The Banana Peel Incident

Do you ever lose the wish to just wrap your kid in bubble wrap and protect him from all the hurts of the world? Daniel took the biggest pratfall I have ever seen today... if he had been auditioning for a Marx Brothers movie he couldn't have done it better. Thank goodness he was on the carpet, and somehow managed to miss all the table and chair legs. This joins the ranks of all the usual bumps and bruises an 11-month-old can accumulate. As well as the odd assortment of things that Mommy or Daddy can perpetrate... although I am told that making them bleed the first time you try to cut their fingernails is pretty standard fare. We still can't trim his nails unless he is pretty soundly asleep. Sigh. I think I better get used to this.

The cuteness factor jumped to a Plus-Ten later today at CVS, however. Daniel has picked up something that sounds remarkably like hello ("Hew-oh"). So much so, that as I was paying at the register he looked up at the clerk, said hello, and she smiled and said hello right back to him. And I heard all the Pharmacy techs in the back chuckling and saying "how cute." I may have an 11-month-old flirt on my hands...

Nuff Said...

So, I have discovered that as the Mom of an 11-month-old it looks as though it may be years before I get to go to the bathroom alone again.

Did I mention that the baby has discovered the toilet paper???

I Love a Parade

Despite being rained on, the baby got treated to his first Fourth of July parade this year. He did beautifully... I personally could have done without the "Get out of Iraq" protesters or even the elected representatives who rolled by with big signs on their cars and shaking hands with the crowd.

But there were fire engines, and a horse drawn stagecoach and tractors from the local farm stands. The area chinese restaurant had one of those dragons that take sixty-eleven people to hold up on poles and they ran by swishing it about and throwing fortune cookies to the crowd. The Highland band with the bagpipes spiced up the assortment of marching bands as well. It was hard to get the baby to even crack a smile because he was so mesmerized by all the strange goings on. All in all a fun start to the Fourth! At this time last year, I was hugely pregnant and not doing a whole lot of anything. Now there is a nearly 11-month-old running around the place, soaking it all in. How a little bit of time can change things, eh?