birthday party

While her parents were required by "The Man" to remain at work, Schuyler's dear surrogate parent, Lucy, took up the slack and arranged a fantastic birthday party at the sandpit in Botanical Gardens for the little cub. Her Dad managed to squeeze out in between exam review sessions and class only to find that his cub had only marginal interest in his existence. It was the kind of gratitude he should expect... after all, he only kept her alive for a year. But he loves her anyway and is very grateful she is in such great hands in his absence. Happy birthday again!

happy birthday little 1

ouch

Schuyler's other top front tooth is coming in so she is a bit unhappy...

this is nothing a bath...

a hug...

and a good story won't fix.

buddies

wet n wild

Sooo... we figured it was time to let Schuyler learn how to drink from a Big Kid cup and we also figured that there was no other way to do this than to just give her a cup of water and just let 'er rip. The results were imperfect but, we think, pretty darn good for a first effort. Nice job, Schuyler. Next step, basic physics.

randoms...

Life at the ranch just ain't been the same since this little cub came into our lives. Amongst the spilled and splattered carrots, the way-too-early-for-daddy mornings and the clanking of gigantic leggo, there's a lot of room for fun with the bear. People always said "once you have kids, you can't even conceive of what life was like without them". Well, I do recall some nice morning sleep in's, some good nights out at the movies and some absolutely great days doing absolutely nothing but, as much as i love those things, i wouldn't trade anything for this little girl. Well, maybe one lazy sunday sleep in.

neglectomatic in action

In case you think this machine is purely a buy-me-some-time device, look at the joy this baby gets from it. Sure, she tires of it after four minutes which makes us constantly worry about ADHD later on in life but, man, for those four minutes, she has the time of her cacophonous life.

neglectomatic stills

I used to wonder how people did normal things like shower and use the bathroom when they had a kid in their care. Well, wonder no more, folks! Please welcome the parent's best friend, The Neglect-o-matic! Schuyler absolutely loves this thing... for about 4 minutes. Then she gets really, really bored of it and let's you know it. But for those precious 4 minutes, you can shower or any necessary ablutions in peace. Bless you, clunky plastic thing. Bless you.

easter bunny

Schuyler marks her first Easter by allowing her parents to put her in a pink bunny bib...yes, another bib! When will the drool ever end?

hot pink

I don't like giving in to stereotypes but, man, does she look cute in pink. Then again, i am so biased that i also think she looks cute in avocado green pants and a fuscia top.

the chase

Now that Schuyler is mobile in some form or another, we find it irresistible to torture her with new improvised games where she is chased until captured... we didn't really figure out what to do with her when we caught her but she seems to dig it anyway. She's a lot of fun right now.

new developments

Schuyler is slowly learning language. We swear she's saying "hi" and possibly "doggie". Here she's say "crr" which could be "cup" or some french word or "chrysalis" - we just don't know. But it's exciting to hear her try out sounds. She's got the "I want" gesture down pat - reaching for things she wants or a direction she in which she wants to be carried. So cool.

A fun new game. While Schuyler is adept at building little towers out of the gigantic leggo blocks, she has also found that it is seemingly hysterical to throw things out of her corral and watch her Dad go and fetch them before Magic snatches them up and mauls them. Fun fun fun.

let's go fly a kite

As some of you may know, it is a Bermudian tradition to fly kites on Good Friday. This supposedly started when a minister was trying to teach his sunday school class about the resurrection and the cross sticks of the kite were to represent Christ rising from the dead. How this resurrection got rescheduled to the Friday, we will never know.

In any case, we were keen for our cub to experience this first hand on Horseshoe Bay - definitely the place to be on Good Friday. It was a gorgeous day with just slightly too little wind for traditional Bermuda kites but perfect for the $5 cheap plastic kite that Alex had brought with him. So it was that (against my traditionalist roots) i flew that plastic bag with him - both of us beaming with undue pride at our accomplishment - as Schuyler ate sand and whined about a missed nap. Her mum took her to dip Schuyler's American foot in the ocean water. The Bermudian foot, of course, must wait until May 24th for it's first dip. Our stay on the beach was foreshortened by a new (and unfamiliar to all) nap schedule but still, we were there where the sky was thick with kites.

And, it would be remiss of me to omit Ardleigh's delicious hot cross bun delivery (Granny Young's recipe) which is one of Schuyler's parent's favourite things about Easter.

a good friday

cups half full

We've been keen not to buy Schuyler too many toys. This has been somewhat successful (the kindness of others increases our total). Schuyler's Dad has a completely irrational fear of things that blink and/or beep. He thinks they are the work of foreign countries who are trying to destroy our brains so they can dominate the world markets (just look at the Dow, people! It's starting). Anyway, she has taken a particular liking to the age old game of cups that stack together in different colours. It's kind of like a Benetton flavoured Russian doll game but with cups. She's very good at stacking the smaller one inside the bigger one, knocking down towers that her Mum builds (we swear she is trying to say "crash!") and filling each cup with drool.

The cups also make for fine teething tools now that she has the bugs bunny lower teeth combined with the corresponding vampire teeth on top.

appendages

No feet where we eat! I think Schuyler is taking this 'island girl' thing a little too far. We're laid back here but we're not slobs. She has taken to propping a foot up on the 'table' while she eats, pausing occasionally to paint it with whatever foodstuff she has in hand. I flash forward 20 years and I can see her with a pack of Cheetos and an empty six pack of Bud watching re-runs of Jerry Springer. It's not a good sight. We're gonna have to put her under heavy manners.

happy birthday daddy!

dining al fresco

When cousin Carolyn kindly invited Schuyler's dad around for a birthday dinner, Schuyler had the opportunity to dine al fresco on the terrace overlooking the sparkling Atlantic and a mesmerising beach. Of course, Schuyler's main focus was 'how can i get more green beans in my eye' but, we all start somewhere.

in the cheese section

In the dairy section, a pit stop for some water patiently(?) administered by her father. Later, Schuyler peeks at her chauffeur.

a tip of the hat and a foot in the mouth

The "hat" was sadly not Schuyler's idea. Her dad was a bit bored after the 67,235th time of playing cups ("the small ones go in the larger ones!? What!? Who invented this game?") and decided to use his daughter as a balancing point for the cups. Blue seemed to be her favourite. Luckily, she kind of liked this ritual humiliation.