Yet Another One of the Reasons I am Glad We Have a Free Press

Just read this article in today's WaPo.  I am so glad some enterprising reporter infiltrated the plastics industry's evil planning meeting!

Is this a Simpsons episode?  I'm expecting Montgomery Burns to emerge somewhere... 

"Their 'holy grail' spokesperson would be a 'pregnant young mother who would be willing to speak around the country of the benefits of BPA,'" the [conference] notes said.

Um, who are they kidding?  

Seattle Pics

As promised, here are some of my favorite pics from our visit with Papa and Mamoo, aunts and uncles and and cousins in Seattle.  We miss them already!

Happy Birthday, Sesame Street!

Ah, we're back from our trip to Seattle... so much fun, so much fun.  I expect I'll post pics in this space soon.  But, as expected, I'm both jetlagged and exhausted (and up at almost 1 am - I'll pay for that tomorrow, to be sure...) 

I don't know how faithful I will be to my posting obligations this week.  I did just read something really engrossing that I had to share, though: this Newsweek article on the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street.  

Now I know I wasn't crazy for thinking, "Geez, Sesame Street is actually fun to watch with my 2 year old, and with no guilt!"  

The Place Where Kids Go Nuts

Do you live in the Washington, DC metropolitan area?  

Do you have small children?  

Have you been to Clemyjontri Park in McLean, Va.?  (You've probably heard about it, yes, but have you been there yet?)  

What?!  You haven't?  

Well, drop everything and GO, GO, GO!  

Clemyjontri Park is, without a doubt, The Coolest Outdoor Playground of All Time.  I found myself with some time to kill yesterday when K. woke up really early from a nap, so we trekked out there - actually only about a 20 minute drive from our house - and goodness me, was I glad we did!  It consists of what seems like acres and acres of super-deluxe jungle gym equipment for kids of all ages, but particularly attuned to the Little People set.  My little guy was particularly mesmerized by all of the transportation vehicles-turned-playground-equipment.  

Here are some pictures of our trips.  (Yep, that's trips, plural.  We went both yesterday afternoon and this morning!)

Now, you DC-ites, get outside and GO!  Today!

(BTW, this is my last post for about a week.  We leave for Seattle early tomorrow morning.  Off to visit my inlaws for a long Memorial Day weekend!  Have a great holiday!)

Precious Little Folks

So here's a picture of K. (blue shirt on left) and his classmates during "snacktime" at the co-op playgroup we recently joined.  

I sent it to my husband while he was out of town on a business trip last week.  He wrote back that something about seeing little people eating snacks around a table like this is so precious it makes him want to cry.  Funny, but I can sort of relate.

How about you?

Friday Musings

Do you notice how I thought yesterday was Friday?  ("Have a good weekend")???? Geesh. I'm hopeless.

Anywho... yet another busy day!  Sorry I've been slack on the posting lately; I promise to do better early next week (that is, BEFORE we leave Wednesday for a week-long visit to Seattle to see my in-laws).

But to throw you devoted readers a bone, I'll leave you with this amusing and rather informative entry from The Poop - San Francisco Chronicle's parenting blog. Aforementioned devoted and long-time readers have probably figured out by now that my secret ambition is to become one of their guest writers.  

Maybe if I keep linking to and subtly promoting them, they'll discover me and hire me on the spot!  A girl can dream, I suppose... 

Weekend Reading?

Not a whole lot of time to post today, so I'll just pose a question that I've been wondering about.  Anyone out there have suggestions for good toddler-discipline books?  

A friend just told me about Beyond Time Out, which looks intriguing (although I'm not ready to admit that my household has become filled with "mayhem" as a result of an unruly child, per the Barnes and Noble description.  I mean, it's frustrating, but K.'s not a monster... yet!  Ha!)

