especially for laura bo

the joys of grocery store shopping

Grocery Store Drama

Watching 300 pounds in the bakery walking on stick-thin stilettos and realizing someone is eventually going to get hurt.

Seeing dirty hands open a jar of pickles, take one out, replace the lid, and set the jar back on the shelf.

Listening to a child beg for sugar cereal while the adult grabs for bran flakes; the entire contents of the cart: junk food and diet soda.

Witnessing the violent shaking of melons; squeezing for firmness; and smelling for ripeness. A half dozen damaged melons later, repeats abuse on the first melon and places in cart.

Waiting in the meat section where the woman sporting hair rollers is standing in front of the meat you want to purchase, giving the butcher a lifetime history of what she will and won't buy, and asks his advice in selecting a cut of meat all the while criticizing each suggestion.

Darting around the lovely older couple in an argument over, of all things, toilet paper.

Staring at the flip-flop, greasy haired, pony tailed mother with the four dirty kids packed into the cart, each with dripping noses, trying to buy three-two beer and cigarettes with food stamps while eight months pregnant.

Standing in the checkout line behind Coupon Queen Bette as she counts out every damn penny she found in pockets while washing laundry.

Oh the joys of grocery shopping!

~ (c) Sam Bagley, 2010

digging up weeds with daddy

big playground, big owie

With all the sun we've been having, we took Kaemon Ze to the playground at Washington Park. It's huge. Kids running and screaming; squealing, bouncing, dashing, sliding. Basically having a blast! I stopped to take this shot of Kaemon Ze (above). He took the opportunity to lean up on a railing. Then, he leaned over the railing... maybe you see where this is going.

My shutter caught this just as he went forward - and over the railing. I yelled for Jason to help and managed to grabbed his foot, but he slipped through my grasp. I was left with his shoe in my hand and a horrific slow-mo view of him landing on his face - 4 feet down.

He's OK. I wanted to puke, but he is OK. He was quite upset, as you might imagine. He ended up with a scrape on his forehead, cheek, and nose. Minutes later he was swinging, and then back up on the play structure with us hot on his heels.

playing 'hats' with dad

friday fun

He tuckered himself out playing so hard
in the yard/garden. Digging dirt. Throwing dirt.
Moving dirt. Tasting dirt (ew!).

At one of the nearby parks, with Daddy. (I'm there, too.) :)

dino dinner

Saw this dinosaur on the counter after
Jason plated the cornish hens he cooked.
Thought it was rather funny...

Kaemon Ze's buddy, Laura, gave him a sweet chocolate bear for Valentine's Day. This is what's left. (He did share with Shannan, Brian, Lori, me, and Daddy.)

really...?! he's this big??

Taken today, by Daddy. Wow.

skype goodness

(shy niece)

random act of kindness

I pulled out my car's owner manual and flipped it open to the Table of Contents, looking for weight limits on my built-in car seat and saw this: "How Do I Teach Love?...Chapter 6" and "Love and Romance...Chapter 9." Huh. I actually wondered if Toyota had come up with a new way to list the basics of car ownership. I flipped through the pages and saw this gem: "Random happenings in the world neither wait for, nor depend upon, human understanding." *flip, flip* "You don't have to know what happens in death to appreciate what happens in life." I closed the book and saw a box with the words, "CAUTION: Ideas in this Manual could be hazardous to your belief system and may not be suitable for some religious groups." OMG! I was so excited! HOW DID THIS GET IN MY GLOVEBOX??

My "real" owner's manual was buried under more items. How long had the "other" owner's manual in there? Who put it there? My husband said he didn't do it. I'd LOVE to know who did this FREAKIN' AWESOME Random Act of Kindness! Please tell me! One guess Jason came up with: it could have been placed there by previous owner and I just never noticed it. That's entirely possible... but my "feeling" is that is someone else. :) How fun! THANK YOU!

I think I'll posted more of these gems... I'm just so delighted!

birthday celebrations

Happy Birthday, Claudia!

sunday waffles

Shannan baked homemade treats (what are they called?) for Sunday Waffles. Yum!

play date with emma

our big boy in his infant seat

Jason brought in Kaemon Ze's infant car seat - to clean and return to our sweet friend, SuperKenn and Annie. Little Dude saw the seat and decided he needed to be in it. Seriously... look how BIG he is!

a good read

This morning, I put Kaemon Ze on the bed so I could put some clothes away. He plopped back on the pillows and I gave him one of his favorite books to read - a model clay photo book themed, "town." There are no words, just pictures of people doing every-day things: shops, cars, construction; and the bus. He really likes the tabs on the side - makes it super easy (and interesting) to turn the pages. Bairbre and Warren gave Kaemon Ze a set of these kinds of books. He is so loved. ;)

Bairbre and Warren, this shot's for you. :)

valentine fun

I got a notice in the mail from Art Media that they were running their annual Valentine's contest. The contest has two categories: one for those over 12 and one for those 12 and under. All you have to do is make a Valentine. Gift cards to Art Media is the prize. I thought it would be fun to see if Kaemon Ze had any interest in creating a Valentine. Boy did he!

This is the one he and I took to Art Media today. It was hard to pick; he made several and they were all very different. I don't expect that he'll win, but I thought it'd be cute to have an entry in the contest from a 15-month old boy. :)

If you would like to enter your Valentine, follow this link.

a great opportunity

Hello - just helping to spread the news: Jason is offering a FREE 5-week Love & Logic, starting this Sunday (February 7, 2010). There is still time to register - details below.

I got this awesome e-mail from our mama-friend, Susan:

I'm almost through the love and logic book from birth to 6 months and am feeling liberated and excited. Najam and I have been reading and discussing it together in the evenings. I read Dr. Sears book on discipline while pregnant with Zamir because I've never felt comfortable disciplining children and felt that I needed an "approach." The love and logic method is a natural extension of the attachment parenting method that the Sears book recommends but has more "rubber hit the road" advise which is helpful and seems to jive with our sensibilities. Thanks so much for the book recommendation! ~ Susan

Jason says:

Feel free to share this invitation with anyone you think may be interested. If you'd like to attend, or learn more, just e-mail me (whimsicalpassions@gmail.com) or call me (503-887-3507).

For a limited time tuition is waived, even for future classes. Full info can be found at these links:

Simple Flyer (pdf)

Detailed Flyer (pdf)

Participants enjoy learning these effective, time tested (and often fun!) ways to interact with babies, toddlers & young children in ways that bring out their best. The curriculum is backed up by a long history of success and some memorable stories.

Lots of free tools and resources are available here: http://www.loveandlogic.com/articles.html

Basic Flyer - Custom

Early Childhood Parenting Detailed Invite