A Mindful Life

As a child I liked to collect small items and keep them stored in a little box. Periodically I would open it and look at each item, one by one, remembering where I had found it, or from whom it came. These things often were little souvenirs (mostly found, not purchased) from our many camping [...]

She also knows how to say the name of Husband’s employer, because we have a bib with the logo on it. (Yep, our kid is totally branded.) I say the name of the company because I also wear t-shirts with the logo/name, and since the logo is colorful and interesting, it captures her attention. One [...]

Saturday we went to a friend’s first birthday party. There, Claire discovered that she does like cake and frosting. She just wasn’t interested two weeks ago, on her birthday.

And today we went to the Oakland Zoo. She was thrilled to see giraffes, elephants (her favorite animal as far as we can tell), snakes (a close [...]

Busy watching backhoes dig holes and scoop dirt into dump trucks. Busy going to parks to swing and playing our sandbox on the patio. Busy reading dozens and dozens of books over and over again. Busy cuddling someone who is teething. Busy cooking. Busy buying groceries. Busy cutting up fruit into child bite-size pieces every [...]

Financial market news is so bad I had to give the post that title; otherwise I’d be depressed. And here’s something cute to smile about.more animals

He’s turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now he’s miserable and depressed.
–David Frost

Today was Claire’s 12-month doctor visit. At her 9-month visit she weighed 16 pounds, 5 ounces and was 27 inches tall. Today she weighs 17 pounds, 10 ounces, and is 29.5 inches tall. My little bean sprout. Everything else is normal. The poor child received four vaccinations today (two in each arm). She has the [...]

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To this:

The party was great fun! But our little girl surprised us. She has zero interest in eating cake. She played with the frosting, but even though I put frosting on my finger and in her mouth, she wanted no part of it. She turned her nose up. She’d rather eat fruit! (I’m not [...]

It’s estimated that babies get between four to ten colds in their first year. Up until yesterday, Claire had caught nine colds since birth. And now she has a cold again.
It appears that this one is quick and she has no fever; a friend’s daughter had it and was symptom-free in three days, so perhaps [...]

It is as difficult to keep a child out of a mud puddle as it is to bathe a cat.