FOUR MONTHS????

Wow, I knew it had been a long time since I posted to the blog, but I hadn't quite realized that it had been over four months. Oops.

It was a long and very busy summer. We went camping and swimming. We went to Great America and the Renn Faire. We went to outdoor concerts, festivals, farmers' markets, and more. I started school. Squid started a new daycare. We watched all that Netflix has to offer in Classic Doctor Who.

We also discovered the fountain in Millenium Park.

Squid also turned 2. She had a super-awesome superhero. It was a little cold (IN JULY!) for her to wear her Wonder Woman tutu, but she had fun nonetheless. We had a Spidey pinata, handed out masks so people could go incognito, and ate a watermelon cut to look like a birthday cake.

Watermelon Cake!

No beating this pinata!

OH! And here is a pic of Squid in her Spidey swimsuit, like I promised you all months and months ago:

Never doubt a determined mommy!

Squid is growing up fast and talking a ton. We are still having the occasional issue with people assuming that she would rather have something covered in Princesses than Superheroes. As of this writing, Squid can name at least 6 superheroes when she sees them. She doesn't know a single Princess. She still loves Spidey, but she has a new thing for Ironman.

Also, she is crazy for the the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker). Although she always recognizes the Doctor no matter which form he is in, her favorite is Four. She is dressing as him for Halloween. I really need to get to work on the scarf. I have taught her to shake her fist in the air while screaming, "MOFFAT!" It was a proud moment.

Oh! And Squid's new obsession is trains. We may nickname her Sheldon. She got a small, wooden Thomas the Tank Engine set for her birthday. Her favorite restaurant is a place called Tyler's Tender. They deliver your meal on a train!

Here she is, checking out their O-scale train.

We got some weird looks recently when we entered a hobby shop just to look around. I don't think the old guys there believed me when I told them that the 2-year-old girl with me wanted to see trains. About the 10th time she had me pick her up to look at the assembled model they had, they handed us a model train catalog and told us about the garden-scale train at a nearby arboretum.

I promise to make time for this blog again. We are finally getting into a rhythm with school and work and life. I leave you with one of Squid's 2 year pictures:

Courtesy of Klassyc Memories Photography

Daddy's Birthday!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. He's an April Fool's baby. It explains a lot. Trust me.

Due to work and scheduling issues, we didn't plan anything for this momentous occasion. But, I still wanted to do something for his birthday. I knew I would be bringing Squid with me to work yesterday for the "parent hand-off", so I thought, "How cute would it be for Squid to come to work carrying a bouquet of balloons?" So, of to Party City we went.

We looked at a bunch of balloons and Squid was pretty much fixated on Elmo and Spider-Man. We discussed the options as we waited in line (basically, Squid saying, "Elmo!" and me saying, "I don't think daddy will like Elmo as much as he would like Spider-Man." And her saying, "Spidey!").

An eavesdropping older woman in front of us commented on how cute the Squid is, then bent down to her and said, "I think your daddy would probably prefer to get one of the football balloons, don't you?" I explained that daddy doesn't really like football. So she said, "Well, they have basketball balloons, too. Maybe you should get him some of those instead of Elmo or Spider-Man."

Umm...No, lady. Daddy hates sports. Seriously. All sports. Well, he likes fencing, rugby, and roller derby, but they don't have balloons for those. Not all men like sports. Get over it!

Ok, what I said was, "No. He really doesn't get into any sports. He will like the Spider-Man balloons best." And Squid said, "Spidey?"

So, we ordered the Spider-Man birthday bouquet and the lady filling the balloons asked if they were for Squid. We explained that they were for daddy, and she said she figured. So, I mentioned that Squid picked them out. How she loves Spider-Man almost as much as she loves Elmo. The employee said, "Really? Most little girls like Hello Kitty instead."

As she filled the balloons, Squid smiled and squealed and pointed excitedly, saying, "Spidey! Spidey!" Then she started humming and dancing, presumably to the theme song in her head. The employee laughed and said that Squid is the coolest kid she's ever met.

We know...