It's What I Like to Call an Adventure

Jack is nearly 11 months old. He walks with expertise, he climbs on furniture, he goes up the stairs faster than me, and he can almost get down them again without going head first. He still wakes in the night and bellows for me at least 3 times before dawn. He says Dadda, Mamma, hi, hiya, bite, more, dat, done. He loves to point at pictures in books and bubbles over with these expressions of wonder. He waves hello and claps. He especially claps when he eats something he likes. He is finished with pureed baby food and will only eat what we eat. He would prefer to walk around the house with a sandwich in his hand taking a bite and then taking a lap around the family room. He has 7 teeth. He climbs onto our Wonderhorse and sits and waits for me to come and give it a bounce. He follows his sister around the house and adores her. Jack is such a happy baby boy.

Greta, now 2 1/2, is this itty bitty person with an exceptional gift. She has passion. Passion for Goofy. Derek and Greta have been working on drawing the handsome fellow and Greta took one of the drawings to nap with her. When she woke a few hours later, I heard her lilting little voice in song and went in her room to get her up. She continued her song and I bent down at her level to hear. I heard a song coming out of her that I never expected, "I want to know what love is...I want you to show me...I want to know what love is..." Isn't that by Foreigner? She was singing a power ballad to Goofy. And, he better not break her little heart, dammit!

Sunny Disposition on a Cloudy Day

Sticky Honey Buns

This morning it was still a little bit dark outside because of all of the storm clouds still lingering in the sky from the rainy weather we have had. I had the craving for some sweet feel-good food and asked Greta and Jack if they would help me make biscuits and honeybutter for breakfast. It was a yes!

So, we go upstairs and chase Jude around that level of the house for a bit and get out our bowls and milk, and Bisquick (no time for scratch...This works for me!) Greta sits up on the counter top and holds the honey bear while I get Jack double strapped into his highchair. (I mean double strapped because this Houdini can get out faster than I can preheat the oven!)

And, we're on. Oven is preheating. I measure the mix and Greta pours it into the bowl and onto her legs. Jack is screeching and saying Mamamamamamamam. Then we add milk the same way. I measure it and Greta pours it mostly in the bowl. She says no cry over spilling milk, Mamma. This is true. We knead to form a dough. This is new to Greta as she is usually more into making muffins and waffles and eggs.

She sticks both hands in the dough and pulls them out to find her fingers globbed with raw biscuit. She screams to the high Heavens and shakes both of her hands wildly in the air flinging dough through the whole room like an eggbeater would if you lifted it out too soon. She was screaming, Jack was screeching and I was wiping dough off of my face and shaking my head.

Next comes the honey butter. Greta was not a fan at this point and asked if she could just suck on the honey bear like a baby with a bottle. Hmmm. I actually thought about letting her do it for a second. This was the kind of morning that you should just stay in bed a tiny bit longer! But, the biscuits were wonderful. We will do it again soon! With more paper towels.

Your Dad the Designer

Derek is a Senior Graphic Designer at VML, an interactive agency, that was just named number one in the Nation by Forrester. Everyone is thrilled. It is huge. And, after seeing all of the hard hours put in, the late nights and the traveling, and many lunches and weekends missed due to conference calls and meetings, I feel a strong sense of pride and admiration for Derek as well as his team and the agency as a whole. Their reputation speaks volumes for them. I feel as though, Greta and Jack, you should see what good work your Daddy does.





I feel so proud. I think he should, too. Besides the long hours, designing and building sites of this caliber takes more than just attention to detail. It takes talent that is rare. Your Daddy is one of a kind!