I'm not exactly sure how or why, but Afton absolutely loves animals. I like animals about as much as I do dieting or Ute football. She loves to go to the zoo, to see the neighbor's horses at Grandma's house, to play with stray cats...any and every chance to get close to and/or touch an animal makes Afton's day. So she was pretty stoked when Grandma planned a little visit to the Titmus farm to look at their different animals. Even though we kept telling her she was going to the "farm", she kept telling us, "Going to the farmers."
They got to see peacocks, sheep, dogs, and I guess a quail. Afton's report to me after they got back was pretty emphatic about the peacock having "shiny tails" and that she did indeed see a quail (she made some silly hand motions, I guess to show what the qualis wings and tail looked like). Dad had the unfortunate duty of staying behind with Mya while the others went to see the animals... I was so bummed to not be able to breathe in that fine animal air.
Afton with Grandma at the "farmers".
Afton spots her long lost friend.
Stefanie said Afton kept telling the little lamb, "Hi sheep . Come OVER here. Hi sheep. Come OVER here." No fear about touching the lamb, of course. She even requested to ride the lamb multiple times. And she'd get so excited that after petting it she'd immediately put her hands up in her face. Dad might have had a nervous breakdown had he been there.
Over the past several days, Mya had been going through some changes in her behavior and general daily patterns. She was waking up more at night, had started slobbering a ton, and was sucking on her hand/fingers a lot. The last day or two she also was upset during her "feedings"; she'd continually unlatch and fight Stefanie. Since she's been nothing short of an angel baby thus far, I guess we should have investigated a little more to see what was going on. But instead we didn't put together the prefect puzzle of tell tale signs of a baby teething.
She is just barely over three months old, but her first tooth has already cut through and we can see a little white tooth peeking through the gums. It is a bottom tooth, but is located more towards the back of her mouth instead of the more common central location with early teeth.
I've mentioned to Stefanie several times that it seems Mya has a little switch, and anytime you want her to smile you can just flip that switch and she obliges. It doesn't matter if it is first thing in the morning, right after her nap, before dinner, or right before she goes to bed...almost every single time someone picks her up and gets close to her she gives a big grin back. It isn't always easy to catch her cute expressions in a still photo, but when I downloaded the most recent photos from the camera it looks like Stef caught her an on especially happy day.
Afton no longer thinks her big girl underwear are beautiful.
Afton likes Easter candy a lot, especially peeps.
Easter candy, especially peeps, has served as a terrific incentive for potty training thus far.
Wish us luck. "Us" because Stefanie is at home potty training, me because I hope when I get home my wife still wants to be married to me, and Afton because I doubt she wants to visit the dentist.
After arriving home from work one evening last week, I marveled, as I am often wont to do, at how beautiful my two little girls are. I thought to myself, "Self, how is it that you ended up with two little girls as cute as Afton and Mya?" And then like dew from heaven, pure intelligence flowed into my mind, revealing the secret behind having beautiful children:
Marry a beautiful woman and then hope your genes don't muck things up.
Here's to hoping my genes continue to be hidden. Stefanie would probably feel a little better about her luck with future kids if her family portraits looked a little more like these:
I'm not sure how this whole potty training thing is going to go, and I have to say I'm relieved that yet again Stefanie will be the one at home doing most of the heavy lifting. But Afton sure got excited about her new "big girl" underwear. She wanted to get every pair out of its packaging to lay it out on the floor, and for every pair she would say, "Beautiful." (That is her new word that she's been using lately. We walked outside to get in the car one day and she commented "mama's car beautiful".)
