state of emergency!

this photo has nothing to do with our current crisis, but who cares?

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Lil to Corn on the Cob: "NO!"

While getting Lil ready for our upcoming trip Upstate, something terrible happened. Mama lovingly prepared a half-ear of organic Lancaster County (PA) sweetcorn, and Lil turned it down– for mashed potatoes with Bolognese (ick)!

To the casual Lil watcher, this may seem like typical toddler behavior. They say new foods may be introduced sometimes as many five times before kids start to enjoy them. But this is no ordinary food, and this is not just some run-of-the-mill toddler. She is the product of my womb– the womb of a born-and-raised Upstate country girl– who is also the product of an Upstate country girl, and so on. Mama grew up on a-dollar-a-dozen-from-right-down-the-road sweetcorn, and I-dare-you-to-eat-an-ear-of-corn-that's-meant-for-feed corn. How can I accept that my offspring will not eat corn on the cob?? Worse, I feel terrible wasting awesome corn on someone that won't eat it!

Mama only hopes that once we're actually Upstate and surrounded by corn-loving relatives eating locally grown, just-picked Madison County (NY) corn, Lil will have a change of heart. In my experience sweetcorn just isn't the same unless you're enjoying it with my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Also troubling, Lil still insists that cows say "baaaah." Lil!! Get thee to the country!!

green monster

Why yes, that is a broccoli floret sticking out of Lil's mouth...

Yeah–and then after dinner, she wiped down her high chair tray. This makes up for a good deal of difficult behavior.

wedding crasher

"All the single ladies? That's me!!"

This past weekend Mama, Papa, and Lil headed to Cooperstown, NY for a very special wedding. Without going into too many details, it's fair to say that next to the bride and groom, Lil had more fun than anyone. She literally danced the night away, staying up hours past bedtime and coercing boys to dance with her. I had to drag her off the dance floor when it was time to go home!

Sweet Lil made friends with everyone she met, but her best "budday" was Ethan, the 3-year-old son of Mama's childhood playmate known as Little Vic, and Mama's good friend Chelsea from middle school. It was some kind of special watching our kids play together. I wonder if these two will ever hear stories that start out, "When your mom and dad were little kids..." and end with, "... so we washed their hands with dishwasher detergent," and include pictures of shared baths and dirty faces, birthday parties and dance recitals (yes, someone's daddy did a year of ballet, and yes, those pictures still exist. [insert bribe here]). I know you can't force two kids to be friends, but when you see these two together, it seems destined.

(also a big thanks to Papa for gathering all the footage while Mama was busy being the pregnant, hungry bridesmaid.)

Guess who filled Lil's dance card.

tiny dancer (video)

Seriously, how is it possible that out of the 258 previous blog entries about a baby dressed up in cute outfits, none are entitled "tiny dancer?" A bit surprising, but there aren't that many entries about dancing. I've been patiently waiting for the perfect burst of movement from our subject, and this weekend she delivered. After playing countless hours of reggae and hip-hop–plus some folk-y stuff thrown in for good measure–Lil began moving those feet in ways that would make Jennifer Beals proud...

A few moments later she worked her way up to dancing in circles. Now she can make herself very dizzy and fall down. It's endlessly entertaining for both of us...

It became clear that she was in need of a twirly dress. A day or two later I pulled out a cute summer frock that had been gifted to her last summer with the hope that it would fit this summer. It certainly fits, and it's gorgeous, and it twirls.

She's just warming up for all the fun we're going to have at this weekend's big wedding (where Mama gets to be one BIG bridesmaid)! Unprecedented cuteness will be blogged next week!