Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Watermelon


Olive is an eater. She’ll give almost anything a try but she definitely has her favorites. Banana. Tortellini. Peas. Even steak. But few foods can eclipse the gastronomical passion Olive has for that elegant and gigantic green fruit, the Cadillac of the melon world, that savior of mouths parched by summer heat: the watermelon.

My in-laws knew of this love affair when they sat Olive down for an afternoon snack this past weekend. They decided to see what would happen if Olive was confronted with not the usual handful of pieces, but with a half of an entire watermelon. Shock and awe ensued.

Olive is presented with the bounty.

“Really, this is all for me? You are joking right? Is this a dream, you know, like that movie Inception?”

“I can’t believe it! My head is about to explode with joy!”

“I LOVE WATERMELON! I LOVE MY GRANDPARENTS!”

Now down to business...


No, they didn’t really let her eat the entire half of the watermelon. Eventually they stopped laughing and taking pictures long enough to give her an appropriate serving size, but something tells me she wouldn’t have had a problem mouthing that whole thing.

(Photos courtesy of my mother-in-law)

Friday, August 6, 2010

Screecher Creature

My in-laws are in town this weekend to see Olive. As you may know, they live about a seven hour drive away in northern Maine. Where in northern Maine, you ask? Do you know where Canada is? Yeah, right next to that. So needless to say, Olive doesn’t get to see them every weekend.

Well, apparently she was fairly excited to see them yesterday cause she decided to put on a little screaming show. Now this wasn’t screaming like sad or upset screaming. Olive was in a great mood for most of the night. This was screaming in place of almost every other command or action or emotion. This was, “Look at me! Look at how entertaining and loud I can be! Hi Mimi and Grampy!”

Want more food? Scream. Want to flip the page of a book? Scream. Want to get in your chair? Scream. Want to get out of your chair? Scream. Happy? Scream. Tired? Scream.
And these weren’t little wimpy baby screams. These were full-on blood-curdling, ear-popping, teeth-rattling screeches.

And she was loving it. Every second. Big smiles every time she let one out. We weren’t quite as happy, especially if she let one out next to your ear while you were holding her. Would make you lose your balance. I wish I had a picture or a video for you, but I was afraid that she might have cracked the lens if she really went for the upper register.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Fashion Backwards

So I have read and seen and heard a lot about this new “designer diaper” trend. If you actually HAVE a life and aren’t fully abreast of this development, some Huggies diapers now come in a designer jeans pattern. No, of course it isn’t real denim. I mean, kids poop in it and then you throw it away – THAT would be silly. But they are meant to look like jeans. This, of course, is for the parent that…that…well, that likes paying 40% more for a diaper that makes a kid look like they are wearing daisy dukes, I guess. Either way, they are selling. A lot.

It didn’t take long for Pampers to respond to Huggies opening fashion salvo by announcing that Cynthia Rowley is going to design a line of diapers for that company. I don’t know much about Cynthia Rowley (until about an hour ago, nothing actually) but apparently in the past two years she has signed on to design diapers and uniforms for flight attendants. (Quick aside:How is this viewed in the “design world”? Aren’t designers supposed to be artists? Isn’t this kind like John Irving putting out a series of greeting cards or Martin Scorcese directing an episode of “Two and a Half Men”? Think actresses are beating down her door to dress them for the Oscars? “Oh, Cynthia, please, I need something regal. Something old Hollywood. Something elegant and simple. Something I can piss in and not have to worry about rash.” Okay, back to your regularly scheduled reading.)

I know, I'm about a month behind on this story, so I will spare you the commentary about whether or not this is ruining our country (it isn’t ). And this designer diaper thing is also not a quantum leap for parental consumerism…I mean, does anyone remember this post?. So let’s not take this too seriously.

But what has surprised me about the dozens of news articles and blogs I have read about this is how few stories mention that cute, multi-colored, fancy designer diapers isn’t a new idea. Diapers with polka dots and butterflies and pastel colors have been around for years. They just aren’t disposable.

Olive wears pink and orange and green and yellow and blue diapers. She has a bunch of “trendy” cloth diaper covers. We just bought a friend a diaper that has the Boston Red Sox logo and “Little Sox Fan” embroidered on the butt. And the best part is…you don’t need to throw it away after using it once.

When we chose to use cloth diapers for Olive, the “cute” aspect wasn’t really a factor. I mean, over 90% of the time the diaper is covered by something else – usually something FAR more fashionable. But it doesn’t hurt that the diapers are cute too. So if fashion really means that much to you when choosing a method of collecting human excrement – leave the faux jean disposables on the shelf and swing by or click on to Diaper Lab in Somerville, MA. They don’t have Cynthia Rowley – but really, who the hell is she anyway?