A well-documented birthday

Delia had a busy second birthday, and we captured the whole thing in photos.

In the morning, we went to the McWane Center with friends.



Delia and Nathan co-piloted the rocket ship.





We drove trucks...




...and operated cranes.




After naptime, Delia played outside with her new sand and water table.




As it turns out, the water side was the big hit. "Dirt," she told me, "is dirty." OK. Good thing we didn't get the sandbox.









We had cake after dinner.




Delia practiced blowing out the candle. Maybe she'll do it herself at her party on Saturday.








Delia opened her present from Auntie Maureen and Uncle Steve, but first she read the card.




She got some socks with the Red Sox mascot on them. She recognized Wally the Green Monster right away.




She also got some great blocks, a cute outfit, and a book that Daddy read to her before bedtime. Thanks, Steve and Maureen!

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

I don't think two years have ever passed so quickly.

On May 27, 2006, we were exhausted and overwhelmed and happy. Today, we are still exhausted and overwhelmed and happy, but the joys and challenges are so different than they were on Delia's first day.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

You help your toddler floss every night, right?

Delia had her first dentist appointment on Monday. I have been dreading this event for six months, but had been trying to talk it up to her.

The dentist had a killer playroom. The hygienist showed us a movie about little kid superheroes who fight plaque. All was going well. Then "Ms. Tammy" took Delia's hand and told me to go back to the waiting room while they did her cleaning and exam. Gulp. I waited for the yelling, but only heard, "Ya, ya, let's go!" Hmm.

At the end of the exam, Dr. Rohner came out to tell me my baby did not cry at all and seemed to enjoy herself immensely. She got a great dental report card, as well as two bracelets, a temporary tattoo, a princess toothbrush, and instructions to floss every night. Ha, ha. Good one. I think I'll leave that job to David. A journalist doesn't need all 10 fingers, right?




Delia and her beloved dentist, Dr. Rohner. (One of my issues with being banished to the waiting room had to do with my blog obligations, but the hygienist took care of that, too. We got this photo in the mail today.)

Guess where Daddy went last week?

No Girl Scouts were harmed in the creation of this post

We have a fabulous library system here, and today they had an event to kick off the summer reading program. The theme was bugs (eww). Delia made a ladybug and a butterfly, dug in the dirt for worms, and saw a tarantula and some Madagascar cockroaches. (We pay a lot of money to an exterminator to make sure she never sees a cockroach, but she thought this one was pretty cool.)

I thought the highlight of the event would be the inflatables. These are those big things where the kids get inside and jump around. We waited until all the big kids got out, and then one of the event volunteers, a Girl Scout, asked if I wanted her to go in with Delia. Great! As I helped Delia off with her shoes, this sweet Scout turned to her buddy and said of my baby, "She's so cute. I was a fat baby, too."

What!? I will mess you up, little girl. Is there a merit badge for slandering toddlers? Grrr. I didn't have my camera to capture this ugly moment with the pre-teen Girl Scout, so instead I give you a photo of Delia's first pedicure. I painted her toenails, and David got down on the floor to blow on her toes until the polish dried. Delia seemed to enjoy the pampering.

Better late than never

I finally called HP to ask for some help with our scanner. I've been meaning to post ultrasound pictures for more than a month, but that scanner has not worked since we got a new computer.

The HP guy told me to take the software CD they sent with the scanner and use it as a beer coaster. It's no good with our fabulous new laptop. Anyway, he helped me, so here are the month-old photos of "Candy."

Our vast library of prenatal books says Candy now has lots more fat under her skin and probably does not look like an alien anymore.



Alien sighting: Doesn't she have a beautiful skull? This picture might scare me if I hadn't seen a quite similar one of Delia.




A long, graceful leg and foot





Candy's first embarrassing family photo. The ultrasound technician was nice enough to include an arrow and the title, "It's a girl!"

Two things that happened today

Thing one: I continued an inane e-mail exchange with my boss who seems to think some plagiarism is OK. If, say, 8% of an essay is stolen, she has implied I should let that go. Is 16% too much? Maybe not.

Thing two: I saw a clip of an interview from a recent Today Show in which a "mommy blogger" discusses how she is making $40,000 a month in ad revenue.

So I am sitting here thinking about how to convince David it really would be safe to open this blog up to the public at large. I am thinking about never grading another essay again. I am thinking about checking "save for college" off my to-do list in a mere few months.

Wouldn't corporate America leap at the chance to be a part of Delia's life and times?

In other news, Delia and I had a great trip to D.C. last weekend to visit cousins Sarah, Tony, and Eli.

Here are the photos we took that will embarrass these poor kids when they're teenagers:













The weather was crummy, but it gave us a chance to visit the museums. Delia loved the toddler room at The Building Museum.

Hands-on day at the zoo

We got up this morning and went to the zoo, where Delia managed to get her hands on quite a few animals.



The lorikeets were interested in the little cups of nectar we bought. One was crawling all over David while he took this picture.

















This alligator's name is Pip. Delia grabbed him by the tail. He looked like he was probably used to that kind of treatment.





Delia was very interested in riding the bus as we neared the petting zoo. We couldn't figure out what she meant until we came upon this tractor and she scrambled up into the seat. She didn't stay long, though, because the seat of this "bus" was getting pretty hot. Ouch!

Toddlers need well-balanced meals

As Delia has grown, I have eased up a bit on some of my food phobias with her. When she was a baby, I made most of her baby food to avoid the preservatives in the jarred stuff. Later, I insisted on organic produce only, and no sugar.

The rules are falling by the wayside.

I'm six months pregnant, and I want ice cream. I deserve ice cream. Delia, my little shadow, is therefore eating ice cream for the first time. Needless to say, she likes it.

Today was a new low, though, nutritionally speaking.

What did you have for lunch?

Delia had ketchup.




We went to Five Guys for burgers and fries. Delia wanted to dip her fries in David's ketchup, suck off the ketchup, then redip. Her daddy did not think this was a good plan. We do not double dip in this family. So Delia started dipping one fry in, sucking off the ketchup, and putting the fry aside. She dipped her burger bun, sucked off the ketchup, put the bun aside, and on and on.





We did eventually convince her to eat some actual food.




When she wasn't dipping, she was checking out the ketchup supplies on surrounding tables.








I'm planning to serve mustard for dinner.