I Will Chalk Clouds Upon Your Sidewalk

nbtrain is sliding
Moon egg
Mommy draw another baby face
Draw ABC'S
Draw a purple triangle
Go on walk to the bakery!
Mommy get out of da shower
it's scary!

play Fun-fun song?
octopus garden song
Play is not easy bein green?
Play love you silly
Play mushaboom?

Read seasons book?
grover good manners?






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Haiku2 for floatingtide
seeds i feel things fall down instead of rising to a roaring apex
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Created by Grahame

I couldn't get a good haiku in the few tries of this widget. Then I tried one for Damon. His was awesome on the first attempt.

Haiku2 for gooddamon
year old children of today who see nothing wrong with unfettered
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Created by Grahame

Beatrix has really changed since last Christmas.
Then she was a little baby.

She couldn't really walk or talk. She took it all in wide eyed.

Here she is now:

Running, talking, wily, and wildly exploring the world.

She interacted with the toys she was given today in ways even I didn't expect. She showed new dexterity building with the blocks, and made up little scenes and interactions with the cloth doll-house of bunny-people.

We had a lovely little Christmas here. It left my imagining the pleasures of next year.

My dad just took Beatrix with him to the store because my dad is awesome.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to brag because that's what parents do.

Beatrix has developed a knack now for memorization. She reads her favorite books to herself, repeating what's on the pages or just talking about the pictures. She has Dozens of favorite books and asks for them by name -- their proper names or names she makes up for them.

Over thanksgiving weekend she learned to say her ABC's all the way through. Since then, when the mood is right, she'll recite her numbers to twelve. It's not really counting yet, but soon. She has started to count objects up to three -- maybe four.

Here's a picture of her singing the alphabet for her aunt Noni.





Beatrix is almost twenty-one months now, and beautiful. She loves trucks, grover, ratting-egg-things, and the moon. She takes good care of her dolls; tucking them in, changing their diapers and feeding them crackers and juice. She likes to brush her own teeth and wash her hands. She likes to watch the fire and likes music. She asks for songs by name as well.

Her current favorites are Beach Boys, Little Deuce Coope; Octopus Garden by the Beatles, Love to be Silly by Cat Power and an inappropriately Kill-Bill type number called Chick Habit by April March.

She's such an aware vibrant, talkative person. I'm looking forward to her first real Christmas. It'll be such a surprise for her.

And the weather station thinks it'll snow tonight. Her first snow since she could walk. Life is full wonder when you're adventurous and not-quite-two.

I'm two thousand words away from winning Nanowrimo. I'm going to do this thing.

Of my three nanowrimo works this one is the most like a real novel. It has character arc, plot arc, themes and form.

Maybe, in these crazy years, I've learned something.

Damon's parents threw a grand Thanksgiving feast this year. Over twenty people, most of them our family, ranged and gathered in the living room, kitchen and beautiful backyard yurt. Lottsa food. Lottsa love. Lottsa food made with love.

Last night I had grand-chef selkith over to make lemon-rhubarb cranberry sauce. She boiled cinnamon sticks and real vanilla beans in it. It was amazing.

I made a creamy pumpkin curry and very carefully baked a pumpkin to put it in. I'm really pleased with how it came out; rich and spicy and, as my sister said, "like something from a cooking magazine."

Today, Damon took pictures of us being goofy at the park.



Below, Bee and I are talking about the river. She's reached full conversation level. Many of her sentences start with "anna" meaning "and a" or "and the." Her structure is very good for one-anna-half.

A sample from today:
"Anna tree, inna water, going swiming wiff a duck. Mommy, anna Bee-tis not going swimming."

To me, in context, it made perfect sense.



It was just about the coldest afternoon this year. Check out our matching pink noses.

Hope your day was, or will be, rosy.

I thought I'd share a picture of both my  writing computer and drug of choice:



 Fancy.

That machine is a Olpc which I think is a fine little machine, even if it's not for everyone.  Next to it sits the crown-jeweled queen of all lattes; the salted caramel latte from Cafe Marche. The presence of this partiularly glorious drink means I took the picture while writing at the Fifth Street Market downtown. It's a nice bricky old building with lots of light and a train tracks outside the north windows. There, evey fifteen minutes or so, a train drifts by clanking and lowing its horn. That perks me right up.

I'm still keeping up with Nanowrimo. The first week was easy as I endlessly introduced important characters doing interesting things.  In week two I had to bring them together. They had to talk and do story things and get moving. Awkward. I spent most of the week at least a thousand words behind on word count.

Fortunately, I have now discovered the lay of the plot. Things are rolling.  I'm about to write a  shoot-out scene . I've never done that before. Thought it's not a shoot-out in the western or action movie sense, I'm still looking for ward to it.

Tonight: BANG BANG BANG, and the survivors run for cover.