Tag Archives: baby pix

You are not even PREPARED for the cuteness

The Hatchling, Mr. Squab and I went to Como Park’s ZooBoo on Sunday with some friends, thanks to some free tix from Questionable. (Thanks, Q!) There were hordes of becostumed children, dressed as everything you can imagine: fairies and princesses, animals of all descriptions, superheroes, Star Wars folk, dinosaur-kids and shark-babies galore. You will be pleased, but of course not surprised, to know that the Hatchling and her BFF Fi were hands down the cutest ones there. We trick-or-treated all through the zoo and got to meet lots of characters stationed at different points. Some of the characters were a little scary for the littler kids … and of course these were the ones the Hatchling gravitated to. The huge orangutan in the crazy jack-o-lantern shirt? She wanted to talk to him forever. The incredibly freaky (and well done) Darth Maul? She just loooooved him, giving him lots of grins and a high five. (Which he was tentative about even offering, since I think most of the kids that had passed him had freaked right out.) So … I guess she’s a theatre kid? Anyway, here are some of the pix. (**Warning: Managment cannot be held responsible for possible comas or cute overloads resulting from the viewing of these photos. Scroll down at your own risk.**)

The costume shot (while waiting for the shuttle to the zoo):
Waiting for the shuttle

Meeting the “Orangutan”:
Meeting the Orangutan

The other cutest baby there:
Pretty Fiona

Taking a little break from the crowds:
Taking a little break

Playing extremely cute peekaboo:
Baby bug

Ehm.

I know. I know! A whole week without any posts. Erk. Last week really kicked my ass, mental-health-wise. Insomnia kicked in again (it seems to be going around) and I just could not get out of a deep blue funk. I’m still not totally out of it, in fact, which is really getting old. Something’s going on, and I’m try to figure out what it is, but so far it’s stuck deep down in my subconsciousness, which means that it’s all coming out in sleeplessness and restlessness and general feelings of inadequacy, because my subconscious is a bitch like that and really needs to learn some damn manners. This week Mr. Squab is off work, which means that I can take some time for writing and other child-free activities (like, um, writing this blog entry, actually). I’m hoping that will give me the reflection time I need to puzzle out what the hell is wrong with me and what to do about it. Although if anyone wanted to send me on an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii for a weekend, I’m sure that would help even MORE.

But that is not the point of this post. The point of this post, my friends, is to tell you that the Hatchling experienced her first corn-on-the-cob this weekend, and it was joyful to behold. We’ve offered it to her every time we’ve had it this summer, but she wanted nothing to do with it until Saturday, when she saw me eating some and decided it was a) funny and b) worth copying. I gave her bites off my portion, and she liked it enough that we gave her a little bitty ear of her own, complete with holders. And I don’t know why I’m even still typing, because this is really a case where pictures are worth … well, you know. Click the photos for bigger images:

First corn on-the-cob

I believe that face translates loosely as "Damn, that's some good corn!"

Note the delicate grip on the holders

All done!

Pros and Cons

Bad things about going to the State Fair:
1. All the park-and-ride lots full. WTF?
2. Bastard fellow-humans refuse to help friend get her stroller off the shuttle.
3. Freaky Canadian geese in parking lot blocking off available spaces.
4. Cranky one-year-old means no time to look for cheese curds. Bugger.
5. Cranky one-year-old refuses to stay in stroller or in arms, apparently preferring to wander blithely among the probable rapist- kidnapper- and murderer-ridden fair crowds. Or am I projecting?
6. Attention-span of said cranky one-year-old does not extend to taking in more than 1/4 of one exhibit.

Good things about going to the State Fair:
1. The weather. Was GORGEOUS. 75 degrees and sunny, absolutely perfect for being outside.
2. Friend having the tits to snark “Thanks for helping!” to brain-dead nimrods who refused to help with stroller. I never have that kind of presence of mind.
3. Baby Ducks!

Duckies!!

4. Finding a quiet green space where the cranky one-year-old could walk around and work off some of her cranks. Primarily by stuffing leaves and sticks into an orange safety cone. I know. Weird.
5. Sharing Pronto Pups with a friend.

Sharing is nice

Phun with Photos: a Brief Essay in Pictures

Before:
Before

After:
After

The Culprits:
Partners in Crime

OMG Ponies!!1!

This weekend was a study in contrasts, child-entertainment-wise. On Saturday, we went with some friends to Rosefest, a celebration of the founder of the Minneapolis parks system that took place in our old neighborhood. It was a little sad being back in the old nabe, because holy crap is it a nicer locale than our current one. I miss living there. But it was great fun to take the Hatchling to a community fair. There were a lot of attractions that she won’t enjoy until she’s older (those inflatable bouncy rooms, a dunk tank, etc.) but there were also some that were right up her alley. The big red fire engine was almost as fun to look at as the kids milling around. There were brats and roasted corn to eat, antique cars to look at, and free ice cream sandwiches. Holla! But the BEST thing was the pony rides. They had one of those live pony carousel things set up, and we went to check it out, figuring the girls would enjoy looking at the ponies even though they were too small to ride them. We stood there ogling and after a few minutes the man who was in charge came over and said “what’s the hold up?” We laughed and said we were just saying how sad we were that the girls were too little to have a ride. The man said “pshaw,” (possibly the only time I have actually heard that expression in real life) and said he’d had babies as young as 4 months old ride – parents could just walk along side, and it was no problem. Well. We weren’t about to let ourselves be outdone by stinking 4-month-olds, so both dads grabbed their girls and hoisted them up onto a pony. The babies were enchanted, both by the ponies and by being on a rid with big kids. It was pretty much teh awesome. Check out the Hatchling’s riding technique:

Look, Ma! No Hands!

