Christmas photo blog 1

Christmas morning, checking out all of the loot. B actually ohh-ohh-ahh-ahh'd like a little monkey when she saw the play table.
















Little miss mischevious realizes there is even more booty in the stocking.




















B in her new dress from Aunt Cara and Uncle Rusty.




















B and her new baby.




















Much more to come.

I guess she must be a genius

Below is an article from AmericanBaby.com showing you how to determine if your little nose picker is indeed a genius like you’ve always suspected. I’ve included it verbatim from the website with my thoughts about how each particular item pertains to Brynna in parentheses.

Is Your Child a Genius?
Signs that your child maybe be gifted. (this item doesn’t pertain to B but I does seem a bit ironic to find such a blatant typo in the title of an article about being a genius)
By Kristen Finello



According to the National Association for Gifted Children, approximately 5 percent -- or three million children -- in the U.S. are considered gifted. How can your tell if your child is one of them? Here are some of the early signs of a gifted preschooler, from the American Association of Gifted Children at Duke University:

· Learns quickly and remembers easily (she gets this from her daddy, yesterday I almost remembered what I went into the bathroom for)
· Seems mature for his or her age (she’s definitely the most mature one year old in our house)
· Has a large vocabulary, displays an unusual interest in words, or already reads independently (yesterday I caught her skimming through Homer’s “The Iliad”)
· Experiments to solve problems (true, her current focus is how to get her pesky parents to let her do whatever she wants and is accomplishing her goal by systematically denying us much needed sleep thus rendering us powerless to say no the fifteenth time)
· Prefers older playmates (she digs older men, a fact that I’m sure will lead to lots of therapy for me when she gets a bit older)
· Seems sensitive (yuppers)
· Exhibits intellectual curiosity (how could my child not?)
· Shows compassion for people or animals (she does give Chancy half of her food and screams and squeals as she chases itty around the house)
· Enjoys puzzles, mazes, and numbers
· Questions authority (yes, but only when we ask her to do something)
· Seems to get bored easily (if sitting still, yes)
· Has a high energy level (only if you consider the scene from Home Alone where the Caulkin punk kid runs around the house screaming and holding his hands in the air to be low energy)

If you child has several of these characteristics, consider having her assessed by a child development expert. You can also help nurture her natural talents by reading to her and introducing her to interests such as art, music, nature, and sports.

End of article.

If you ask me, I think the person who developed the list must have had a hyper active demon child who was always acting out and was desperately trying to rationalize the reason for this. With that in mind, I propose adding one more sign to the list.

· Acts afraid of his or her own feces/urine (because, quite honestly, we have no idea what the deal is with that)

Doggy birthday

On Sunday, we got Chance together with three of his siblings for their yearly birthday melee. What do you get when you combine four large dogs sharing one brain? Answer, lots of barking, peeing, peeing some more, some skirmishes and one bloody ear apparently. Chancey pants has officially gotten his first ass whuppin, by his sister Laika no less. Early in the festivities Chance had stopped to bask in the attention of Laika’s owner when, from out of nowhere, Laika’s jealous streak got the best of her and she jumped on Chance grabbing at his big, floppy ears and knocking him over. All told, it was done in only a handful of seconds (when we pulled them apart) but Chance walked away with a bloody ear and I would assume a bruised ego. Laika, who is about 25 pounds lighter than Chance, walked away without a scratch.

This is one of several bloody towels that I used to try to stop the bleeding.



















Buster, being the only dog there who still has his wedding tackle, showed his nurturing side and tried to continue the ear cleaning.














Chancey is currently on the mend and we're hoping to avoid yet another expensive vet visit but we won't know for another day or so.

oh the (in)sanity

Memory lane

Marcy recently found this pic of when herself when she was 2 years old. Do you notice any resemblance to a certain little one? Yeah, me neither. BTW, who is the dirty hippy holding her anyway? 

Fun with hats

B's current infatuation is with hats of every size, shape and color. They go on and come off, go on and come off, go on and come off, go on and come off and on and on and on until you just want to super glue the friggin thing on there for good.

With that in mind, here are some fine pics from my lovely wife (who, coincidentally, wants to super glue my butthole shut but thats a topic for another day).


 

Butt floss

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “butt floss”.  It refers to a woman’s g-string essentially flossing her crackasoreass.  The other night though, we witnessed the beginnings of a new meaning.  The whole Dam fam was at home Sunday night and I was flossing the ole pearly whites while Marcy was attempting to show B how to solve a quadratic equation.  Unfortunately, Marcy just isn’t that bright so she asked for my help.  Sensing the urgency of the situation, I carefully set the floss down on a magazine on the coffee table to be disposed of afterwards.  As I was explaining that a quadratic equation is a second-order polynomial equation, Chance snuck in and ate the mint flavored floss.  I guess I can’t blame him, ever since being put on his new diet he has willingly (eagerly even) eaten anything that even remotely resembles food.  Unfortunately though, he’s going to have to suffer the consequences as he “passes” the floss in a day or two.  My only hope is that it is contained in a single, umm, dook or else he may end up with a second, slightly stinkier tail.

15 month well visit

Marcy took B in for her 15 month checkup. Here are her stats:

weight: 24 lbs (70th percentile)
height: 32 1/2" (95th percentile)
head: ? (95th percentile)