I'm just looking for a middle-of-the-road approach to dealing with a probably all too typical Terrible Two.  K. hasn't been awful, but we've had our moments lately, namely situations involving: 

1) throwing food, or, worse yet, plates and cups, when he is done eating (usually with minimal warning); 

2) standing up in his high chair, pre-, mid-, or post-meal; 

3) not sharing with other kids (and sometimes actually hitting or pushing when someone wants to share a toy with him - can you say EMBARRASSING?!)

and 

4) tormenting our cat in all shapes and forms.  

I attempt to reprimand all of these behaviors, I'll have you know, firmly and consistently, but yet... he keeps doing them.  Argh.  (NOTE: I acknowledge the possibility that this may be the essence of the Terrible Twos and I just don't want to accept it.)  

Anyway, like I said, if you have good recommendations, I'm ready to do some reading!

Thanks, and have a good weekend.

The Lonely Bunny

One day recently, when I came by to pick up Kibi after a few hours at his grandma's, they showed me a new game.  

All it involved was my mother-in-law's sofa, a very large and thick atlas, and Kibi.  It went like this:

1) MIL sets up the atlas so that it is at a slant from the seat of the couch (like a slide).

2) Kibi sits at the top of the "slide" (on the sofa).

3) Kibi announces that he is a "Lonely Bunny" and makes a really sad, pouty face.

4) Me and MIL make a really big deal about the poooooooor, lonnnnnely bunny for a few seconds.

5) The lonely bunny slides down the slide.

6) When the lonely bunny lands, he announces that he is now a "Happy Bunny".  

7) Cheers and smiles all around!

This was all K's invention.  Go figure!  

In the Spirit of Mothers Day ...

I hope all of you moms out there had a delightful Mother's Day.  I had a lovely day, which started with getting to sleep in and read the paper!  Ahhhhh, decadent and delightful.  

As I perused the news, I came across this Washington Post article that I really enjoyed. Check it out...

Ode to Nina (of The Good Night Show)

An Ode to Nina:

(penned today)

You're pretty, sweet, and gentle

You never ever pout.

You are my favorite character

On that nifty network, Sprout.

Yet despite your kind demeanor

And your singing voice, too

I find that I now live in fear

Of disappointing you.

You've given me a complex

(Quite accidentally, it's true),

And now I worry that I never will

Measure up to you.

Kibi's 2 Year Photos

We recently had Kibi's 2 year old photos taken.  They turned out so nicely!  Here is a sampling of just some of my favorites.  

I credit our wonderful photographer, Jennifer Burns of Jennifer Burns Photography, with encouraging me to do his shoot in Old Town Alexandria on a gorgeous spring day.  She's been taking K.'s photos for a long time now and she has a knack for bringing out the best in our little guy.  

Thanks JBP!

Language Evolves

Kibi has made another step in his language development, recently dropping the way he used to refer to himself in the third person ("K wants this, K does that") and now using the first person pronoun "I" as a substitute for "me."  Interestingly enough, he has also started to use "I'm" when he means to say "my".  

It is really darn cute to hear him sort of stumble his way through, trying to get the sentence construction just right.  

I know he's still evolving where this is concerned, and I have a feeling I should jot it down now because it may be only a fleeting thing.  

So.... here are some examples:

"Mommy, push I!" (on the swing)

"Mommy, hold I!"

"It's I'm birthday!"

"Mommy, change I!  I'm pants are wet."

"I'm daddy will like this." (What he observed when he received a "Daddy and Me" book for his birthday)

More Photos

We're getting ready for a nice, relaxing weekend ... I'm feeling too lazy to write anything brilliant today, so here's a smattering of photos from the birthday celebration.  

First, my piece de resistance: the Thomas the Tank Engine cake.  

The second one is one of my favorites: I caught Kibi snuggling up in his favorite reading chair with one of his new birthday books.  

The others were taken on Birthday Party Day... a sweltering 93 degrees here in the nation's capital!  Our boy has been getting used to going shirtless as a result of the tropical heat wave. And he managed to have a good frosting fiasco while enjoying his birthday cake ... but really, what birthday kid wouldn't?

Have a nice weekend!