Syntax of Things

Two

She ended her second year with a wasp sting on the forehead, which in some cultures I'm sure is a sign of good fortune.  She'll begin her third year with some barefoot piano playing and a lot of cake.

The wasps have been eliminated.

Marlie Photo Friday: Happy 4th

Marlie took in her first baseball game last night.  She enjoyed Cracker Jacks, the kiddie play area, the between inning music, and several walks toward the world-famous Durham Bull sign where she would point out all of the drains in the sidewalk.  In other words, we're still a few years away from Marlie being interested in anything between the foul lines.

Tonight's question:  Do we take a kid who is afraid of the sound of vacuum cleaners and car horns to a firework show?  Probably not.

Marlie Photo Friday: Schooling Fish

From Elaine, "Turn your back for one second and this is what happens..."

And now you know why I've given up on keeping books on the bottom shelves throughout the house in any sort of order.

The Air We Breathe

Syntax of Things has a new hero:  ex-Major League pitcher Bert Blyleven (pictured right), who should be in baseball's Hall of Fame not only for being a pretty damn good pitcher but also for what he reveals in this interview:

Q: Speaking of pride, what about this T-shirt you've been photographed wearing that says, "I [heart] to fart"?
BB: I LOVE to fart.
Q: What's wrong with you?
BB: I'm honest. Have you ever farted?
Q: One or two times.
BB: And did it feel good?
Q: Always.
BB: Probably so. That's why I wore it. I love to fart. I do. When the time is right, I do it. I'm not going to hide it.
Q: You're so blunt about your love for flatulence.
BB: Yeah. Well, someone gave me the shirt because of my history of farting, so I wear it. I LOVE to fart. I think I still have it.
Q: What gets you really gassy?
BB: Anything. The air we're breathing right now.
Q: Should I be ready for something?
BB: I have no trouble. It's not one thing that I eat, it's just passed down from my father. My father was a very good farter. I have a sister who's very good at it, too. Probably better than I am.

Speaking of, I hope my wife doesn't mind me sharing this little tidbit of wee one lore that she sent out in an email to the family:

The other day,I had her [Marlie] on the bed asking her to make a "happy face, sad face" to cough, to sneeze, to hiccup and then, for kicks, to poot.  She happily obliged on it all except for the pooting--I didn't hear anything...and I thought to myself, "Elaine, maybe I shouldn't ask her this, it could be trouble..." --but then--all of a sudden, the smell wafted its way up to my nose.  A Silent but Deadly she did!  A girl that can poot on command!  Lovely.  Just lovely.

She is her Daddy's daughter, no?

Such talent for a 22-month-old kid.  Does her daddy proud!

Jerk

Question:  Does the five-second rule apply even if at least a second of the five was spent in a dog's mouth?

Answer:  When there are high-pitched toddler screams involved, there are no rules.

If you make it to the end, you'll see a beautiful lesson in forgiveness.

Marlie Photo Friday: Gardening Pals*

*Sorry I keep getting included in these photos.  And you just missed getting a view of my gardener's crack in this one.

Marlie Photo Friday: Singing in the Rain

Animal Farm

The SoT family took a field trip on Friday to the outskirts of Raleigh to see some living, breathing farm animals.  The cool part was that not only did they have the farm animals there for the viewing and petting, but they had adult and baby versions of said animals.  So Marlie got to pick up a chick, pet a baby goat, see a two-week-old calf, and stare lovingly at a foal.  I don't know if I've mentioned before that Marlie has been learning sign language since she was no more than six months old.  So she spent much of the day saying what the animal was, flashing its sign, and then imitating what the animal says.  Not bad for 20-month-old kid, I must say.

While she may not appear all that happy in the photo above sitting next to the goofball that is her father, in reality she's staring at a line of tractors that had been set up for the kids to climb into.  In fact, out of all of the things to see, the tractors came in a close second as far as her enjoyment, just below the free ice cream she received at the end of the tour.

For a video of Marlie checking out turkeys and chickens, go here.