So that was the classic fun of the weekend – and I can’t WAIT to go to more fairs with the Hatchling as she gets older – but that evening we engaged in some entertainment that was a little more post-millennium. We’ve been enjoying the wonders of YouTube, specifically the gloriousness that is classic Sesame Street clips. As a first-generation Sesame Streeter, I of course look down on some of these upstart newfangled characters like Elmo. I was watching when Mr. Hooper was on, yo. When Mr. Snuffalupagus could only be seen by Big Bird, and no one else believed he was real. HARD CORE. I don’t think they even show 2/3 of the clips I grew up with anymore, but thanks to YouTube, I can still share them with the Hatchling. (Or spend hours watching them myself after she’s in bed. Whatever.) She’s still not old enough to appreciate most of them, but there are a few segments she totally gets a kick out of. This one is her hands-down favorite right now:

And, as a bonus, here’s MY favorite:

Enjoy!

Summertime

This past weekend we got a last-minute invite to spend some time at a fabulous cabin on a beautiful lake with some wonderful friends and their two adorable children. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance. The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend long, and it was the most relaxing “vacation” we’ve had since the Hatchling arrived. I think it was being with another couple with small kids that made it less stressful, oddly. I love my family to death, but we’re the only ones with a baby right now, and, you know: babies can be sort of a pain in the ass. Especially if they’re not yours. They have different schedules than most adults, and they need attention all the time, and you have to make all these adjustments when you’re around them. This always makes me feel a little stressed when we travel places; I devote a lot of energy – far more than necessary, I know – to being as little trouble for the people we’re with as possible. But this weekend was different. With two other small kids in addition to the Hatchling, all the adults were used to making accommodations for the little ones. It was like we were all on the same rhythm, instead of having to adjust ourselves to the non-baby-having rhythm (or make the non-baby-havers adjust to us). Silly, I know, but I was surprised at how much of a difference it made in my enjoyment of the weekend. The excellent company, glorious weather and healthy servings of booze didn’t hurt, either.

And the Hatchling, of course, had the time of her life. There was a tea party,

Tea party

beach lounging,

Sittin' in the water, playin with the houseboat

piano playing,

Discussing a difficult passage

and much exploring.

Bathing Beauty

It was a nice way to kick off the summer.

Two weeks of turning one: a photo narrative

As befits the only granddaughter and the youngest member of a very large family, the Hatchling had quite an extended series of first birthday celebrations. It started with a little family fete at home on the night of her birthday. We opened a few presents, and more importantly, ate cupcakes for the very first time:

SUGAR!!!

You’d think we’d have stopped there …

Have you ever been hexed by a baby? Because this is what it looks like.

But no. Some friends stopped by with more presents, including tissue paper! Which is our favorite snack!!

And by "play with" I mean "eat"

And then that weekend, there was a bigger party at Gramma and Grampa’s house, with MORE presents, and MORE ribbons:

Presents are nice
Ribbons!!

The Mamala made some yummy lemon cupcakes,

Homemade Lemon Cupcakes

but initially we were extremely uninterested.

Nooooo. No cupcake!

Pretty soon we came around, though, and decided they were pretty yummy.

Yep, that's pretty good, too!

And THEN, to top it off, we had yet ANOTHER party, this time with lots of other kids around the same age (and their parents):

Rin and Fiona
Heather, Kai, and Lula
Quinn gets a bite of cake from Daddy

So: we are now One, with a vengeance. And Mamala is looking forward to some time not spent planning for parties. Whew.

Friday Extremely Cute Baby Blogging

This year’s Christmas photos notwithstanding, I don’t normally go for the standard posey-posey, fake backgroundy pictures. Our wedding photographers were photojournalists, and while we did do some of the traditional poses, my favorite pictures by far were the unposed ones. Having been sucked into the Kiddie Kandids for holiday pix (and really, the name tells you all you need to know), Mr. Squab and I decided to splurge on more authentic photos to commemorate the Hatchling’s first birthday. Lucky for us, we happen to know an extremely talented photographer of littles, who is getting her business off the ground and you should all go hire her RIGHT NOW because OMG her pictures are amazing. We just got them back, and I cannot stop looking at them. Not only are they beautiful as pictures – the color, the composition, etc. – but they really capture who the Hatchling is; all her personality just glows out of each photo. Here’s just a little sample:

Ellie_1year02

Ellie_1year05

Ellie_1year22

Ellie_1year32

Ellie_1year36

Ellie_1year46

There. If that doesn’t make you feel all warm and gushy YOU ARE DEAD INSIDE.

Random Tidbits

1. I don’t know if it’s the changing seasons, or still recovering from my show, or what, but MOTHERFUCKER I am tired. Tiredtiredtired all the timetimetime. Anyone know how to freebase caffeine?

2. The Hatchling quite enjoyed her first Easter. As certified heathens, we didn’t do a damn thing resurrectional or christly over the weekend. However, the Hatchling did sample her first peep, with mixed reaction. She wasn’t a big fan of the texture, but she likes sugar, all right.

3. I chopped my hair off. This is notable largely because people mostly haven’t been noting it. I’m not sure if this is a good thing, e.g. it just looks so natural on me that people don’t notice that I have about 5 fewer inches than I used to, or if this is a bad thing, e.g. I have truly entered that phase of existence where I might as well be invisible because people only care about looking at my (admittedly adorable) child. Right now, we’re sticking with option one.

4. It’s fucking snowing outside today. SNOWING. On the TENTH OF APRIL. I seriously need to move back to the southeast. I can’t take this shit.

5. Here is a cute picture of the Hatchling with her favorite pal. This was not posed; the cat just flopped down next to the Hatchling, much to her delight.

Buddies

Maybe if I post a cute picture, no one will notice that I’m not actually blogging.

Lookit!
Hi, Mama!