Daddy Tree: Tiny Footsteps

Baby No. 2, code name "Olive," will be here in less than a month, so we've been bringing down boxes and boxes of baby stuff from the attic. This has had two effects on Willow, aka "Baby No. 1." She has reverted, somewhat, to being a baby, and she has started using the baby stuff to baby her babies. To be fair to Miss Willow, she has spent more time babying than being a baby. She's given her babies baths in the infant bathtub. She's put her babies down for tummy time on the, um, tummy time mat. And she has given her babies bottles, real bottles (empty, of course). She also likes putting one of her babies in the bassinet we've set up by the master bed. That baby sleeps a ton. As for being a baby, she has climbed into the baby swing, turned on the back-and-forth mechanism and switched on the lullaby music. Not many babies can do that. She's a pound or two over the maximum weight for the baby swing, so it groans under her 31 pounds (and there isn...

We continue to have early summer in this fine, fine April, and Willow and I continue to take full advantage of the warmth, playing outside every chance we get. This week saw highs in the 80s, and with them, the year's debut of the water table. Willow loves this thing, with its little slides for its little people, and its scoops and tiny boats. She mostly likes to scoop out water and do any of a number of things with it: Pour it back into the table, take it to water plants around the yard or, gasp, just turn it up and drink it! The other day, Willow played at the water table for nearly two hours straight, without any other care in the world. She's playing at it now, which gives me this rare opportunity to jot down something, quickly, in this blog. (This little girl keeps me busy, and off the computer; she HATES it when I get on the computer ... H-A-T-E-S I-T! Thankfully, she hasn't notice me typing away yet.) Today is another day in the 80s, and even though Willow is dre...

With such beautiful weather, Willow and I have been outside A LOT these past several days (and I've got the A-plus farmer's tan to prove it). We've spent most our time in the backyard, playing on the swing set or in Willow's brand-new "Country Cottage" playhouse (she loves the wall-mounted wireless phone the best; I tell you, though, she has the shortest conversations on that thing, usually spanning, "Hey ... *nod* ... bye!"). We also went to the park one day (Willow saw bunches of turtles, some fish, some ducks and even a heron). This morning (primarily because I forgot my wallet in the other car and couldn't drive to the Y for my workout), Willow hopped in the jogging stroller, and I pushed her MIGHTILY for a three-mile jaunt. Willow loves the jogging stroller, and I forget she does (some days, on my shorter runs, I need to remember this and save us both from the tribulations of packing gym and diaper bags and loading up the car). During our...