Singing the Blues (Clues)

Writing the Great American Novella

Hey Marlie! Obama Won Iowa!

Under New Ownership

She's demanding that I get back to work on Syntax of Things.  I have no choice.  See you soon.

Leaves

Cheeken says: Happy Halloween, Clucker!

Wee One Photo Friday

Studying Warhol can be exhausting.

Wee One Photo Friday: N.C. State Fair Edition

Ah, the fair, where a kid can be a Teletubby.  Notice the kickbutt shirt that cool dude behind her is sporting.  I got the stink-eye from one or two people whom I believe had read the quote from Howl on the back.  This is the state fair, after all. 

And what would a fair be without a deep fried something that shouldn't be deep fried, in this case a couple of Reese's Cups.  I love how they sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top.  Just in case.

It should be mentioned that Marlie's first pony ride will forever be remembered for the pony directly across from us in the circle of ponies.  During a stop in the action to allow the ponycarnie to clean some ponyapples from the hay, said pony became a little agitated and nearly threw a petrified little girl.  Needless to say, I grabbed Marlie and made for the exit.  You can never be too careful in an enclosed space with a bunch of ponies.

Music Makes the Bourgeoisie

As painful as it is to have anything Madonna that isn't negative associated with Syntax of Things, I have to post this video of the wee one getting her groove on to Madge.  Technically, I think more credit is owed to Ellen for showing Marlie the moves, but Madonna provides the beat. As for Marlie, she may be only fifteen months old but she's already a better dancer than her dad.  Witness:

If anyone is interested in how much a wee one can grow in a year, check out this video from one year ago today.

Baby Photo Friday: Ain't A Baby Anymore

Baby Photo Friday

Super Special New Guest Reviewer

Since I'm not doing a very good job of it as of late, I thought I would bring in a guest reviewer to help get through this TBR pile, which I'm currently trying to weed my way through as I speak.  If you think the NBCC folks feel threatened by blogs, wait until you see her act.  It might have John Freeman looking to buy one of those old nuclear missile silos so that he can bury himself away from this cruel technological world.  "Be gone e-mail!  Be gone blogs!  Be gone baby book lovers!"  Anyway,  I couldn't get this special guest reviewer* to sit down long enough to type it out so we tried capturing her thoughts on video and though she tends to get a tad narcissistic at times, I think she does a pretty good job relaying just how hard it is to put this book down.  Here she is with her first effort, a review of Dallas Hudgens' new novel Season of Gene, which we agree is a nice second novel by a promising writer from D.C. (more from me about it later):

*Full disclosure:  I had to pay her in Nilla Wafers and a couple of shots of warm milk.

Baby Photo Friday: Baby No More

Don't you wish all books had quarter-inch thick pages?  Imagine the size of Vollmann's next novel if that were the case.

Dear to My Heart

I'm doing housework today, and since I know readers of this blog, myself included, always enjoy seeing those cute photos of Jeff's pride and joy, I beg your indulgence and hope you won't mind my posting this pic of my own:

Baby Photo Friday: Piano Marl

Baby Photo Friday: The "Look Who's One" Edition

Paw Day

I snapped this photo on Saturday afternoon in Raleigh's Pullen Park, where the wee one, wife, and I enjoyed an afternoon of carouseling.  Not to go all "what I did on my Father's Day weekend" type blogging on you, but I have to say that now that I'm on the other side of this whole Father's Day business, it really ain't a bad thing.  Meaning, I actually put aside all plans to revamp this here blog's design, even the plans to be productive and catch up on some long overdue tasks, and spent most of the weekend being just a dad.  And despite my love of books, of music, of movies, of all of the things that usually get written of here, there's nothing better, at least nothing that I've found, that even comes close to matching the time one gets to spend with an appreciative, sweet, utterly loving nearly one-year-old child. 

And just when I thought my first Father's Day couldn't be any better, what with the nice gifts and the still-mushy-by-necessity breakfast and the declaration by my wife that I could just relax and do whatever on "my day", I got treated to the best present of all, Marlie's newest word, "book," a word I think she was saving up just for me.  Just for my day.