Ketchup

Ketchup = "red sauce" in Gazspeak = her new favorite food, all by itself. No bread or anything necessary.

Lots of pictures on Flickr, so go clicky over there =====>

It's been a while, I see. Gaz has not been slacking, let me assure you. She's been wearing us out!

We've had a trip to visit my folks, Mark's folks have come up for a visit, Gaz has been to the zoo a few times and also to various parks. Wiggleworms is over for the session and we're taking a session off--teething and other assorted grumpinesses was making it difficult to make it through a whole class there toward the end, although Gaz was getting much more interactive when she was in the mood. She pretends to read "Sweater," she can sit through all of "Hop on Pop" and asks me to read an Easter bunny story over and over and over again (one of those Little Golden Books), and she continues to be obsessed with They Might Be Giants's "Here Come the ABC's." She's also nuts about "Dragon Tales" and "Thomas the Tank Engine." I don't know what I would do without PBS.

In short, her brain is growing by leaps and bounds. Her vocabulary continues to amaze people. Even I have to note that she's picking up words completely after hearing them just once or twice. Her sentences keep getting more complex, and her imagination is . . . unstoppable. We had a tantrum yesterday because she wanted to play with the animals in the kitchen.

There's not much specific stuff to tell y'all about. It's the little things that have been going on that continue to accrue for the most part.

The only piece of unique newsishness we've got is that we're going to be having our local birthday party around mid-August, in the form of a barbecue. Our summers are just always completely bonkers. Details will emerge as we get closer. I am historically bad at doing that in a timely fashion (the 2006 Christmas cards are *still* sitting here on the shelf), but I endeavor to do better this year than I did last year.