "Mayor John" is no longer listed amongst her top ten.

A New Kind of Tired

ANOTHER unpublished post from 2010 - I missed the original date before re-opening the draft:

Now that our lil' sweet potato has joined the toddlers group, she just goes, goes, goes, all day long! They do have an afternoon nap time - - yesterday she napped for nearly TWO WHOLE HOURS = crappy napper, no more! On the way home,c come the end of her day at school though, for the past week now, she has been an utterly exhausted, whiny little thing! Honestly, after dinner and a bath, she's been ready for bed by 6:15pm or sooner, and this has been the case every night since she began her 'Stars' class last week. No joke!

Our very own Lil' Gandhi

Another post left unpublished, written March 4th, 2010, rediscovered tonight:

Our baby sweet potato is trying to learn how best to assert herself...

At about 6 months of age, a relatively long time ago for the life of a about-to-be-one-year old, our lil' sweet potato learned that if screaming to get what she wants or doesn't want will not work --and it doesn't-- she'd have to try out other options in an effort to get her way: Sickeningly sweet politeness; batting her eyelashes; smiling all demure-like; patting my cheek; patting my hand; offering me kisses and hugs (BRIBES!); asking the question a gazillion times over and over, hoping the answer will change; stomping her feet; stomping one foot; slapping her hand(s) on the kitchen table; tossing something at us (that SoOOOooO did NOT work); pointing her lil' pointer finger menacingly at us (which only elicited giggles from her parents); rolling her eyes dismissively (I have no idea where she got that from); and asking again 2 minutes later, or again an hour later, or the next day; etc. etc.

Most recently, for the last couple days, she's decided that to procure her desired results, she'll exercise her right to peaceful protest: She won't eat.

I know she's been sick for the last week, but what I'm talking about here, her not eating? - - this kind of resistance effort on her part, it is something else entirely different that dealing with a picky eater. She'll eat a Cheerio off the floor, but not one offered to her from either me or her daddy. She'll try over and over and over to drink her bath tubby water, but not a sip of water from an offered drinking cup. She wants to watch a 'Signing Times' DVD, "Now please, mommie," while we're in the middle of breakfast or dinner, and she'll just sit there, saying and signing that she's all done, ready to watch her show now, saying and signing "please."  And we refuse to negotiate. And so she has sat, not eating.

We'll see how long she can wait it out. My bet is that she'll be trying something new by tomorrow morning, seeing as her lil' hunger strikes haven't yet worked to her advantage.

Everyday I'm Shufflin'

I just love, love, love this video's concept, and I think these guys, in all their ridiculousness, are totally hilarious. It's great comic relief - - I'm sorry, but I just love this! And I cannot wait to set on the couch with laptop ready, video in queue, to share this with our angel boy-O when he's next in town. He's gunna die for this!

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 71

Because my honey-man 'loses' things all the time, to discover later on that had it been a snake, it would have bit him square on the a**!

The latest -and he ain't EVER gonna live this one down...

For over a month my honey-man's e-reader had been MIA... and for the last month +, he had repeatedly implied I was at fault for its disappearance, and at one point, he flat out accused me, that I must have stashed it somewhere.  Quite dismissively, often laughing at him, I repeatedly told him that the last I'd seen it was when I'd handed it right to him, telling him to put it somewhere safe... it had been sitting on the kitchen counter.

Over the last few weeks, some of the suggestions I'd offered him as to its possible whereabouts...
Backpack?
Bedside table?
Office desk drawers?
Upstairs desk drawers?
Your car?
Downstairs bathroom magazine rack?
Book bag?


So he calls me yesterday - - "What's the most outrageous place where I could find my Kindle?"

Me: Top drawer of your desk?
"Worse," he says.
Me: Beneath your keyboard? 
"Worse than that," he says. "Think on my person everyday."
Me: What!?!
"Yeah. How about inside my backpack all this time."

I laughed so hard that all my staff came to check and see if I was okay.

Pho, Pho, Pho

I've rediscovered pho! Mmmm... spicy pho! For a second lunch in a row now, my sinuses are wide open, perfectly clear!

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 70

Because he told me my from-scratch blueberry muffins 'kick ass.'