Dog days of summer

Up...

...down!

Climbing up to the Big Slide.

The Big Slide - can't believe I'm going to admit this. I can't go down this slide with Helen. It's so narrow at the bottom that um...mommy's "hips" get stuck in the chute. Criminy.

I've been kidding Stewart that this photo of him reaching up to help Helen down the slide looks very Sistine Chapel, no?

Ready for dinner and bed.

Helping to push The Cadillac around the MN Zoo.

Mmmm...zoo gravel...delish.

Making a new friend.

Highly entertaining watching Helen try to round up the chickens.

Giving some thought to going down the slide all by herself.

Stewart had a few days off around Labor Day so we checked out the zoo and the neighborhood parks and wading pools. It was great spending those days together as a family but so hard when Tuesday rolled around and he headed back to work. Helen usually needs at least of day of transition after a change like that - me too. Cranky, cranky and she'll ask me all day, "Dada?" I tell her Dada's at the office doing his work there because someone has to keep us in diapers and beer. I don't really say that last part outloud.

Some of Helen's recent attempts to add to her vocabulary: groundhog (ga-ga), backpack (bah-pah) and eyebrow (ah-bow). I've been realizing more and more how complicated all this is. The other night she asked what was on the end table and I said, "Vase." She pointed to her face. "No, not FFFFace. VVVVVase." She looked at the vase again and pointed to her face. My favorite, though is that her default word is "bah" so if she asks what something is and she can't pronounce it (which she mostly can't yet) she'll make the first consonate sound and add "bah".

Example:

"Whassat?"

"That's a truck. Truck. Say truck."

"Bah."

"Can you say truck? Tih..tih..truck."

"Tih, tih...BAH!"

I love this kid. She is a hoot. So goofy and quick to laugh and giggle. She's a great dancer and she's even already got a couple of power moves. There's The Bouncing Knee Bend, The Foot Stomp and the ol' Ear to Shoulder. About 5:30, I crank up the radio or the iPod and we boogie. Come on over any weekday if you want join in on Dance Party '08!!