Getting Shady at Target (May 19)

Renee and Ingrid and I went to Target in Renee's Hummer. The end.

Garden Tour (May 31)

Ingrid and I went on a tour of gardens in our neighborhood. Ingrid was by far the youngest person there and by the end of the day many attendees were greeting her by name. She enjoyed sitting on other peoples patio furniture, waving to old ladies, tasting different types of mulch and looking at doggies. She did NOT like the smell of that rose. She was quite tired by the time we made it back to the stroller for the 20 minute walk to the last garden. Half way there she fell asleep, so I sat on a restaurant porch on Canyon Road and drank beer while Ingrid slept. The last house had an irrigation ditch that dates back to the 1680s cut into the rocky slope behind it. Of course Ingrid needed to get in there.

More fun at the park (May 24)

Ingrid is now brave enough to go down the twisty slide all by herself. Of course she also likes to slide with Daddy. She does still need help with the climbing wall and to get up onto the teeter totter. The modern "safe" teeter totters are kind of pathetic. No jumping off so that your friend crashes to the ground. All it does is bounce gently. Which is pretty exciting for Ingrid.

Back Patio Pleasures (May 11-12)

Ingrid has taken over the back patio now that a kindly gentleman built her a fence to keep her out of the coyote and snake zone. There are plenty of flowers for her to pick, although she prefers "picking" dirt, mulch or rocks. She likes to get into the pool whether or not it has water in it, and also without regard to what she's wearing. Hence the super muddy hippo pants. One odd thing is that she is afraid of lavender. I crushed some in my hand and put it under her nose... she started crying and the next day reacted exactly the same way. Around this time she started walking more than crawling, having realized that (if she pays attention) she can go faster that way and also carry things and suck her thumb all at the same time. Now (June 23) she walks all the time. She has rediscovered rolling though. Rolling is now an integral part of the pre-bedtime game where she is chased around the top of our bed. This is all part of the stuntwoman training she is doing with Mike. He has also decreed that she has to be upside down at least two hour a day if she is going to be an astronaut.