Can't ... stop ... doing ... art ...

Because I showed such talent yesterday at the Children's Museum, mom got me my first fingerpaint set!




My instincts are sound.




Oh yes, fingerpainting and I will get along just fine.




As always, my ambidexterity proves helpful.




My fingers are so green!




(Side note: considering how messy I already am with my food, I wonder if it's smart to teach me to do this in my highchair.)




Using the color theory I learned from the book that Harriet gave me, I began to explore the spectrum.




Red and green make--um--gred!




Time to speed this up a bit. These little fingers can move plenty of paint around.




I'm gonna get all Matrix in here now.




There is no spoon!




Whoosh.




Kablam!




Whoa.... Did these little digits just do that?




Time to put on the finishing touches, let this thing dry, and tell people a cat painted it. eBay here we come!

Ambidextrous painting in Denver

The parents bundled me up and put me in the car to go to the Denver Children's Museum. Dad took this strange photo on the way there.




This is their kiddo supermarket. I need to take unusual measures to reach into the produce bins.




If you stand on these stars, they play music. I can take a hint. This is me standing on one of them.




The museum also has a sporty set of lockers.




Peek-a-boo!




These lockers have 80% of the fun of real ones and only 20% of the grime!




Hooray for filth minimization!




The lockers are fun, but they weren't the best thing today.




I painted!




This stylish smock did little to keep my clothes clean.




We're just going to put a happy little tree right here.




Maybe green would be better for foliage.




Not bad so far, right? Know what would make it better?




Left-handed painting!




I switch back and forth like it's no big deal. Here you can see me carefully going off the canvas.




A blank easel is a boring easel, I always say (since this morning).




Mom flipped my canvas over to make room for some lefty purple.




They also have these surreal mega-flowers here. I think I'll do a still life of these next time we visit--an ambidextrous still life.

Over at Auntie Elisha's

Auntie Elisha wanted to play with my Mega Blocks, so she invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner.




I build towers now.




There's not much better than a good tower, no sir.




Even though Elisha wanted to play with my Mega Blocks, she was busy making excellent cranberry sauce.




So I got to play with them most of the time.




I come to Elisha's house mostly for enlightenment.




Her incandescent fireplace puts me in the right frame of mind for reaching nirvana and so forth.




But it's going to take a lot more cranberry sauce to put me in the right frame of tummy.




In the meantime, I'll build more towers and see if enlightenment just sort of shows up.




What's that? Enlightenment requires extensive meditation and hard work?




Bah! This is America! I'll sit in front of these candles and enlightenment or Santa Claus or something will show up.




It's the right of every American to expect good stuff to come down a chimney.




That's what makes this country great.




Any second now....

Time for thankfulness!

Well, Bok Bok, it's that time of year again.




And I am giving you something extra special to be thankful for.




You are hereby pardoned on Thanksgiving!




Nobody eat Bok Bok. Period.




Hooray for pardons!




OK. Let's move along. I'm thirsty.




I drink out of glasses now.




It's my thing.




Yes, I'm old enough.




Glug glug glug.




I recognize this as a fish now.




Even my parents have decorative cartoons on their drinkware!




Because it's a special day, I get to have vegan alphabet soup.




R is for Riley!




I consider myself lucky to be raised in this odd household with its unusual food customs.




This meal has 100% of my RDA of magnet!




Eating all those fridge magnets gives me the energy I need to ride giraffes.




Eat up! There's enough for everybody! It's Thanksgiving!

Back at the WOW museum

I went back to the WOW museum for a birthday party today!




There was much science to be learned.




Yes, I am aware of what our new president has said ...




But I am a soon-to-be sister, not a brother!




Get it? That was totally funny. I will be here all week.




I ate veggie sushi at the birthday party.




At almost 19 months old, I am pretty neat about such things.




What? Why are you looking at me like that?




It's hard for a sister to get respect around here.




The WOW museum has an excellent kitchen for all my cooking needs.




The produce isn't great, but somehow it never goes bad.




The bananas are hard to peel, but it's worth the effort.




I don't even know what this thing is, but it'll be good with a little olive oil and sea salt. This much I know for sure.




I try to become one with my ingredients. That's my philosophy. I need to be the apple.




After a long evening of science and eating and cooking, I like to relax with a good train set--even though the instruction manual is really tiny.

Stats on Amy's birthday

Today is cousin Amy's birthday!




In my square state, it's common practice to honor birthdays by making silly faces.




HAPPPY ...




... BIRTHDAY!




Amy, my gift to you is my most recent stats:




I'm 18 lbs, 11 oz.




And I'm 30 inches tall.




I'm almost half mom's height but only one-twenty-fourth her age!

It's still autumn!

To celebrate the continuation of this fine season, we went somewhere autumnal today.




The back of Boulder Community Hospital! (Don't worry, they have other things here than just the hospital).




The hospitals in New York don't look like this, even in autumn. They don't have these fun reeds.




Don't think I won't bite this reed. I will. I really will. I hope you are not thinking otherwise.




Chomp!




I told you not to think otherwise.




While you were busy thinking I would not bite this reed ...




... and maybe thinking about how Boulder is really clean and nice ...




... I was preparing to do one thing, and one thing only:




I was preparing to bite this reed!




(In autumn.)




One way to confirm that it's autumn is to have a look at my outerwear.




Mary gave me this pea coat.




It is just perfect when the leaves are falling.




See?




This place is great in autumn, but I first visited here in the spring of 2007.




Can you guess why?




That's right! I was born here.




That was a long time ago ...




... back when I was a kid.




Time flies when you're chomping on reeds and wearing pea coats, y'know?

Autumn!

It's autumn!




That is another way of saying "fall."




I know--cool, right?




Hee!




I have invented this casual way of wearing a sweater.




I find it excellent for early November weather.




See?




Hold on. It's getting a little brisk.




There. That's better.




Care for an autumn leaf?




Plenty more over there if you change your mind.




Speaking of the season, there are just two more days until we vote for a real president.




If you haven't voted yet, please do it for me.




My parents are pretty excited that I might grow up in a world where Barack Obama could be president.




Imagine that....



__________

BONUS VARIETY PACK:

This is what my parents deal with every evening.




I also like bagels, which you might think are neat and clean ...




... but no.




I don't eat these, but I like to collect them.




Bucket!