We are offically on First Steps-watch for Otto, meaning we have the video camera ready at all times in case the O-man decides to let go of the precious coffee table, music table, or choo choo train, and take his first solo steps. He's been standing alone for a few weeks now, and pulling up since 6 months, so surely any day those steps will happen.
Incidentally today marks Otto's 3/4 birthday! I should have made him 3/4 of a cake. To see how close he is to walking, despite some well-intended interruptions by AM, see this clip...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6An4mxMiftA
Favorite thing AM has done lately
She loves practicing writing her name, as they have been practicing in "3 year old school." Here's some photographic evidence of an attempt this week. There are a lot of letters in her name, bless her heart, so it looks more like how someone being taken in on a DUI might sign their traffic ticket, but she'll get it!
Favorite thing I ate this week
If you live in Birmingham, you need to check out the New York Butcher Shoppe in Cahaba Heights, http://www.nybutcher.com/. I braved the early stages of ice yesterday to get some of their chicken and sausage gumbo. It was fabulous! I also picked up a half pint of their chicken salad. Yum!
Favorite thing I saw this week
I would not normally fancy myself a circus lover, a circus fan, or even a circus attendee. All early memories of the circus for me involved an actual tent; in small-town NW Florida there was no "civic center" for the circus to set up shop in for the week, so they held the circus in an actual tent. Even as a child, I saw the danger here--one wrong step by an elephant, one loose flip by an acrobat, a pole gets hit, and wham-o, the whole tent collapses. An evening of crossing my fingers that that didn't happen? Who needs it? Plus, cotton candy grosses me out.
However, on Barnum & Bailey's recent trip to Bham, I felt compelled to take AM. She had gone last year with Matthew and our friends, the McDs. I played the pregnancy card and skipped out, so this year I felt I should experience the "greatest show on earth" with AM. Well, let me first say, there is NO tent. Yahoo. How much cleaner, safer, and less "carn-y" does the circus feel when it takes place in a permanent building? Dare I say, a building with real restrooms? Ah, much better. AM loved it, of course! Our seats were first row, so that helped (Buy tickets through Magic Moments every year--http://www.magicmoments.org/--and also enjoy their fun pre-party for kids!)
My one comment...did our country's founding fathers really mean for the American flag to be carried around a by a scantily-clad woman seated atop a miserable elephant while a crowd sings the National Anthem? Probably not, but I'll go with it.
