Uncle Matt is a Clown

After Dan's last post (sans explanation or narrative of any kind) I thought I should elaborate. The pictures in the previous post are of Dan's recent creations. The toy box and inlaid box he made for Juliet a while ago, but he was just able to finish our new table and chairs. I love them.

On to Uncle Matt...my brother is in LA for a work conference this week. Luckily for us, he got to stay with us the night before and will also stay with us the night after the conference. On the way here, however, he got stuck in terrible traffic. Wonderful mother and sister that I am, I refused to let Juliet go to bed for the night until she got to see her Uncle Matt (we had limited time, here). I would like to point out that she got a couple naps that day, so she wasn't completely without sleep. The combination of the fact that Matt is (literally) a clown and that Juliet was up way past her bedtime resulted in quite a bit of hilarity. Juliet laughed almost hysterically (and a little painfully) for about ten minutes while Matt played a pseudo peek-a-boo game with her and a plate. Sorry it's a little jumpy...Dan kept laughing.

Easter!

Juliet got to spend her Easter with her wonderful cousins, Eliza and Victoria. They were so entertained by everything going on around them that we decided to wait until Monday to do the Easter egg hunt. So we wrangled Juliet back into her oh-so-sweet yellow dress and took her outside to hunt eggs. She got the concept immediately. Of course (as Dan pointed out) it's what she does - picks things up and puts them in her purse (or anything that can pass as her purse). Then we went inside and read the Easter story.

So here is our Easter Egg Hunt...

which was serious business...

but a little bit fun, too.

hijacked blog

I, KaRynn Sheranian, have officially hijacked Melissa's blog. (ok, so she gave me permission to do this because I have a gazillion cutesy pictures of them, and it seems strange to put them on my blog...)

So in collusion with Melissa, here is Dan, Melissa and Juliet Johnson news from KaRynn's perspective:

they now live in Harry Potter Land (aka, 5033 3/4 ... that's right, there's a 3/4 in their address):

Dan is alive: (see?)

and he's working at cool places like the Natural History Museum: (Melissa said something like, "Yeah... you thought he came to California for construction. But he's secretly a paleontologist...")

[I guess his company did the second floor of this room...]

their cute little family:

the child now uses a fork: (so cool)

Make a gif

the child's uncanny talent for "just-got-out-of-bed" hair: (she already has the California girl persona--natural highlights, long bangs and a cute hair accessory...)

the child can walk: (it's more of a cute waddle)

the child can sing and dance: (before she could even talk or walk!)

the child can conduct: (I think Dan's been working on this in secret...)

the child found her belly-button: (she has a bad habit of trying to find everyone else's belly-button, so beware of her lifting your shirt...)

and the child likes to eat things: (some of them not so edible)

And just so you are aware, the child is NOT always naked, as may seem from these pictures and videos. She is clothed often. ;D

As you can see, the Johnson family is alive and well and loving California--mostly because (let's be honest) i'm here. Oh, and the weather is pretty awesome too, despite the occasional tsunami warning...

A Little Bit of Quiet Time

My daughter loves purses. In fact, she loves anything she can carry around while pretending it's a purse - shoes (the laces are excellent purse straps), her book that has ribbons attached to it (thanks, Aunt Marie), and any type of bag.

Now that we have that clear, let me get to the point. A couple of days ago, Juliet was being exceptionally needy and clingy...it was driving me nuts. She had been yelling at me all day. She insisted on climbing into the dishwasher while I tried to do dishes. She got a hold of my not so empty soda can while I left her alone for all of two minutes. She wanted up and down out of her high chair every five minutes. She stole my phone away from me and hung up on my mom when I tried to call her to complain. I was done. Don't get me wrong, I love my child, but when she finally wandered off by herself I was elated. I took that opportunity to start making dinner. After several minutes, I realized (with dread) that she was being very quite. Not wanting her to see me and subsequently attach herself to my leg again I decided I would stealthily take a peek at her to make sure she was okay. I tiptoed into the living room. She wasn't there. I peeked around the corner into her bedroom. There she was playing with the box of new diapers I had left on the floor. Then I realized, no, she was not playing with the new diapers. She was playing behind the new diapers. She was playing with the dirty diapers from the diaper pail. She had managed to loop them (yes, multiple) over her arm and was carrying them around like purses. Then, to my (further) horror, I noticed an empty diaper on the floor that had clearly once contained poo. After performing a quick and frantic search for the diaper's lost filling, I noticed the smeared poo all over the diaper pail. Apparently, Juliet had not been interested in the poo (to my relief). She had tossed it back into the diaper pail - but not before smearing it inside and out. Keep in mind that all of this took place in about five seconds. Meanwhile, the child was standing there (poop purse still slung over her arm) looking alternately at me and at her opening and closing poo-smeared hands.

It was a good thing for all parties involved that Dan came home just at that moment. "Go show your dad what you did!" I said, pointing toward the door. "But don't touch anything!" She took a couple of steps (poop purse still intact) and turned back to stare at me. "Daniel! Get in here!" I bellowed. So in came Dan to the rescue. With two of us on the job he was able to plop her in the tub while I disinfected her room.

A Look Into the Minds of Bookworm and Builder Bob

In a lot of ways Dan and I are really similar. For example, we both frequently have nightmares (and by frequently I mean just about every night). However, the content of these dreams is very different for each of us. Mine tend to be more realistic, while Dan ends up being Harry Potter or being chased by zombies.

A few mornings ago, we had a conversation that has really given us some insight into our respective psyches. It went a little something like this (keep in mind we were still in bed and still pretty drowsy):

Builder Bob: I had bad dreams last night.

Bookworm: I'm sorry. So did I.

Builder Bob: I'm sorry.

Bookworm: Me too.

(Pause)

Builder Bob: The vampires were trying to get me.

(Pause)

Bookworm: The government was trying to get me.

And there you have it...

On the Phone

Admittedly, I have been incredibly lax about blogging recently. My last post was three months ago? (As a side note, admitting that felt a little like going to Confession..."Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been three months since my last post...") My apologies to the grandparents desperate for a glimpse of the Babe.

Juliet has loved talking on the phone for a while now, but she has just recently taken to grabbing the phone away from me and talking on it by herself. I finally decided I needed to get it on video so I called Dan while he was at work. This was the result: