deer hunter

This tail [sic] is a few months old. I've been trying to recreate the scene so that photo-evidence could be provided. But, alas, the reenactments have been a failure. So here's the story, sans pictures.

Penny enjoys her neighborhood walks. Between the leaves and the snow, there's always somewhere for her to make {snow, grass, leaf} angels. But the real draw for the neighborhood is, unquestionably, the wildlife. Penny took to it immediately: chasing rabbits and squirrels from her very first days in DC (including one time knocking a very pregnant Sandra over in her quest to say hello to a bunny). Penny hasn't seen the foxes, but she probably knows they're around, and she seems totally oblivious to the bear that lurked in our neighborhood shortly after our arrival. Deer, on the other paw, are definitely on her radar. She's chased them through the neighborhood a few times. With each additional encounter, you could slowly see her getting more confident.

One day (right around Thanksgiving), Penny struck doggy-gold. We were walking around on the street next to ours [well, some clarification is needed: I was walking on the sidewalk, minding my own business, while Penny ran across every front yard and between the houses]. We turned a corner and Penny was face to hoof with an 8-point buck. [I kid you not. It was massive.] Penny and the deer were no more than two feet apart; the deer towered over her. Far from cowering, Penny seized the moment. When else could she play with a deer? Confused by Penny's lack of concern, the deer bolted. Penny took off too, hot on the trail. Down the front yard! Onto the sidewalk! Along the sidewalk until the next street! Into the next street! Up into the cul-de-sac! Penny was running ferociously after the much faster deer. [I gave some futile pursuit behind the two of them, but they were already out of my sight within a few seconds.]

When I finally made it to the cul-de-sac, another dog owner and his daughter were walking their (peaceful, docile, obedient) dog. They were awestruck. First, the man said, he'd never seen a deer that large. [He was the one who said it was an 8-pointer; presumably, they had more time to witness the scene as the deer and Penny ran towards and past them.] Second, he'd never seen a dog so happy. She had this look like, "I'm king of the world."

When I finally retrieved her from behind someone's house, Penny was beaming. She was out-of-breath, sure, but she also gave the distinct impression of pride, like she stood up to the Goliath on my behalf and chased him back to Gath.

spring is in the air!

After last week's snowfall, this weekend was all of a sudden warm and balmy. And the beautiful weather continued the past two days!

We celebrated with a lot of playground time, a walk in the woods, and Noah's first swing ;-) Never mind that temperatures are supposed to dip back into the 30s again on Thursday... the first flowers are peeking through the ground and we're excited for Spring!

digging in

Note to self, Mama:

Noah LOVES Avocado, with a hint of banana ;-)

Also, wear a bib too (or not a white shirt) when feeding him without a high chair...

some of my favorite things!

Discovering the world now, Noah has shown interest in some favorite things -- he loves to: read, GRAB and CHEW his puppy book, reach for his changing table butterflies (which sister Charlotte already loved dearly), squish, BANG and CHEW his wooden rattles, observe and GRAB his safari mobile, CHEW his teddy (which big sister picked out as the very first gift for Noey when she learned Mama had a baby in her belly) and SMILE at baby monkey when lounging in the rocking chair.

Having favorite things also means you COMPLAIN when you don't get them ;-)

fox news

Early in November (yes, November) a dog ran away after chasing some deer through parkland near our house. [Ed.: speaking of deer, that reminds me to get on the ball with the tale of Penny's greatest triumph. Another day.]

The owner has launched a full-scale search effort, enlisting tens (hundreds, maybe) of volunteers to help "Bring Havoc Home." (Both national and international readers may have seen some recent TV coverage.) Havoc's made it through the polar vortex (the real one in January and the more recent baby vortex in March) and has been seen a handful of times in the last few weeks.

Since we're up at all hours anyway, Sandra noticed some barking and trash foraging early (and I mean e-a-r-l-y) one morning. The next day Havoc's owner brought out some dog sniffers to see if they could pick up a scent. They did.

We've volunteered our yard as a feeding station for Havoc. So far, it's mostly just meant that Charlotte keeps asking and hoping that the dog will come live in our garden. Penny's also had to fight her inquisitive [Ed.: come on, just say it. Nosy. She's nosy. Very, very nosy.] nature and leave the feeding bowl alone. She's failed, though we don't believe she's eating the food.

In fact, we're pretty sure she's not eating the food. Instead, a fox is stopping by twice a day for a few quick bites. (The feeding station setup includes a heat-activated camera.) The fox is surprisingly regular. Our backyard seems to be the port-of-call at 7pm, 1am, and 7am. Last night we even watched the fox live. It was pretty cool.

c is for cookie...

... and Charlotte!

This is one of Charlotte's absolute favorite shirts: she's been wearing it already from 18 months old and will probably try to squeeze into it for another three years or so ;-)

Identifying letters is also a favorite activity these days: Charlotte has been singing the ABC song already for more than a year now from memory, but has now really started to know her first letters. Of course, she can identify C for Charlotte (as well as her full name) but also N for Noah, D for Daddy, P for Penny, M for Mama and quite a few letters of her classmates' names.