The last several days have been super busy. There's been a lot of time spent in the garden.

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And since I knew company was coming all weekend, I stayed up into the wee hours listening to Radio Lab podcasts and cooking up a storm. Had to seek out the quietest corner of the house to whip up some cream, letting our sleeping babe remain undisturbed.

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Friends came to hang out on Saturday with a pretty good meal of enchiladas and various side dishes of deliciousness, if I do say so myself. And then on Sunday, our good friend from NYC turned hardcore Maine farmer James W. came through Nashville.

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I should retitle this blog to Awkward Photos of Myself.

This morning we had the pleasure of J's best buddy coming to play all by herself. I had to care for two toddlers, oh my! But this kid is so easy and totally the sweetest. J must have given her a thousand hugs throughout the morning. We love her lots.

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We're visiting A's parents in Dallas. Bandit is the neighbor's blue heeler. It regularly jumps the 6-foot fence without any problem at all.
J has no apparent fear of large mammals (probably from growing up around Pete, our loud, obnoxious pug).

So, one year ago we plopped our sweet little baby in the flowers behind our house.

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Those were the days when she more obligingly participated in whatever circumstances we asked of her. No longer! This year I sat her down and she immediately stood up and ran.

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And ran.

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And ran some more.

Cooperation is a thing of the past. This kid has places to go, things to see, and flowers to rip up.

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At least the dog knows how to take a beauty shot.

The only consolation shot, the only photo in focus, is one of her icy, icy glare. I've seen that look a lot these days.

When did I have a teenager? Pete, hang on, buddy. We have some interesting days ahead with this one!

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One thing about middle Tennessee - there are a lot of flowers! In the below picture, J is trying to point to the sun setting behind the hill. "Hot! Hot!" She's got a pretty full vocabulary now. This morning I sat her down for breakfast, put eggs on her plate, and then turned around to start making my coffee. "Fork!" she demanded, pointing at the cutlery drawer.

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We had a great time today at an Oyster Fest that some friends of ours have thrown annually for a few decades. J had a blast with her friend, G. We enjoyed a streak of nice weather, up in the 60's and 70's. Wild flowers, one of the most enjoyable parts of living in middle Tennessee, are blooming all over the place.
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Thanks to her Papaw and Juju for getting her the frog puppet! She loves it.

A has been working on some cards that show different emotions. J has picked up most of them, and usually does better at copying them than these cards show. She understands the words associated with them, too (as in, "Why are you sad?" makes her do a fake-pout).

B and I both have been interested in reading books on good parenting technique. He finished all of The Happiest Toddler on the Block, while I only read through her age and a little after. We both agreed the book was very helpful. It's often a little cheesy but the real-life practical advice was exactly what we needed.  We get down more often to her eye-level  when speaking and have added a lot of things to help build consistency and routine  for her, all of these and more being great fussiness/fit reducers. I think many of our peers approach parenting with a more wing-it style and, indeed, there's little more that needs to be said when your guiding principle is love her, love her, love her. But there are plenty of moments - more cropping up all the time - where I need to know how best to  communicate with an inarticulate beast (she can be!) and minimize frustration. These things don't always come naturally. We are willing to work to be the best parents we can be for her, so bring it on, dorky books. We need all the help we can get.

 

J's Texas grandparents collected this slide after it was abandoned by its original owner. She still hasn't mastered climbing the ladder, but she can do it with a little help.