A new dancing machine!

As only my family member would know (and now the rest of you), as a baby, one of my many nicknames was "Laura Jean the dancin' machine." We now have a new baby to hold the title of dancin' machine! Yes, that's right, Victoria Reese the new dancin' machine. We dance all the time in the Ballard household because we love to listen to music -- heck, Victoria even has her own iPod and sound system in her room. I always forget to capture these moments on video, but the other night, I caught the dancin' machine in action -- unfortunately it was after her bath and we hadn't gotten her diaper on yet. Check it out.....

Three cool things about my daughter

I'm in awe at all the neat things Victoria is doing. It makes me realize that, if for no other reason, people have kids because they breathe life into a monotonous world! I can have a horrendously stressful day....but the moment I see this kid, all stress and yuckiness just melt away. She is like the perfect quaalude -- for lack of a better term :). So, as I sit here and lament on how fantastic my little superhero is, here are three things that make her so cool!

1. She loves running! Coming from a person that HATES running, but does it when necessary, I think this is so neat. At daycare, she runs races with the big kids. They even have her on video running....and get this.....LAUGHING hysterically! Maybe if I ran and laughed at the same time I would like it too (?????)
2. She growls at EVERYTHING that has fur, feathers, or claws. LOL....I think she thinks all animals growl -- even the ducks at the park. So, you ask Victoria, "What does the ducky say"......and she says "grrrrrrrrrr." Love it.
3. She can crack open an oreo in a millisecond. no joke, as soon as she gets it in her hand, the top is off the cookie (and usually discarded on the floor). She only likes to eat the cream at this point. Tony looks forward to teaching her how to dunk them in milk!

So, off the top of my head, those are 3 things that make Victoria the coolest kid on the block :).

At the park

Victoria is exhausting....but what's new. I finally figured out a perfect way to get through the weekend without feeling like all I do is think of crazy ways to entertain her. TAKE HER TO THE PARK! It's a perfect place for several reasons:

1. the swings....loves loves loves these. the harder i push and the higher she goes, the better!

2. dogs! Right now we can get away with not having a dog because she gets to pet other peoples' dogs at the park!

3. ducks...and geese! She, er....Tony & I feed the ducks (we try to get her to feed them, but she ends up eating the stale bread we hand to her that's really for the ducks).

4. people & kids. She is a true people watcher and kid lover.

5. Walking and pushing her stroller -- see the video clip below.

6. the crazy goose. today, we went to the park and saw a goose walking around the sidewalk honking (quaking -- what do they do?) At any rate, he was telling everyone (duck, geese, and people alike) to "stay away". But, what were we to do? We had to pass by him to get around the lake/pond. I wasn't really concerned as we approached him because i figured he would just squack at us as we walked by. NOOOOOO....the damn goose came galloping towards us. I was pushing Victoria in the stroller and I got really scared -- so I turn the stroller around and walk the other way and Tony runs up to the goose kicking his legs and throwing his arms around at him. the goose would not back down! it kept lowering its neck at him as if to say "I'm sorry, my bad" and then tony would turn his back on the goose and the goose would chase him! LOL, this was the craziest thing I'd EVER seen. Anyways, we finally got past him because tony ran at him again and made him move off the path so Vic and I ran past!

The park is the greatest....all these fun things, and a beautiful view of South Mountain to boot. Good times.