Kindred spirits

We went to the zoo yesterday to see D.C.'s second-cutest baby: Tai Shan. Like Kasper, Tai Shan enjoys his midday nap, so they both dozed through our entire 10-minute visit. Kasper perked up after we left the panda house -- just in time to chase after some of his favorite zoo denizens: the golf carts the groundskeepers ride around on. He also thought the prairie dogs were pretty cool.

We'd have loved to have seen Tai Shan while he's awake, but we'll go back to visit him again once the hoopla has died down a little. And we're glad we resisted the temptation to part with our tickets for big bucks on eBay. After all, Tai Shan is the biggest celebrity in town right now, and we never miss the chance to tell Grampa George when we've seen someone famous.

A couple more pics:

Personality plus

As time goes by, we discover there are two distinct sides to Kasper. There's the Kasper who stacks blocks, brings you books to read, charms every person in the grocery store, flirts with my boss, loves to play "Where's Kasper?", gives crazy zerberts and snuggles up in your lap and falls asleep.
Then, there's this kid. He loves sticking his hands in the toilet, trying to eat my cell phone, screeching (particularly in the middle of a store), dropping his toys into the diaper pail, ripping out (& eating!) pieces of his pop-up books and going into the fridge, getting out the hummus, opening it and attempting to eat it by sticking his face into the container.
I guess only time will tell. And I already know who Grammy and Mema are rooting for...

Table for 3

Kasper helped me in the kitchen today by:
1. Opening the refrigerator door by himself (repeatedly)
2. Opening the dishwasher by himself
3. Turning the dishwasher on (after I locked it shut to prevent him from opening it)

As for the rest of our Turkey Day, it was quiet. There was sleeping, there was football, there was cooking. I cooked my inaugural turkey (not a whole one, just a 6lb. breast) with only two phone calls to my mom (yesterday, to see if I could cook it in a 13x9 baking dish; today, to get a second vote on whether to trust my digital thermometer or the pop-up thing on the turkey).

We are so thankful for Kasper, but currently we are most thankful that he's finally in bed.

Keyboard with a view

Kasper likes keyboards so much, we got him one of his own. We are hoping that Mom and Dad's keyboards will survive a little longer without the regular application of the both-fists-over-the-head-and-boom!-crashing-down maneuver.

Sometimes I set it up so he can look out the window and type. May he never know the tyranny of a cubicle farm with no view!

A plumber in the family?

My mom has always mentioned how she wishes we had more craftspeople in the family. I mean white collar jobs are great, but with the amount of stuff my brothers flushed down the toilet and my mother's penchant for remodeling, she always thought it would be nice to know some plumbers, electricians, contractors, etc. Well, Mom, Kasper may be our shining star. The kid loves to get under any sink. And look how happy he is about it!
P.S. For Uncle No-Fun, Grandpa Doom & Gloom and other concerned parties, there are NO cleaning products or other chemicals under the sink.

"Your life is over."

I brought Kasper to the new play area at the mall recently. Showing no fear, he immediately started toddling around.

Another mom with a 3-year-old boy sat down next to me.

"Look at him go - how old is he?"

"He just turned ten-months-old on Sunday."

"And he's walking? Wow!"

"Yeah."

"I'm so sorry. Your life is over."

It's great to meet people who understand.


Did I mention he also likes to climb into things?

Kandula & Kidman

We ventured to the zoo Friday. The weather was awesome (high 60s in November - gotta love the Mid-Atlantic region). This trip we remembered to ask someone to take a family photo! It's not perfect but you can see all three of us.

We got an early start and made it to the zoo in time to see Kandula the elephant get his bath. There were some VIP-types checking it out too. At first, we just say guys in suits and I assumed it was political muckety-mucks. Then I noticed a tall slim blonde, who was way too fashionably dressed to be a political anything.

Lo and behold, it was Nicole Kidman! She's in Washington filming a movie. Sorry, we didn't take any pictures of her (it seemed so rude since she was about a foot in front of us). She was smiley and doesn't look so skeletally thin in person. She's in one of my all time favorite movies, Moulin Rouge, so I was very excited to see her in person.

We also saw the cheetah cubs, which are practically all grown up and the tawny frogmouths, Patrick's favorite bird. It was a great trip. As you can see below, all the excitement wore Kasper out.