I'm golden

1. Daughter is still experiencing growing pains related to attending a new school.

2. She has just been diagnosed with an ear infection AND pneumonia.

3. Economy is in fiscal ruin and is likely to degenerate into a system using spices, canned goods and children as currency any day now.

4. I am getting ready to board a flight to Baltimore – ditching my wife and child for the long weekend in favor of a long weekend of "hanging out with the guys."

How do you spell Parent of the Year?

M-I-K-E

But wait! There's more!

And how about a little video to round things out.

I know. I'm too good to you.

If you wait long enough, it will happen.

Yes, I've finally updated. I commend the Maggie's of the blogoshpere for not nagging me about posting. (I know it was hard for you.) There were a million and one things to take care of – and unfortunately updating the blog was at the bottom of the list.

Kaylee had her last day at her old day care yesterday. I was the lucky one, I got to drop her off. So I only had to deal with the threats of kidnapping ("You know your baby won't be here when you come back, right? I'm gonna snatch her up.") while Rae had to deal with the tearful good-byes. (And this is Rae we're talking about. There were tears.) Kaylee's class even made her a good-bye card complete with photos and painted hand prints. It also made Rae cry.

Kaylee starts the new school on Monday. This will also make Rae cry.

Kaylee is really enjoying "helping" Rae with any food prep. (And by helping I mean mixing the banana bread until half of it is on the floor.) They say that if you let kids help you cook, they are more likely to be interested in eating. That may be true for banana bread – but I don't think the theory holds water when it comes to vegetables.

This Skype thing is pretty cool. Kaylee is always asking to "see picture Alice" – and now those picture move and talk back. Pictured is a "picture James" – not quite the same, but a decent substitute.

We made another trip to the zoo last weekend.
The flamingos were a hit ...

... and they inspired imitation.

The bird house is always a favorite destination. It's a huge enclosure where you get up close and personal with birds of all sizes and colors. Kaylee loves hunting for them and watching their every move.

Unless they get too close to her stroller. Because that's HER stroller, and she'll be damned if any stupid bird gets to ride in it.

We also made the switch to a big girl bed. (Which you know if you've been following the Twitters.) It's the exact same bed, we just took the front panel off.

It freaked her out a bit at first ...

... but the first night went OK ...

... but we've also found her like this a few times. I don't know if she's rolling or climbing out, but either way we find her on the floor every now and then.

Last night she wasn't feeling very well when she went down, and later I found her passed out on the floor next to a pile of vomit. I didn't think that was supposed to happen until college. And even then she's not supposed to tell me about it.

uh-huh

There's an update, with photos, coming. I swear. Once I get around to it. Monday is just a bad, bad, bad day.

Oh - and I'm still working on gathering the footage I need for the video. I'm not slacking, my subject just doesn't want to cooperate. Besides, most of you have seen her Mr. T impression already.

She pities the fools.

Currently obsessed with ...

TRUCKS – to the point where she will stop eating and cry until you let her out of her chair so she can look out the window. Too bad Papa Allen isn't driving the big rigs anymore, I think she'd get a kick out of that.

Fun day

I started off my morning by making two women cry. Or at least pushing them to the verge of tears. The two in question would be Kaylee's teacher and the woman who runs the daycare.

I told them that next week would be Kaylee's last with them – and that we're switching her to a preschool. They weren't happy. But it's nice to know that she'll be missed! 

Apparently – most of the daycare was in a funk as word spread. It's apparent that Kaylee really has become one of the favorites of the staff. And while we're sure Kaylee will miss them (not to mention some of the kids) we're sure she's going to love the new place.

Even if it is more expensive. And a little further away from my office. And we have to pack her lunch every day.

More later. Sleep now.

Vegas: By the numbers

So I'm back from my Vegas trip. (All work and no play makes Mike a dull boy.) It was great to get out and recharge my batteries and to see colleagues from around the world – but I'm happy to be home with my girls again.

4 • Number of nights spent at the swank Red Rocks Spa and Casino in Las Vegas.

160 • Starting nightly rate for a hotel room at the hotel. (Thank god for the conference discount!)

12 • Approximate miles from "the strip."

0 • Minutes spent actually on "the strip."

75 • Gambling losses. (Pai Gow is lots of fun and slightly addictive – I'm glad my group left the table while I still had some chips in my hand.) 

75 • Total amount spent on gambling. (That's right – ZERO winnings. I rule.)

2 • Average time I went to bed.

7:30 • Average time I woke up in the morning.

2 • Number of drinks actually purchased for myself during the entire trip.

? • Number of drinks actually consumed. (There's a lot of free booze in Vegas.)

4 • Strikes bowled at the Casino's VIP lanes.

2 • Number of sessions I actually chose to attend. (The rest of the time I was running around working the conference.)

1 • Pay-per-view movies watched from the comfort of my room when I was feeling slightly antisocial. (No, not one of THOSE movies ... )

10 • Number of seconds it took Kaylee to want to go to Rae once all three of us were finally in the same place again. :-P

All in all a great trip. I can't wait to go back – but next time, I'll take Rae with me. Who wants Kaylee for a weekend?!

Not that you were expecting an update ...

But you're going to have to wait a while for one. I'm Vegas-bound, which means no child updates for the next few days. (Unless Rae decides to pose as me and post. But she won't have time to do that.) In the meantime know that I've got some video coming ... and she's cute.

A few random updates

• Kaylee's getting more and more timeouts. Mainly for throwing fits, testing boundaries, etc. You'd think she was approaching 2-years-old or something.
  
• I think a big part of it comes from the day care we have her in. (Because I see it in the behavior of those evil, evil children when I drop her off in the mornings.) Hence Rae and I scoping out a few new schools when I get back next week.
  
• Kaylee is officially calling all the animals by name instead of just "kiki" and "puppy." Now we have "Mas," "Gabby," "Eddie" and "Chrpchop."
  
• Kaylee is very excited about my trip because I'll be on an "airpayne." The only thing she loves more is the neighbor kid's "byekycle."
  
• The potty is going over well – and she uses it almost every time we change her diaper. Now we just need to get her to tell us she needs to use it before we change her diaper.
  
• Rae has been trying to figure out what to call Kaylee's underpants (diapers right now, of course). She started out with "knickers" but decided to switch to "panties" after a rather unfortunate mispronunciation. Believe it or not, even Kaylee can't make racial slurs cute.
• "Green Eggs and Ham" appears to be the new favorite book. I'm glad since it was one of my favorites – but damn, that's a long book at bedtime.
  
• Kaylee doesn't quite know the difference between Quicktime and Skype. She was very excited to see the movie of Alice that Becky posted – but was a little confused when Alice wouldn't answer her. (Though she enjoyed going along with the Happy Birthday prompts from Becky.)
  

I'm going to quit before I've got an accidentally unofficial "Ten on Tuesday" on Saturday.

Like mother ...

Wii would like to play. And Kaylee would too.

Window watching

Just a random picture of a little girl and her bumble.

Bird watching.