A chilly drizzle day meant we had to stay indoors… No problem, Keeghan will just spend a little time with his favorite puzzle.

Ian was perfectly able to occupy himself, too.

His father asked him why he’d spent the afternoon systematically trashing his room. He replied, “it’s just what I do.”

Normally these would be on their last legs around here…

And if you’re a knitter, you know there’s nothing nicer than home made booties, until baby starts pulling up and you learn why baby socks have no-slip appliqués on the bottoms.

Three years ago we were deep in Ian’s “won’t wear shoes” phase and I was working hard on booties of every description. After a lengthy perusal of the Ravelry forums, I concluded that gel-style fabric paint was a good option for non-slippage. It worked great and didn’t look bad, since the bottoms of booties are often visible. But, after three years in storage, it turned hard and slick, which is no use. So I’m retro-fitting Ian’s old booties with puff paint.

I originally made these with ties. Which worked fine for Ian, who was walking. But on a crawler/scooter/tiny trouble maker, they don’t work so well. So I’ve replaced them with knot elastic. Which seems to be working. So maybe baby booties that stay on are not a sign of the end of the world. At least, not just yet.

Ian: But I want one more minute!

Michael: You’ve had one more minute. I’ll tell you what. If you can tell me what 4+3 is, I’ll give you that many more minutes.

Ian: SEVEN.

In other news, this child has managed to make his preschool teachers doubt he can identify basic shapes or count higher than 12.

Last night, I:

So this morning, no yelling. No waiting. No cranky.

I couldn’t tell if he was more excited that his name was on the stuff in the fridge, or that I included juice- a special Saturday treat.

If you stand tall and speak firmly though tears may fall, today is your day.

If you defend your family fiercely, today is your day.

If you have faced adversity and carried on, today is your day.

If you are always absolutely and indubitably yourself, today is your day.

Happy Birthday to the Wise and Wonderful Betty Gray. In your honor, I celebrate you and all the funny, strong, wise, irrepressible, intelligent, caring, WONDERFUL women I know.

Remember this?

Yesterday he decided it was worth defeating the gate. So he did. He slid the pack and play out from the wall and pulled the other end out from behind the cabinet. Then he checked to make sure he’d defeated it and crowed over its demise.

Then he turned around to go and do this:

Because all of that was about winning. He didn’t actually want to leave.