flea

Yesterday, while we're watching This Old House, she comes out with this one:
Casper: I don't want to live on the land.
me: You don't want to live on the land?
Casper: I want to live in *space*.

Today she fell asleep sitting on my lap, butt naked, while I was watching the penalty kicks in the World Cup final. Clearly completely immune to the tension!

Now mr. flea and Casper are trying to build block towers as tall as Casper.

We had TWO swimming play dates this weekend. (Signs that my child is a modern kid: she asks for play dates and asks to have her grandmother on speaker phone. Neither of these things were invented when I was 2.) Today at the Looni faculty club, as guests of friends. It is like a country club, basically. Nice pool (including baby pool with shade over it), tennis courts, weight room, snack bar. Of course, I am ineligible to be a member - membership is restricted to employees who are paid on a monthly basis (i.e. "professional" staff: no secretaries, groundskeepers, bus drivers or nurses, thank you very much.) And they wonder why the Looni is still referred to as The Plantation. Plus it costs $1000, but that's for a lifetime membership as long as you are employed by or retired from the Looni, which is a decent deal if you like to swim and have long-term job intentions.

In new and exciting sleep (or lack thereof) developments, Casper now gets out of bed to come find us sometimes. This can occur at 7:30 am on a Sunday, when I am in the kitchen reading and have been there an hour already, or it can happen at 2:30 am on a Monday, when it is less welcome. I mean, if she stayed in bed and just cried, it would still wake us (well, me) up, but somehow the mobility effect is especially worriesome.

When Casper is in a good mood and playing well by herself, I really enjoy watching her. She will take two Little People or two animal figurines and have little stories with them or enact them talking to each other. "Let's do blahblah!" "Okay!"

She also talks to, especially, Funky Bear. When we were in Boston at Xmas and driving home from the airport, she was showing him the sights out the car window. Yesterday she told him "It's okay" during a scary part in A Bug's Life. This wouldn't surprise me so much if her were her contant companion, but he isn't - she'll abandon him in the corner for 2 weeks at a stretch. But then she picks him up again and he is her best buddy for a little while. (Poor guy - it's hard to deal with inconstant affection. I love you *all* the time, Funky Bear!)

In potty news, we put her in Pull-ups during the day sometimes. She can get them on (sort of) and off herself, although she basically has to be unclothed from the waist down to bother. I thought they felt wetter to the wearer than modern diapers, and were thus supposed to encourage potty use, but either they don't feel wetter or Casper doesn't give a damn. They are, of course, rather more expensive than regular diapers, for no apparent reason except that they can be.