Max's Birthday Party Where Harry Mowed the Lawn

And Max had some cake


And opened a lot of gifts


Harry appreciated that the Elmo theme of the party went all the way to the goody bags, and he loved drinking out of his Elmo cup. Also? Animal cracker boxes are good purses.


Harry liked his al fresco dining experience (and a good Italian beef sandwich),



but he mainly wanted to play with the big kids,



which gave him the most delicious red cheeks.



And what about me and Ben? We just stood around looking silly.

Oh yeah! Last weekend!

Harry totally saw his grandparents, and I am a total jackass for waiting until NOW to post the pictures. But post them I will. And then I will go eat the tacos that my fabulous husband is cooking while I type this. Lucky, lucky me.

As usual, I digress. Here's Harry modeling his new Old Navy jeans


Here he is stuffed in his Mega Blocks wagon, which was totally stupid on my part because now he climbs in or on everything and is generally much more hazardous than he was say five or six days ago.


Window shopping with Grandpa, deciding he does not need Bucky overalls, Bucky jammies, or Bucky condoms (okay, I made that last one up, but it's not a bad idea-- spirited AND responsible.)


Maybe you can make out a teeny tiny us in this pciture-- shopping on State Street, where Harry got a funny t-shirt at a store called Pipefitters. Guess what they sell. Come on, guess!


Grooving to grandma's iPod-- and, in case you're wondering, we are no longer matching Harry's jammies or socks. It's cooler this way.


Grandma attempts to save her iPod


Saying goodbye-- check out the refuse Harry has strewn about the room.



And now? Tacos, the smell of which is making me drool. Totally.

[edited to add: yes, we eat at 5-- what's it to ya?]

High Winds, Floods Destroy Fisher Price Farming Community

Little People Farm reported great property damage and several human and livestock injuries Monday morning, after a chain of slow-moving severe thunderstorms wound a path of destruction through the tiny community.

Injured farmer Red-Haired Plastic Guy With the Funny Hat credits his amazing survival to the apparently kind act of a usually menacing giant toddler, who crammed the farmer, along with his cow, sheep, horse, pig, and several unsuspecting passengers of a downed Little People Airlines flight headed for The Kitchen, inside Farmer Red-Haired's own silo.

"Usually I think that drooly enormous baby is a crazed would-be killer," Farmer Red-Haired told reporters. "I mean, you try spending days on end in a tight space with your own sheep, a luggage rack, and some really big socks," he added, noting that the baby giant's plastic blocks can be suffocating.

The farmer, pictured the way rescuers found him after the storms passed, expressed his belief that the residents of Harry's Room County are being denied FEMA aid because of size-ism, stating firmly, "This is discrimination, plain and simple. Thank goodness my silo landed in a pile of ridiculously large books. I think I can salvavge it. As for my crop of really teeny corn and soy beans? Well let's just say the farmer's market is out of the question next weekend. I'd say that's a disaster."

Farmer Red-Haired can only hope the President arrives at the same conclusion and declares Harry's Room County a federal disaster area, preferably before the huge toddler wakes from his morning slumber and inflicts more spitty damage on the ravaged farm.

Chapter 2!

Oh my goodness! Chapter 2 is complete!

(well, the first draft of Chapter 2.)

I just emailed it to myself because you never know when this computer is gonna die.

(not now--not now, not now, not now!!)

Chapter 2, Race and the “Good Mother:” Eugenic Discourse and the Privilege of Childbearing, is D*O*N*E!

(can you sense my excitement here, people?)

Expect Chapter 3, I have No Working Title, So Stop Pressuring Me, on September 30th

(and, please, hassle me accordingly.)

Old MacNoah

Y'all remember Harry's Old MacDonald book? The one that he was obsessed with and brought to us a bajillion times a day, saying "EIEIO?" Well, in Des Moines in May, Bomma got him a Noah's Ark book that looks just like it, with one notable exception:


It's a different story, right? Well, not in Harry's world. Harry will stand patiently there and listen to the story of Noah's Ark, but he just thinks we're reading the book wrong and says "EIEIO" over and over again,pretty nicely, considering how stupid he must think we are, until we sing Old MacNoah.

So, here's my question. I know what the lion says. I know what the elephant says. I can make up plenty of things for ol' Noah to say (things you never heard in the Bible, that's for sure), but what does the zebra say? How about the giraffe? For awhile the giraffe was making horrible death noises because the giraffes at our zoo died a horrible death, but now we have new! live! fresh! giraffes, so I am, once again, at a loss.

Suggestions?

Oh Shit.

When Babies Attack

You know what else has been attacking lately? Allergies. And also rain.

Harry and I have been shopping for his fall wardrobe, and we have a couple complaints.

First of all, seriously, manufacturers and designers of boys' clothes: Not everything needs to have sports figures, cars, or dinosaurs on it. (H&M has none of these things-- instead they have pirates, which is awesome.) (Children's Place, your "Play to Win" shirt is preshus.)

Second, dude, some babies are short, okay, and they are also sick of having their waistbands rolled down and their cuffs cuffed, okay? So how about some jeans for shorties?

Third, BabyGap, you are adorbale and we love you. Now what the hell happened to big people Gap? It sucks and is also very dark.

Still hard at work on my dissertation-- will have an update soon (fingers crossed).