It’s All about Perspective

It is funny how kids can make you see things in a totally different way. This hit home while I was driving to a local park with Alice and Angela. As we passed a local farm, I noticed that there were several horses grazing in the pasture. Knowing Alice's love of animals, I called her attention to this. She peered into the field from the vantage point of her Britax car seat and informed me that "the horses look funny." I did a double take but I did not notice anything odd about them. Albeit, they looked to be miniature horses, but they seemed to have all the typical characteristics of an equine. I asked her why they looked funny to her. She informed me, "Because they don't have any heads." At that moment, the phrase, "What the hell?" came to mind and then in dawned on me. The horses were grazing. The car was going 40 miles per hour. Yes, at that speed, it probably did look like the pasture was filled with headless horses.

 

And there you have it…my Alice-ism of the day.

Charge!!!!!

Angela took her first independent steps about three weeks ago. Now she rarely crawls. I figure by next week she will have evolved from her Baby Frankenstein lurching into a pretty typical gait, until college overindulgences anyway. In about two more weeks, she will probably be happily running about while chasing particles of dust (funny how kids and animals share that trait). I love this stage because it really highlights each child's idiosyncrasies and there is nothing I like better than observing someone else's quirks.


For instance, I love how Angela has used scuttling to her advantage. Somehow she has figured out that if she wants speed, she needs to sidestep. This was particularly amusing while at the shore. Unfortunately, it did have one negative effect. Her crab like saunter resulted in an overwhelming urge to chase her while wearing a lobster bid and smother her with drawn butter. I also like Angela's propensity of pointing to her ultimate destination when walking. I am not sure if it helps her maintain focus or balance, but it is easy to figure out where she is heading by a glance at her outstretched finger. Essentially, I have given birth to the Babe Ruth of walking.


It is funny how the dog has also picked up on this peculiarity. Just when I think Puggie lacks two synapses to fire up, she shows remarkable intelligence. It is nice to see that she has a sense of self preservation. This kicked in rapidly when Angela started toward the dog with a hairbrush in her hand (substitute for the pointing finger). She looked like Don Quixote charging the windmills. Puggie woke up from her perpetual snooze and moved faster than I had seen her in a while. She managed to elude a grooming from Angela mainly due to Angela's lack of coordination. Enjoy the respite now dog. Coordination and speed are just around the corner.

A New Offering from Your Local Library

Thanks to Dora the Explorer, I am able to accomplish three errands per day before Alice gets antsy. For those of you unfamiliar with the "Dora formula", Dora and her monkey friend Boots must complete a task in each episode. To do so, they consult Map to figure out the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Map always gives Dora and Boots three locations that they must pass through in order to get to their ultimate destination. For some reason, this just clicks for Alice; so, whenever I have to do something with her (and Peanut), we break it down into three steps. Today we had grocery store, hair cut, and library.
                   
It was on the way to the library that Alice provided me with my daily "scratch my head" moment. While I drove, I talked up the fun things that we would do once we got there.


"Alice, we are going to get some new books and new movies. Isn't that…"


"And pickles," Alice interjected.


"Huh?" I asked.


"We are going to get some pickles too," Alice clarified.


I decided to overlook the fact that I have never seen this child eat a pickle in her almost four years on this planet; and, instead, correct her mistaken belief regarding what constitutes proper library materials. Alice would have none of it. She was adamant that one could get pickles from the library. Apparently, she was privy to some new program, which despite loss of funding for libraries in general, was going to be instituted. So let me know what you think of the "Pickles for Patrons" program the next time you check something out.