August 24, 2003 - The Reward

The summer when Erin was 2 1/2 was a big one for her. It was the summer that we worked on getting her potty trained and out of diapers. She was in daycare, and I'll be honest... her daycare teachers did most of the work. But she took to it pretty quickly. Helping her along was the reward that we'd offered her: We told her when she no longer wore diapers during the day that we would repaint her room any color she wanted and she could get a "big girl bed" instead of the toddler bed she'd been sleeping in. It worked like a charm. By mid-August, she was no longer wearing diapers, and we'd picked out a beautiful new bedding set for her. We matched the paint colors to the bedding, and Jim set to work painting her room. It was a lovely shade of purple, and the dormers above the windows were painted a light green. We also bought her a pretty white daybed with a trundle (although it's not in this picture). Her new room was just beautiful, and Erin was very proud of it. I even have a video of her dancing around her newly painted room. In it, I ask why we painted it, and her answer (as she twirled around) was, "Because I wear panties!"

January 16, 2008 - Furry Friends

When we first brought Mia home, she and Molly were far from BFFs. Molly was mostly curious about this new supposed (assumed?) playmate, and Mia was flat-out hostile towards the 80-pound monster that kept barking at her. The claws came out a lot (literally!), and there was much chasing around the house. For a few days, I'd worried that we'd made a monumental mistake. But within a week, things started to change. Molly and Mia started coexisting quite nicely and seemed to enjoy each other's company. There were a few moments where I'd come upon them lying next to each other or grooming each other. And then there was this. Who ever thought that we'd see this between them? Wow... At this point, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and figured things would be OK.  Interestingly, and as a side note, Mia's coloring has changed rather dramatically since those early days. These days, her back is much darker, with more black fur covering her. Funny... Either way, she's sure brought a lot of humor and enjoyment to our family!

January 23, 2010 - Selling Yum

This January, Erin once again was faced with selling Girl Scout cookies. She, like many Girl Scouts, got very excited at the prospect of going door-to-door hawking her wares (or, at least taking orders for them), and set herself a rather lofty goal of boxes that she wanted to sell. On our first day out, she sold over 60 boxes! She got to meet new neighbors, and while she was rather shy at first, by the end, she had a groove going, and she was full of smiles. I think this is a great experience for girls. It helps them build confidence and learn how to speak with adults, and even strangers! By the end of the sale, Erin had sold over 150 boxes of cookies, which was a record for her (by a long shot! The last time she sold, I think she didn't even reach 40 boxes.) I can only imagine how many she'll sell next year!

March 17, 2002 - Oh, YUM!

It's never too early to introduce a child to the wonders of  the ice cream sandwich! At least that's what we thought when Erin tried her first one in 2002. She was only a year and a half old, but her palate was already mature enough to recognize the subtle flavors and textures of this delicacy. And just in case she decided she didn't like it,  Uno was right there next to Jim, ready to catch the rejects.

July 20, 2007 - Goose Egg

Picture this... A beautiful summer day in New Jersey. My mom came up for the day and we went for a lovely walk in a local park. We came home and Erin and Molly spent some time cooling off playing in the sprinkler in the back yard. Everything was going great until Erin bent down to pet Molly and Molly decided that would be a great time to jump up. Yep, you guessed it. Molly's rock-hard noggin hit Erin's not-so-hard forehead, and an instant goose egg appeared (along with howling, inconsolable tears). Not fun. Poor kid... She was a good-enough sport to give me a half smile when I took a picture of it, but I really felt for her. Ouch.

November 19, 2009 - Like Mother, Like Daughter!

Like me, Erin has really come to enjoy photography and taking pictures, and she was very excited when her Girl Scout troop decided to earn a badge called Camera Shots.  Our troop worked with the photography teacher at the local high school and not only got to take pictures themselves (on good old-fashioned FILM cameras, no less!), but also got to develop the negatives into black and white prints in the school's darkroom. It was a fantastic experience for the girls, and Erin just loved it. Pretty soon, she'll have her own POTD blog, I'm sure!

August 18, 2004 - It's a Dog's Life

Labs can be notoriously lazy dogs, especially as they get older. By the time Uno was 12, he'd spend most of his days lounging in one favorite spot or another, sleeping away his days. On this particular day, he decided the perfect place for a nap would be the spot that Erin had recently vacated to go have lunch - right in the middle of the toy village she'd been playing with (and had hoped to return to shortly). Once he was asleep, though, there was no moving him, and Erin had no choice but to wait until he roused himself before she could start playing there again. He was cute enough, though, that it was easy to forgive him.