Uh oh, there's intelligence on the horizon........

Kali 1.11 is starting to really communicate a lot more rather than just mimic other people. Some examples.....

-We were watching a Disney movie where a pigeon suddenly reached down and ate a cockroach. Kali calmly turned towards me, pointed towards the TV screen, and said "Ate it".

-Kali saw that Mrs. Lime had ice in her drinking glass. Kali walked over and picked up her tea set cup and wanted to put ice in that cup. The problem is that it's not much bigger than my finger and can't even hold one ice cube. I knew that telling her that ice can't go in that cup wouldn't fly with her, so I had to build logic into the reason. I simply told her that her cup was so special that an ice cube would break it, so we couldn't do that. She bought it, but I'm going to have to continue to increase the complexity of my stories as she grows up.

-Before now, Kali usually just kissed Mrs. Lime goodnight before she went to bed as a routine. That routine has become more complex now. We have to go kiss Tinkerbell 0.3 and THEN kiss Mrs. Lime before going to bed.

-Kali, Papa, and I were sitting in the living room waiting for Mrs. Lime to get home. We were chatting when, all of a sudden, Kali screamed "E!" and pointed at the TV. I looked up to see that Wheel of Fortune was on and she was guessing letters since she saw that the contestants were doing the same thing. She loves to watch that show now, which will delight my mom since she's a fan of the show. Learning experiences are everywhere.

-The first night back from Hawaii, Kali was having a bit of an issue going to bed due to the time change. She was making noise in the bedroom, first screaming 'Mommy!'. When that didn't work, she went to screaming 'Daddy!'. Finally, after neither of us showed up, she proceeded to start screaming her babysitter's name. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose.

-Kali has become very concerned about keeping things clean lately. If she spills some of her drink on her shirt or drops food on it, she's got to have a napkin right then to wipe it up. I guess there's worse habits that a kid could have.

-I've always made sure to teach Kali when we go to the store that we have to pay before we leave with our stuff. She always starts saying 'pay' as soon as we get to the register. Last week, when we were getting on board a plane, we gave the tickets to Kali so she could hand them to the lady at the boarding gate. Kali took the tickets up to the lady and said "I pay! I pay!". She's been paying attention.

-Last night, I was working on a router upstairs for the internet. Kali was giggling, so I turned around to see what was up. She had taken the guitar for my gaming system, put the strap over her shoulder, and was pretending to play the guitar. She then gave Daddy the guitar to play and ran over to the drums. She picked up the drum sticks and started playing the drums. We're a regular rock-and-roll band.

-We're going to upgrade some of Kali's puzzles. She's got an alphabet and animal puzzle that she's had for some time. It's become obvious that she's getting bored with the puzzles. She's intentionally putting all the pieces in the wrong place just for something different to do. Thankfully, she's got some horse puzzles that are a bit more difficult that she's finally getting to where she can do them herself. Her intelligence is making her old puzzles obsolete.

Abbreviations in the workplace..........

Note to anyone who is a manager/team leader in the workplace.......

If you are discussing an 'analysis request' in a meeting, there's probably a better way to abbreviate that term than to write 'Anal Request' on the dry-erase board at a meeting attended by 20 of you co-workers.

And yes, that actually did happen yesterday.

Hawaii: From the Balcony..........

Here's the view that we were able to take in during the day.........

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Kali 1.11 was pretty excited to be in Hawaii. She quickly put on her best superstar look.........

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And a set of sunrise photos on Day 2 of the trip to Hawaii........

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Anybody for a hula party?

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Back to the cold, harsh world..........

Yes, I'm finally back from 9 days of vacation in Hawaii. I was warmly greeted by 20 degree weather and snow. Mrs. Lime will be the first to tell you that I was excited to get back to Missouri. I do like the change of pace in climate. I need a bit of both summer and winter to keep me sane.

Mrs. Lime and Kali 1.11 both fell asleep early, so I sat down to watch all three Mizzou games that I had missed while I was gone. All three were wins, so that's always a pleasant surprise.

Tinkerbell 0.3 was picked up yesterday from the kennel and got rave reviews from the staff. Everyone said she was a great dog and had a lot of fun playing with her. Kali and Tinkerbell were both extremely excited to see each other. Tinkerbell put on a few inches in height and a few pounds while we were gone. It was like getting back a brand new dog.

I'll have pictures up from the trip soon. Just haven't downloaded them to the computer yet. Stay tuned.

Where'd the middle go??????

Remember what I said about what happens when Kali 1.11 gets her hands on an Oreo cookie? Hint: bad things for the creamy middle.........

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Snow time, volume 3!

Tink 0.3 thinks the snow is fabulous...............

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Daddy and Kali 1.11 head back into the house to dry off and warm up!!!!!!!!!

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Snow time, volume 2!

Tink 0.3 tears through the snow at breakneck speed............

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Kali 1.11 is VERY entertained by Tink's antics................

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Snowball fight!

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Snow time!

Kali 1.11 and Tink 0.3 got a good dose of playing in the snow when a storm rolled through earlier this month..........

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Tink was loving it just as much as Kali......

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There's a snowman on my snowsuit!

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I think the snowman just ate a snowball...........

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Another snowball in the chest.............

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Baby down! Daddy to the rescue!

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