Credit worthy baby

A+ received her first credit card solicitation on Saturday from American Express. I thought about applying for the card on her behalf and seeing if they would really approve a line of credit for a 10-month-old with no job, assets, or concept of money.

Monster-Sized Baby and Chicken Bingo

The picture on the left was taken at the hospital just before we put Baby A+ in the car to bring her home. She was two days old. The one in the middle was taken in the same carseat yesterday at nineish-months. And finally, the one on the right is in her new, big girl car seat (in Cow-moo-flauge. Ha ha!) that she will have until she's 3 or so. I can't believe she was so tiny! I really don't remember her being so little. And now, I can't believe she's so big. She's in the 50th percentile for weight at 18#11oz but the 90th percentile for length/height at 29" long. Basically, she's tall and thin. Sigh. She certainly didn't get that from her mom.

She's learned to clap and can wave but somewhat indiscriminately. She hasn't figured out that waving is a salutation so she just randomly waves from time to time. She's also starting to scoot on her tummy. She still hates tummy time but I am committed to making her do it everyday or else she'll be 14 before she can crawl. Daddy hung a swing on a tree branch this weekend and that's pretty fun. She sat in it this morning and watched the chickens rummaging around in the hosta garden.

Speaking of chickens, I let them out into the garden everyday now. After reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" (I think I am the last person in the world to have read it--better late than never), I felt like they should be able to wander around the garden and do their chicken thing. So they do. The girls have also been invited to be the stars of "Chicken Bingo" at our food coop's Crazy Days celebration. (Crazy days is a town-wide sale and festival of sorts that happens in late July.) I'll be sure to post some photos here after the big event. In the mean time, I'm trying to figure out what to feed them and when so we can maximize their poopiness. It's really a crazy thing to want to do--make the chickens poop even more--but I suppose it's called Crazy Days for a reason.

Baby A+ vs. Green Peas, Part II

Success! No gagging and even a smile. Next stop, prunes and liver!

Belated happy birthday

I forgot to mention: happy birthday to the chickens! They turned one on Tuesday. Their gift was a pile of yellowing broccoli and mushy watermelon discarded by the Coop. I didn't sing to them, tho'. Our neighbors already think I'm a weirdo; I probably shouldn't push it.

Freebird

Baby A+, Beanie (the dog), Meep (the nice cat), and I were all out in the yard this week. Roaming around sniffing (Beanie and Meep), eating grass (Meep and Baby A+), and generally being content with Spring's arrival. Thinking that their 6'x7' area must get boring after a while, I decided to let the chickens wander freely around the yard. "What's the worst that could happen?", I asked myself. :o)

So, I caught Tallulah and plunked her down in the grass. Beanie made a b-line for her, and I growled "LEAVE IT!", so Beanie just ran figure 8s around Tallulah and didn't actually touch her. Then I scooped up Dixie and Sydney. Beanie was enthralled to have more potential playmates in the yard, and was soon walking around with the chickens eating grass along side of them. She showed no malice nor prey-drive response to the birds. I guess she is a terrible labrador but a fabulous dog. Meep, who a year ago was plotting ways to eat the chicks, took one look at them and decided that they were too big to hassle with and went on her merry way. Baby A+ tottered between interested/bewildered by the non-furry walking things and ignoring the chickens in order to laugh riotously at the dog running around with sticks in her mouth. So, all in all, it was a harmonious afternoon in the yard for the cat, dog, chickens, baby and me.

Once again, it is fun to have the girls. I'm simple-brained, I guess, but watching them peck around, strutting and scratching, is entertaining. They are just funny little creatures. And they eat dandilions. Bonus.

Here is a three-shot series of Beanie following Tallulah, sniffing her bottom, and then recoiling at the nasty peck that Tallulah inflicted for Beanie's sassy, fresh behavior.



And here are a couple of Baby A+ enjoying the fine weather.

I worry that our Baby might hurt our Pit Bull

When she's not causing TBI to our dog, she's laughing at Mommy hamming it up. I'll do just about anything to get her to laugh!

Funk

I spent over two hours doing a complete Spring cleaning of the chicken coop this weekend. We've just been adding fresh pine shavings over the winter without removing the old, dirty shavings; the shavings were at least 8" deep. The top layer was mostly poop. Under the poop, was a layer of funk. And, finally, the bottom layer was a layer of wet yuck that reeked of ammonia. GROSS! It's been shop-vacced, bleached, scrubbed and dried, and we're set for another 3-4 months.

So the chickens have not been very fun over the winter. Partly it's been cold so we couldn't be outside hanging out watching them. Instead, it's just been drudgery of going out in the dark, cold mornings to let them out and again in the dark, cold evenings to put them in. Hubby and I have decided that if we do not enjoy the chickens this summer, we will enjoy them on our dinner table before next winter.