Magic Tricks

Days spent with Dad are not wasted. There are learning experiences every minute. Constant stimulation and teaching are a must if your kid is supposed to become a professional (insert huge salaried position here). Every hour wasted in front of the TV is $10,000 less salary a year. So we're starting off small with simple magic tricks. Later we'll move onto throwing touchdown passes and hitting home runs. Hey its the 21st century. Girls can do that stuff too, right? Anyway, here's a small recap of the tricks:

V: So I'm sitting here acting perfectly normal and I want a book to read. There's nothing up this sleeve.

V: Nothing up this sleeve. Nothing in my mouth. When all of a sudden...

V: Boom... Outta here... That's right Copperfield, I stole your stare!

V: For my next trick, I will make this frog jump onto my lap!

V: Frogs are harder to move than books, so absolute concentration is essential!

V

V: Boom... Outta here... Yeah you know it, I'm DA COOLEST!

Greatest Triumph Ever

Well, that's what April calls it. We finally got V to take the bottle. All it took was an 18 hour starving session. Here's the history of what was the most trying week in V's short existence:

For two solid weeks, every time we gave her the bottle she would scream and/or cry. It wasn't necessarily the most fun we've ever had with her. There's not something that I can think of off the top of my head that is more trying/frustrating/infuriating/insert-'ing'-word-here than watching your child refuse food. You know it's good for her and she's going to like it once she gets it, but the process hurts. I liken it to riding a bike: You fall many times and skin a few knees but you're awesome once you learn it. Same with the bottle. Many knees were skinned.

So we get to last Thursday and it's Dad's job to essentially starve the child into submission. It takes literally 18 hours from the time she ate on Wednesday at 8:00 pm to about 2:00 on Thursday for her to take the bottle. But her father is the Greatest Child Feeding Technician West of the Pecos a consummate professional and stuck through it. Then she took another one 4 hours later. Yup, Dad is DA COOLEST!

The real test was the next day when it was Mom's turn. She went ahead and took the bottle for her too though. Then the actual test was the day after when it was the babysitter's turn. She took it then too. So now she's a bottle-feeding freak. She can down 5 ounces in less than 5 minutes. So there it is, the demons have been vanquished and we have immersed victorian. Here are some celebratory pictures:

That's right, she can be taught!

We told her to blow bubbles... She's learning.

Her true feelings about bath-time are unmistakable.

First picture with all three of our pets together!

Photographic proof that V enjoys the outdoors.

Coolest. Dog. Ever. (But not really...)

Home with Dad

Today is the hottest day of the year so far... if you don't live on the east coast... or in the Southwest... or in Eastern Washington... Heck, people around here are nuts. It's 90 degrees and people call in sick for work and STAY HOME! They're too hot to do anything, including work. I'm amazed at the extent that people will miss work, lose credibility and the like for one day of heat. Yes friends, it's like the heat got to them. Anyway, I hope that if you're in this general vicinity that you will beat the heat somehow. We're planning on driving to Canada sitting in the shade with a Mojito or Mint Julep made with mint straight from our wonderful 9 plant garden.

Speaking of staying home with your kid on your day off, V got the opportunity for her second full day off with her Dad today. Here are some pictures of attempts to capture V smiling (we took 78 pictures... but alas!). These pictures are themed "Value Lessons from Dad":

Here's the face you make if you see a cute guy.

What to do when you smell a fart?

What to do if it's you...

If you win the lottery?

Being incredulous...

An actual smile! It only took about 70 to get to this one.