tents and toes

today i read a bit on a blog i love called dooce about a toddler named leta who destroys a dvd player.

toddlerhood.... just today shuggie ripped a good size hole in a big shiny page of a library book with her foot. it wasn't really a defiant move this time (unlike leta, shuggie does have a sneaky streak). this incident was part of the toe thing.

shuggie wants to feel everything with her toes. that's her version of a litmus test. it has to feel good on the toesies. fruit cocktail, keyboards, telephones, cabinets, wine glasses, reading glasses, remote controls, cheerios, radios, doggie bones,car keys...they've all been touched by the toes.

that's quite a love affair... her and those toes. i've never seen anything like it.

so we were looking at an animal book. the page was full of snakes. she wanted to know what a picture of snakes felt like with her toes. unfortunately she had her sneakers on. when the rubber sole gripped onto that thick "national geographic" paper, it just tore a chunk out of it. maybe we'll have to buy it from the library. we can give it to her for her birthday.

shuggie will be two this week. today is her birthday party.

i made cupcakes, wrapped presents, and put together some gift bags. shuggie and i dustbusted the whole house together.

ken scrubbed the bathrooms and then cleared the yard of sticks and debris in case the weather is nice. he did all the shopping (besides the toy store), took the dog to the kennel, and stopped off at the store for last minute stuff.

last night while shuggie slept, ken assembled a little tent for her. it's a small purple and pink "groovy girls" tent that she saw at the toy store. she jumped right in and started giggling, so we got it for her, along with a few other things she took to right away. we'll have all her presents stacked up inside the tent for her when she wakes up from her nap today.

we really have absolutely no idea what we're doing. we've never tried to throw a kids party... i'm doing my best to stay calm. i've recruited help from my family. it'll be ok.

i am excited but relaxed...

... i envision joy joy joy.....

"your life is a physical manifestation of your thoughts."