February 27, 2016

Sebastian Jones turned 4 years old this week.  For his birthday, he wanted nothing more than to be joined by friends and family at the good park in Pace – the park perfectly equipped for honing your American ninja warrior skills.  We all showed up in athletic wear in case we were asked to cross the monkey bars, walk the balance beam, or try our hands at a rope swing.  Luckily, Sebastian was a little distracted by all the other little kids enjoying his park alongside him.

Selah June had a ball in the toddler park.  She followed the lead of another little girl and braved the slide.  She tried out all of the baby swings.  She climbed up and down the stairs and met little kids along the way.

The weather was brisk, but luckily Jessica had a Sebastian hoodie on hand for SJ and warm tea on hand for me.  There’s very few places Selah June would rather be than outside at the park.

February 21, 2016

We spent today going to the dog park and the grocery story.  There were lots of treats along the way.  We definitely had good drinks and French fries.  We sang songs and ran all around.  The playgrounds at Bayview had wonderful ground cover.  She did great with all the puppies, and she had no trouble running in shoes.

I made her a great little bowl full of her favorite things.  She practiced using her fork.  There’s a video below.  I can’t believe how much she’s changing.  I’m watching her gallup through our time with her as a toddler as fast and fully as she can.

dinner

February 17, 2016

I tried to spend some time outside with Miss Selah Juney because she loves it so much.  I also knew I wasn’t going to be home Thursday through Saturday and would miss out on some precious play time.

Katie and I traveled to New Orleans for the AAC&U conference on General Education and Assessment.  It’s been really great for several reasons – one of which is the atmosphere.  The sky is blue; the temperature is perfect; the weather is great.  The conference has made me think about several new strategies for teaching and introduced me to some great potential speakers to bring to UWF.

But there’s one thing missing in my world.

February 14, 2016

Mom and Dad gave us a wonderful gift of watching SJ during lunch so that we could go have a date on Valentine’s Day.  In an hour-and-a-half, we managed to indulge in the richest of foods at the most romantic restaurant in the land — Chili’s.  We split a three appetizer combo and then enjoyed decadent skillet desserts (skillet toffee brownie and skillet chocolate chip cookie with ice cream).  Wow!!  I haven’t had such heavy and sweet restaurant food in a long long time.

Then we went to the grocery store and stocked up.  A full 90 minutes of freedom and fattening frolicking and we were back to pick up the baby.

When we got back to Mom and Dad’s, she was demonstrating her prowess at matching games and trying out a new tracing toy with alphabet letters.  Just in the last few days, she’s started saying really funny stuff.  Yesterday, she said over and over again “Oh no!” “Oh no!”  Oh no….”  She’s string together words to say things like “what are those?” And “give me that.”

Mans tonight, just like last night, she really wanted to use a big fork to eat out of a bowl.  She didn’t just want a fork.  She didn’t just want a big fork with her food.  She wanted exactly what we had.  Once she was all set, she ate like a champ.  She might be persnickety, but she appreciates being understood and accommodated.  (We’re in trouble.)

February 7, 2016

This little monkey played hard at her house and then with all of her cousins at Jessica’s house for family Super Bowl party.  She’s really into exploration at the moment.  She just wanders from room to room, from little book to random spoon, from dancing to music to grabbing a crayon and coloring on anything within arm’s reach.  We just try to stay one step in front of her and out of the way.  It seems like all of my pictures of her these days are blurry.  She just doesn’t stay still for a single second.  If she’s still, she’s asleep… and so am I.

baby in diapers 1

baby in diapers 2

February §, 2016

After nearly a month of world travel, Grammy and Grandpa decided to come home.  We started telling SJ that they were coming home on Friday to get her ready to see them.  Jeremy and I picked them up from the airport Saturday evening.  I sat with the car while he took Miss Selah June to watch for them to come down the concourse on their way to baggage.  The airport has been renovated fairly recently, so you no longer can see people make the long trek down the single concourse.  You have to wait for them to exit the secured area and turn the corner to the main atrium of the airport.  So when SJ saw Grandpa, she smiled and her eyes sparkled.  When she saw Grammy, her whole little body leaned away from Jeremy and into her approaching Grammy.  She melted into her arms, and, with a full embrace, held onto her tightly as if to never let go.  Her little head just rested on Mom’s shoulder – her eyes staring off into the distance.  It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  Pure emotion.

Again… the hair…  It cracks me up.

This whole situation lasted for a solid 15 minutes.  They had to take it to the car.  We sat in the front seat and waited for the boys to get the bags.  When we put her in her carseat, she was not too happy.  It helped that we watched the Super Bowl with Mom and Dad the next day.  Oh my goodness….

February 6, 2016

The pet store was a big hit last weekend, so we decided to take SJ to go get French fries and see the puppies again.  Have you ever seen a trance such as this?

They were having a puppy obedience class while we were there.  She was fascinated by all the dogs.  There were lots of different breeds, and she just couldn’t get enough of watching them romp and play.  Here she looks like some kind of woodland creature with mystical powers.  Her hair was in awesome form.

People were just as taken with her as she was with their dogs.  Both parties would just stop in their tracks and stare.  It’s funny how happiness feeds on itself.

Here are some videos so you can experience the fascination for yourself.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 2

Video 3

February 1-5, 2016

Grammy and Grandpa spent their third week in Australia and New Zealand, and we spent our third week with Malachi and Ashley.  Jeremy and I actually planned a date night for Wednesday and went to Outback for dinner together.  After thinking about it, we came to the conclusion that the last time we remember doing that was New Year’s Eve a year ago.  It was nice to not spend time at work thinking about the commute home, the plan for dinner, the cash for paying nannies, the work to be done after bedtime routine.  It was nice to just go to dinner and have conversation about anything else.

That said, the rest of the week was full of delightful moments with Miss SJ.  Of course, many mornings started with explorations in the pantry…

And then there were the adventures in the warming drawer of the oven…

The weather turned cold, and we were able to wear our cute sweater dress.

On Friday morning, we snuggled for a good hour with all of our “babies” (blankets) and “Bubbles” (Bibles, i.e. books).  She’s really into books all of a sudden.  She’s able to identify most all of the animals in her books.  She has sounds associated with most of them too.  We learned that kangaroos go “hop, hop, hop.”

And then she spent the day in her pjs with Jessica, Satie, and Sebastian.  Right away she headed for the cabinet with all the pretzels and chips.  Like a secret binger she busted open the bags and dug right in.  No permission needed (or granted, BTW).

January 31, 2016

The other major adventure for Sunday was a trip to the pet store to see the puppies.  Selah June had no idea what to think of puppies running around inside a store.  There were big puppies and little puppies, furry puppies, young puppies and old puppies.  There were fish and birds too!

We got some great pictures and videos of the experience.

January 31, 2015

SJ loves LOVES loves to be outside.  The weekend was beautiful, so we tried to get outside and play.  Sophie likes to think of the backyard as her territory, so you can see how she felt about the situation.

SJ finds everything to be interesting.  An empty pot with some dirt left in the bottom can entertain her for a good 15 minutes.

One of her favorite activities is watching the puppy go outside and then calling the puppy to come back inside.  Some way or another she’s developed this thick southern accent for words like “puppy” and “bye.”  They now have about 3 good syllables each.  It sounds more like “pu-pay-ee!!!”  It sounds a lot like how Karen Meyers yells puppy when she’s had a few beers in her.

We did more than just go outside, but the next adventure was a big one in the life of Miss Selah June.  It deserves its own separate post.