Ready for the Park

Harper loves going for walks in the warm weather we've been having. He sits back in his stroller and takes in the sights & smells at the park. Sometimes he'll point and say things like "birdie", "jet", or "doggie woof", but mostly you can tell he's just absorbing everything around him. I can hardly believe he'll be two years old in two short months.

 Excited to get going

Annoyed with his mama's obsession with taking pictures

A Knitter's Rant

The other day, my eyes caught something on TV that really bugged me. I was reminded of a major pet peeve of mine. The movie was of low production quality circa 1975, and there was some insane lady sitting in a rocking chair, who was supposed to be knitting. Yes, she was supposed to be knitting, but it looked more like she was ineffectively digging a hole in a tangle of yarn. There weren't even stitches on the needles. She was holding a pair of needles much too large for her project, and was plucking and poking like her life depended on it. Would it have been so difficult for either her or the director to do a teensiest bit of research on how to hold knitting needles?

These fake knitters pop up everywhere. I love getting craft ads in the mail (especially my Knit Picks catalog), and scan over every little detail for good deals, inspiration, and eye candy. Not too long ago, I received an ad for a craft store (who shall remain anonymous to protect the innocent), that contained a picture of a joyous mother and teenage daughter who were bonding while supposedly knitting. They couldn't have looked any more awkward. Yes folks, even the craft stores can't quite get it right.

Yes, I do understand the saying "there is no wrong way to knit". Left handed, right handed, pickers, throwers, Tunisian, Portuguese... there are many ways to to hold your needles, and many variances on how to craft stitches. But sometimes it's quite plain when the person has no idea what they are doing. No, I am far from a perfect knitter, and I pass no judgment on other knitters (regardless of their skill level). Maybe I just feel like the intelligence of me and my fellow knitters is being insulted. Or maybe this is just one of those silly, pointless pet peeves. Or maybe I'm just paying too close attention to something so trivial. Hopefully I don't come off to rant-y (yes, I just made up the word "ranty"), because I don't mean to. Well... not really. :)

Inconveniently, I was unable to find a picture of a fake knitter. Go figure. This lady however, really DID knit with these ginormous needles, making the Guinness books with these big 'uns. What are those, like size 80 needles? And rope for yarn? Amazing.

Pixels in Bloom

I've been wanting to change the name of our blog for quite some time now. "Two Dogs and a Baby" doesn't quite work anymore. Harper is no longer a baby, and we had to change it from "Three Dogs" to "Two Dogs" when Noodle left our family. After several failed attempts at brainstorming, we finally have our new title (which I adore). Don't worry, I won't break everyone's links by changing the URL.

Now... let's just see if we can post more often.

My Little Cuddly Bear

Good news: Harper's cast was removed this past Tuesday. We were so glad to get it off, but came home from the doctor's office with some antibiotics and a 103 degree fever. I noticed that morning that he was feeling warm, so we had the doc check him out while we were there. Turns out he had a double ear infection. By the way, I'd recommend blocking your toddler's view of their cast being removed. Whew! Cast removal was no fun at all, especially since Harper is already wary of pretty much everyone.

Harper is starting to feel better, with little thanks to the amoxicillin that he's mostly spit out. We finally found a sneaky way to get him to take it (fake jello cups are my new best friend... Why fake? We don't eat gelatin so found a commercial generic without it). His leg is improving, and seems to be fully mended. He's still limping a bit, but his confidence is increasing. The only appreciated side effect of these last few weeks is that Harper has become my little cuddly bear. He loves to quietly cuddle against me all the time now. I cherish this peaceful time with just the two of us, and will miss it when he inevitably grows out of it. Yes, he is doing it right now while I blog from my phone.