Bath Night

Sometimes, no matter how sweet a Wee Goblin is, she gets a little grimy with the day's adventures and needs a bath. This is doubly true when the Sweet Girl in question lives in swampy-hot Georgia, where 80-percent humidity is a dry heat, and where the mosquitos are the size of tennis balls and sound like helicopters. Bath night helps keep a girl squeaky clean and ready for more fun the next day. Look how long Little Monster's hair is!

After a relaxing bubble bath comes a chance to wear a comfy robe, put on some soothing lotion, and read some books before retiring for the evening. Sometimes, if Little Monster is especially fortunate, ice cream comes after bath time. The final step in Tickle Buglet's nightly ritual is a healthy regimen of vitamins and tooth-brushing. Sweet Girl actually likes to have her teeth brushed and take her vitamins, so it's not the ordeal you might expect. Except for the parts where she wants extra brushing of her tongue.

As Mama learned the other day, sometimes Ruff Ruff gets "toots" and needs his diaper changed. In these cases, Baby Girl is happy to lend a hand. She spreads out a kitchen towel, puts Ruff Ruff on his back, cleans him up with some wipes, and puts a diaper on him. Such a sweet baby girl, to share the comfort of her diapers with her pal Ruff.

In Trouble

Daddy has been working weekends of late to help prepare for the Year One delivery that his team is completing. So consider his surprise when he came home yesterday to find some "elective artwork" that had mysteriously appeared on the hallway wall near Baby Girl's bedroom and bathroom. Little Monster pulled out all the stops for this one — no settling for mere washable crayons for her. This mural's media is Sharpie. Well, at least it was in the right place, because the hallway is where Papa Den and Grandpa CJ have their artwork hanging as well. Perhaps this Little Werewolf is the product of too much fine art culture.

Occasional badness aside, Sweet Girl has been proceeding by leaps and bounds with her mastery of letters, numbers, and colors. She's strongest in colors, and she spends pre-bath time discussing the colors of the rug on her bathroom floor. While she definitely knows the names of individual letters, Wee Goblin doesn't necessarily know which letter is which, and she's happy to recite a hodge-podge of letters to go with whatever actual letters she sees. Still, it's very promising to hear the names of the letters. We can worry about recognition later. Counting is Sweet Girl's favorite game, and she loves counting everything from the fruit in The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the sprouts and sausages she has on her plate at meals. "Two!" is her favorite number.

You might be surprised to see so much hair so quickly on this Tickle Bug. She was bald-headed for so long! It used to give her mother fits, and Mama used to give Daddy the stink-eye, on the assumption that it was somehow his fault. But all that has changed, as Little Werewolf is possessed of a flowing mane of springy locks not unlike those worn by the lion in The Wizard of Oz. She imagines the wind whipping through her hair as she rides her rocking motorcycle, and occasionally the sunlight shines through them like the halo of a little (hungry) angel.

Happy Father's Day!

Active Girl

A lot has been going on!

First and foremost, Little Monster now has a big girl bed. A few weeks ago, Mama removed the rail from the side of Bug's crib and moved the mattress down to its lowest setting. Little Werewolf has taken to her adjusted bed like a champ. Indeed, on the weekends, Mama and Daddy are often woken by the sounds of Tickle Bug's door opening, stompy feet thundering into the living room, and subsequent demands for sausage.

And those demands for sausage aren't the end of it. Hand in hand with the big girl bed has come the ability to open doors. Nothing is safe, so Mama plans a trip to Ikea to pick up a few doorknob devices that will hopefully keep this Little Monster from throwing late-night parties outside her room or scrambling out to the yard when she hears a kitty walking across the top of the garbage can.

Miss Fuss also enjoys playing with her tea set, which was a gift from her friend Liam for her birthday. It was an unexpected hit, and now Tickle Bug can be found having tea parties with her friend Ruff Ruff (whom she accused of having toots a few days ago or pouring Daddy a cup of tea and bringing it to him on a saucer. She even pretends to sip!

Daddy has been very busy at work, since his team is finishing a year's worth of work on their extended project. It's by no means finished, but it's a significant milestone. This past week, Mama worked a lot, too, because she picked up a shift from one of her friends at the restaurant. That hasn't changed Tickle Bug's happy-go-lucky demeanor one bit, however. Wednesday night she and Daddy had a wild wrestling match in the living room while Mama did the dishes. Thereafter, Sweet Girl took a bath and her crazy curls kept her stuffed animals company.

The other weekend, the whole family went to the Grant Park pool to enjoy a splash. Nobody checked the times of the pool opening, however, so the pool trip had a little bit of a warm-up on the playground and some cheeseburgers before swim time. Little Monster definitely enjoys the pool. She spent most of her time jumping with Mama in the deep end or playing with the big flower sculptures that used to show water but are now just decorative. Miss Fuss did not want to leave! The logistics of nap nec

essity, however, eventually won out and a prolonged sleepytime occurred.

Bug has also had her first visit to the dentist. The dentist informed Mama that Sweet Goblin's drinking habits need to change a little bit. No more whole milk on demand — it's 2% only at meals for this Little Werewolf and water throughout the day. Daddy could probably learn a thing or two from Baby Girl, given all the coffee and tea he drinks at work, but since when has Daddy been quick to pick up good habits?