Playtime with hangers

Daddy/daughter kite flying

Sarah and I flew a kite for the first time late Wednesday afternoon. It was my first time flying a kite in at least 20 years. I can only remember a couple instances of kite activity, and both times I had to run with the kite behind me to get it into the air. But it wouldn't stay in the air, it would crash back to earth, leaving me shaking my head. This time, the kite took right off, and Sarah was instantly mesmerized.

Here we are, watching the kite soar upward. This is our backyard, so there's a tree in one direction, and another tree in the other direction. And the wind is whipping the kite back and forth like Willow Smith's hair, so I can't let it get too high. Besides, Sarah likes it better when the kite's yellow plastic tail is close enough to the ground for her to jump for it and still not catch it.

That square yellow bucket, by the way, is half of a washers set bought for my family by a visiting friend a couple summers ago. Every time it's nice outside, I pull out the washer tubs and tell myself I'll master the art of tossing the red and blue rubber-metal rings for the next hoosier Memorial Day barbecue I'm at. And I never get any better. If the bucket was four inches wider on all sides, I'd make almost every shot. Also, if I was throwing from two feet away, I'd probably make almost every shot.

Sun setting. Kite stuck in tree. A good time to go inside and get some juice. I'm glad my daughter doesn't know the word "clumsy" yet.

Grandparents’ visit

My mom held onto this French-tailored dress from her childhood and passed it down to Sarah. This picture itself looks vintage to me. First time I saw it, I told Tiffany it reminded me of the Kennedy assassination footage, and two hours later, we happened upon a "Kennedy Home Movies" special on TLC. Pretty sure I saw the dress at some point.

Tiffany's mom, Grandma Ginny, with Silas. My in-laws drove up today to have lunch with us. They brought lasagna and salad with strawberries, clementines and sweet poppyseed dressing. It was low-stress, high-quality family time.

Sarah kept Grandpa Jim in a constant state of activity during his visit. This is one of their quieter moments.

Sarah stands atop an upside-down Bumbo, shirt pulled way up, while Grandma Ginny gives her a hand and Silas stares at his right foot.

Pictures of Saturday

The weather was beautiful today, somewhere around 45 degrees. Sarah and I spent an hour walking around the neighborhood and splashing in every puddle we found. This was the last splash before going back inside. Note the wicked splash action coming off Sarah's right foot in this shot.

The yellow stick is the base of some kind of Swiffer miracle dusting product we've never used. Sarah instead commandeered it for a play session made twice as productive once Mom and I showed her how to release and retract the white duster-holder arm thingy.

Silas smiles widely almost every time we make eye contact with him. But rarely does he hold his smile when the camera's out. More often, I get the Dumbfounded Baby look, which is still darn cute.

Not long after Sarah was born, Tiffany started saving all the caps to our laundry detergent containers. As you can see, we are not loyal to a particular brand and size of detergent, which makes the sorting and stacking of toddler play more fun.

Toddler with flowers

Andrew Hicks

When you up your blog productivity to once a day from two or three times per week or just whenever you feel like writing it, you start using little tricks you wouldn’t have considered before. List-oriented posts, writing heavy on back story, and now the photo essay. Ah yes, the photo essay, the easiest way to fill a bunch of space, especially when you’ve got a cute little kid playing with flowers.

My mom ordered a huge, beautiful bouquet delivered to our house for Tiffany’s birthday. It came in the early evening, Tiffany fawned over it and primped it up just the way she wanted it (while, I think, I was off changing a diaper or something) then went to bed early. An hour or so later, Sarah managed to sneak up to the flowers and pluck out a red rose and that yellow daisy or daffodil or delphinium or whatever that is.

And, instead of getting the flowers away from her, I pulled out the camera. Below are Figures 1.1-1.4. Missing are Figure 1.5, in which Sarah spits out the rose petals, and Figures 1.6-3.1, in which Tiffany awakens in the middle of the night, tries to get a peek at her beautiful floral birthday bouquet, finds out there are flowers missing, and expresses her displeasure with yours truly.

Figure 1.1 -- Here, Sarah is already done sniffing the yellow flower and is enjoying the texture of the petals on her lower lip.

Fig 1.2 -- Sarah introduces the rose to her nasal palette.

Fig 1.3 -- Sarah shoves rose petals into her mouth.

Fig 1.4 -- Gleeful, enthusiastic rose-chewing.