We drove out to Dearborn to pick Jen up from a conference and have dinner with Uncle Eric but, as you can see, he was on duty and was too busy serving and protecting to take a dinner break (even for Nora). In these photos she’s 2 years and 9 months old. It’s been about two years since I last baked black and white cookies!
What could be more fun than playing with bubbles on a warm summer afternoon? [ as always, click for large version and occasional easter egg ]
We do apologize for the radio silence here at RubberDucky.org of late. As I believe I’ve mentioned before, graduate school is hard. Here are some photos of Nora helping me bake cookies.
There are few things I consider a greater waste of time and resources than lawn maintenance. I haven’t gotten around to a better solution yet, though, so every once in a while I’m forced to break out the old CMM1000 electric mower, get it working again, and mow all of the various plants to a more or less uniform height. This month, Nora decided to help but I’m not a big fan of rushing to the emergency room so I let her help by being carried around the yard and giving me directions.
this was was really high! look at her in relation to Jen. Also note that she’s apparently conducting a wall climbing clinic during her ascent (she’s explaining how one climbs a wall as she climbs). Best part: as she crests the top and stands up she says, “kinda slippy” with her adorable little substitution of /l/ with [w].
It was the best of fruits, it was the worst of fruits. This first picture is a photograph of Jennie a couple of years ago holding a tomato her parents had grown.
This second picture is Nora a couple of days ago holding a tomato her grandparents grew.
I definitely see a strong family resemblance in the tomatoes.
One of Nora’s favorite things right now (and we’ll love every second of it while it lasts) is to be helpful around the house. Last night she helped me make dinner (cornbread, steamed green beans, and sandwiches). We cut and scraped the kernels off some leftover grilled corn from Sunday’s dinner and followed this recipe modified from Mark Bittman:
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups medium-grind cornmeal
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (no aluminum)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
kernels from 2 ears of grilled corn
2 eggs
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
Tonight at bedtime I was singing Nora the Pogues’ “Dirty Old Town*” when, about halfway through, she said to me: “Shane MacGowan. Shane MacGowan.” *pause* “I Nora McGowan. Shane MacGowan. I Nora McGowan.”
“Yes, dear,” says I, “but your teeth will last longer.”
* yes, I often sing Pogues songs as lullabies. “Waxies Dargle” is a particularly fun one as is Behan’s “The Auld Triangle.” The song leading into “Dirty Old Town” tonight was Men at Work’s “Overkill.”
Last Saturday, after picking up our veggies, Nora took a bit of a tumble off a low wall on her way to see the big green foot. She still wanted the picture taken, though, so here’s what Nora looks like when she’s crying (and a picture of some comparatively happy cherry tomatoes).
p.s. 5 minutes later she was laughing and playing and chasing a little girl named Morgan around a tree.
Nora this week got a package in the mail from her friend Salomé. The package turned out to contain our new Bolivian friend “New Baby.” Nora’s creative streak with names continues! Then on Thursday afternoon Nora and Salomé shared a fantastic conversation via Skype. Frankly, I was skeptical that two toddlers could have an engaging video chat but it was really fun and lasted about half an hour.
