April 15

The official deadline for filing taxes. :( We've had our paperwork ready for a while now . . . but we found it hard to bring ourselves to file until the deadline. I wouldn't say we're procrastinators based on this, just unmotivated because although we get a return this year, like many it's already spent. So what's the point of hurrying up the transferring of money when there's no immediate need, right? Vanessa picked up on her daddy's routine for doing taxes pretty quickly. She wanted to sit at the dining room table with her paper and crayon just like her daddy (although he chose to use a pen since the IRS might frown on big chunky colorful words and figures all over the forms. No need for drawing attention to us. :)

For some April 15 is a great day. I have a friend whose birthday is today. Corrie ten Boom and Leonardo da Vinci were also born on this day. In 1923 insulin became generally available. Rand McNally published its first road atlas in 1924. And in 1947 Jackie Robinson broke a racial barrier in baseball when he made his debut for the Dodgers on this day. And on another positive note, many food places and stores are offering Tax Day deals. So keep an eye out! (Hey McGraw-Hill friends -- I hear P.F. Changs is giving 15% off today, not that I'm available. :)

THE APPLE DOESN'T FALL FAR FROM EITHER TREE

We tend to think that in many ways Vanessa is a pretty good blend of both her parents. She definitely favors one of us more than the other in certain areas. And of course then there are times when Vanessa's mommy thinks she's definitely acting more like her daddy:

(Vanessa is much older than her daddy in these pictures. )

And to be fair, vice versa, I'm sure:

(Same here -- Vanessa is older than her mommy in these pictures. And I could probably find an older one of her . . .)

Frog Prince?

I certainly hope not!

Rolling in the Dough

Vanessa and her mommy made playdough the beginning of last week. Just recently Vanessa has developed an inconsistent sensitivity to "dirty" hands, so it was interesting to watch her explore the dough. She poked it. And she picked up the bit I rolled using the palm of my hand. She tried rolling a little bit of her own. Besides that, though, she played with the dough using various objects to avoid touching it.

The left picture shows how we started, a set up by Mommy. The picture on the right is of Vanessa's work.

Did you know that the Play-Doh was first designed as a wallpaper cleaner?

April's Silly Goose

It’s not time to go swimming just yet! Vanessa had to wear a swimsuit over her PJs yesterday. I was hanging up clothes in Vanessa’s closet when she spotted a future swimsuit tucked away in some things. She pointed it out once but got distracted by something else. Then a few minutes later she went back to swimsuit and asked to see it. I pulled it out and then she insisted on me putting it on her. I decided since it’s still a little cool that we’d just put it on over her PJs. ;-) We pulled out other clothes to change into but she never allowed me that chance because it meant taking off her swimsuit. We finally negotiated a couple diaper changes later in the day. I was a little scared how bedtime might work – Would she allow me to change her into clean PJs and remove the swimsuit for the night? She did.

(In the second picture she's running away with her clothes and diaper at almost lightning speed. This was the fifth or sixth attempt.)

And here I thought Vanessa had eaten all of her strawberries but later when I went to clean up the play room, I discovered that she had put many in her teapot. Call me the fool! :)