DESTRUCTION

It's gotten to the point where Ida can often entertain herself for periods of time; often she's just hanging out in her closet, pooping, or moving all the pharmaceuticals from the closet into our bed. Last night we were having an adult conversation in the kitchen and left her alone for a while. I decided to check on her, but it was too late.

Some Photos that Amy says are like her favorites of Ida

Isn't that nice? Amy is nice, and so is Briana.



Lately, Ida thinks she's cool.



When she reads "G is for Goat" she has to kiss every goat in the book, so it takes a long time. Beware!

FIRE

While Dad was knocking on the gates of American Literature today, Ida and Ida Mama lit up a big fire and went Rut Vining. Instead of wieners, though, they had some meatballs and marshmallows...



How about that DKV, ya pyro? Some say Ida preferred the marshmallows to the fire.



These two ladies (and baby) were showing off their bellies the other day, but the camera wouldn't recharge fast enough to catch the skin.



As Ella said, "Well, you know, some moments aren't meant to be photographed, and sometimes people don't like to be photographed."

Ida Cries and Laughs at Tumbleweeds!

Sometimes at daycare they just like to make Ida cry and take pictures of it!



Aw!



Just kidding, Tumbleweeders!



And thanks for the photos!



And the worms, Briana! Thanks!

Ida vs. Stripes

Pretty slow, round here. Lots of work. Not like anyone is making anyone else drink Dr. Bonner's Soap or anything. But Ida has strong feelings about choosing her clothing these days.



(She's pro-stripes.)



and likes to sit on her Mama's ever-diminishing lap:



Here's her friend:

Full Fit + Further Wisdoms of Elsie

It was really hard trying to fit these three car seats into the Honda Fit. But I did it, and got these three girls to school. It's nice; Ida and Elsie like to hold Baby Theo's hands while they ride along. Elsie has been downright revelatory lately; this is another in a series of conversations (where I'm driving and the girls are sitting behind me):

[This conversation has been redacted because someone on-line labeled it "inappropriate"; that's Elsie, for ya.]

(In a conversation yesterday Ida asserted that she was a tiger; Elsie stated that she was a boy, then changed her mind and decided to be a tiger. Ida said, "No, no, no, no." Eventually they compromised: Ida was a big tiger, Elsie was a little tiger.)

All Action at Tumbleweeds

Actually it's just "Tumbleweed," but Elsie has ruint us all. It's a nice place (evidently even Baby Theo goes there, now?) and I stole these pictures from them:





(Nice to know that Elsie makes this "Bradford hide your upper lip" kind of face when at school.)

the famous slumber party.

The aforementioned sickness laid out Mama so hard she missed her first day of work EVER. Meanwhile, Dad was also ridiculously ill and flew away to Utah to talk about himself. Who leapt in to helP? Uncle Arthur, Aunt Maggie, and those friendly cousins Elsie and Theo:



It was the first slumber party ever! Much lobbied for by the Vining-Bradfords, who took full advantage of this moment...

iPhoto from Arthur's iPhone

Ida home sick! A report

clarification, by Elsie

I was driving the girls to Tumbleweeds today, and Elsie straightened me out on some things.

P: So, who's going to be there, today. Issa?

E: Yeah.

P: Is Issa your friend?

E: Issa Ida friend.

P: IS Kaito Ida's friend?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

P: Is Ida Elsie's friend?

E: Ida Elsie cousin.

P: Is Kaito Ida's friend?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

P: Are Issa and Kaito Elsie's friends?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

P: Is Issa Elsie's friend?

E: Issa Ida friend.

P: Kaito is Ida's friend?

E: Kaito Elsie friend.

I: No, no, no , no.

Daddy Goat!

We went to the zoo yesterday because Ida was having some dog/goat confusion in the books we were reading. Our interaction with the goats cleared this up. Ida named 6 of the goats "Daddy Goat" and one "Ida Goat" (who seemed to be eating the wall of the barn); this goat here bit a girl, not long after this shot.



Elsie came with us and is very pro-monkey, but a little more afraid of the goats. We attempted to document this, but ran out of battery power.

Sisters

We're happy to see a (rare) flurry of activity on our sister blogs. Speaking of sisters, here's some nice photos of Ella's sister, Maggie, also known as Aunt Maggie.



Furthermore, Elsie and Theo are sisters.

A return to movies

Okay, I'm weak. Tumbleweeds is closed for MLK, and Ida Mama's working, and then Ida went on a real "cleaning up" spree (note this, Ida Mama) that I wanted to document...



...then she wanted to see it, and then she wasn't satisfied until she got to make another movie. Listen to her say, "Hi Movie!"

Ida vs. Braids

Wants them; doesn't want to sit still to have them done.



See how big Ida got in the 2+ weeks of 2009 that we weren't documenting her?



I hope that last post made clear how much affection we all feel for Uncle Arthur. He's an outstanding individual. Ida also likes tigers and pigs.

Uncle Arthur!

In our ongoing series discussing seminal figures in Ida's life, it's time to discuss the return of Uncle Arthur!

I mean, you should witness how delighted Ida was to see him; she squealed and stamped her little feet. And last night she and Elsie were climbing around upon his fine form. Had I been taking pictures, I'd have captured that image, for certain.

Anyway, it's true that he's going to drink all the beer, but it's nice that (hopefully) he's going to do some daycare drop-offs, pick-ups. Because I have been singing E-I-E-I-O with those girls twice a day, and also hearing all about Daddy Pete and Uncle Arthur from them both. It's just way too much responsibility to have two families. For me, anyway.

It's true that that's a funny picture; since I'm not taking photos, these days, I'm left with what I can find on the web. And he's a dude with a lot of different looks. For example, "Friendly Sideburner":



and "Deviltron":