Pink is my favorite color

0818081549-04.jpg, originally uploaded by broylesa.

Dinner at Uncle Tom's house was an excuse to listen to the rain, no matter how shortlived, on the roof of his garage, get out in the country for a little while and wear pink bandannas.

Playing hard, learning lots

Julian is amazing us these days with his curiosity and developmental skills. No matter how many times your kid does something new, the newness never gets tiring.

He opened the screen door to walk in the house today and then turned around and closed it behind him. Ian said he was pouring his juice from one cup to another and saying "juice," then drinking it and saying "nice." He held on the end of Shiva's leash and repeated "good girl" on a walk today. You ask him his name, he says "Juli." Ask him to play guitar, and he rocks out with an air guitar that would rival any at the Alamo Drafthouse competition.

Did I tell ya about my girl Ruby?

Our adventurous weekend in Houston offered its own learning opportunities. He got to see elephants, turtles, lions and the lot at the Houston Zoo (the monkeys! the birds! it was enough to make a kid's head explode), and he even went to his first beer tasting. Well, he stuck with root beer while Erin and I hit the St. Arnold's sauce. Some Montrose shopping meant he got to run in and out of dressing rooms while mommy was only half clothed. It was hot as hell, but he stuck out one final destination for me: the Menil Collection, where the two of us quietly perused the cool, quiet galleries, taking in the powerful and moving works. He finally fell asleep in the Rothko Chapel and slept most of the way home.

Add to that nap, which was his only one the WHOLE WEEKEND, a full day yesterday with Dad and Corey on the Greenbelt and Barton Springs and an evening of kickball, he was tuckered out enough to sleep until 9 this morning.

I took a few photos and videos of this weekend that I'll hopefully post later this week. Sorry I've been so neglectful to La Vie Dansante. Relish Austin has taken over my life a little, including a column tomorrow about cooking in bulk and freezing food and this video about how to make a great margarita, but I'm starting to really get into food blogging. Happy reading (and eating!)...

Julian photos July 2008

I'm going to let the photos tell the story of Julian this month. They include lots of animals, good friends, some creative (and messy) projects and one very energetic and vivacious toddler.

A snake and a spoilsport on the Greenbelt

(you'll have to turn your head to watch it. sorry!)

Jules, Shiva and I thought we'd stroll the Greenbelt this morning before it got too hot out and I had to head to work. Not only did a cop on a bike bust me for letting Shiva go without a leash, but I also saw a snake! (Maybe a Texas rat snake?)

So much excitement and it's not even 11.

Take this, bike cop!

Cheesemania without a single curds and whey joke!

Lots been happenin' at work in the past few weeks, including several how-to videos you can find on the statesman's multimedia page. A column about making cheese, butter and yogurt is in tomorrow's paper, and the above video goes with it online.

My favorite line? "I got some whey in my mouth. Mmmm" (The part of me dropping the big curd ball and splashing whey everywhere got cut.)

Thought reduction

I found tweetstats.com via Twitter today. It gives you an idea of when, what and to whom you most frequently tweet. They do that cloud thing, which is basically a pie chart of words.

I've seen these before, but it's interesting when you look at them and realize they are, in cooking terms, a reduction of one's thoughts. At the least, it gives you a taste of what's been on my mind (or at least my Tweeting fingertips) in the past few months.

A (not really all that terribly) troublesome toddler

With his 18 month birthday, Julian officially entered toddlerhood this week, but to Ian and me, it's been a long milestone coming. He's been kissing, crawling, climbing, "no"-ing, "juice"-ing, laughing, playing, tickling, swimming -- all those toddler things that either make you melt or make you crazy. We've found parenthood this book of chapters that get both easier and harder the further you get along.

For example, he sleeps and sleeps, which we're eternally grateful for, but when he's up, he's up, and you don't really get a break until he's sleeping again. Before, when he was waking up and breastfeding and such, you could (relatively) go about your business. Not that this is different than any other kid in history, but when you're in it, you really understand this for the first time. You also start to understand that as soon as you *get* it, it all changes and it's like the first day of class all over again.

It's been long days for Ian while I'm at work, but he's figuring out how not to lose his sanity and still be a full-time parent, a feat I have so much respect for. And I go through the quintessential working mom emotions: feeling guilty for not spending enough time with Julian on one hand and on the other hand feeling slightly ashamed of the relief that sometimes accompanies walking out the door and into my other life.

It's been hard for me to balance my full-time work and also to alleviate some of the stress of his full-time work. And equally difficult, Ian's on call nearly every day for whatever strange schedule or event that comes up that takes me away from him and J.

But it's such a marvelous way to spend your days.

Our neighbor Fern, the one with no short-term memory who walks her dog Lucky about a dozen times a day, always reminds us of what a wonderful life ahead we have. "Don't you feel sorry for people who don't want to have children," she asks. "They don't know what they are missing out on."

She also always asks us when, not if, we're going to have another. That's a whole other story, a scenario I cannot possibly imagine right now. Our plates are full, and we're happily busy and occupied with one dog and one child (who just yesterday started saying sometime similar to "good girl" to Shiva).

For all the energy it takes to raise a child, you get it back tenfold, not over the course of a lifetime, but in the span of a few minutes or seconds, in moments like the one below, when Julian got to play with his cat friend, Toby.

It's the hardest job we'll ever do, and it ain't over yet.

It's been a while, mixtape. Good to hear you.

I think the last mixtape I made was for Ian not long after we met, which was three years ago today, or so we figured. (Love makes memory fuzzy, you know.) I realized there have been plenty of good songs from the past few years that I needed to compile.

So here you go. A mixtape from me to you.

Birthdays and cupcakes

My dear friend Meghan celebrated a birthday just a few days after mine, and we had a cupcake party! Julian had an awesome time, and I took this accidental (and awesome, despite the phone camera quality) feet picture! You can see how creative we got with the cupcake decorating!

Julian has a song for you

And here's a video to file under "General Cuteness"



He's picking up new words each day, "meat" being a popular one these days. He's getting pickier, or at least went through a pretty picky phase last week. We'll see if it continues.

Bought a little potty for him to play with this week. The concept of excrement is confusing him, but he's interested enough that we thought it would be fun for him to be exposed to a mini toilet.

He's be 18 months in a few days. Can hardly believe it.