Yes. Once again, blogging stalls while daily life paces at the speed of light. At least that’s how it feels. Alaire turns 18 months in a little over two weeks; and, with legs almost as speedy as light, in the rare moments I catch her in a snuggly moment,oh my goodness, do I hold on tight.

The last two months brought a little crazy into the Vail household. Both Graham & I started new jobs. Graham took on a special full time project in e-com (still at adidas), and continues to soar, adored and respect by his co-workers and leadership team. He’s even done some public speaking! Hey – this blog ain’t all about Alaire’s new skills! I started at Kinesis (going to work for a long-time mentor) and found myself maneuvering a pretty steep learning curve, but dang if I’m not figuring it out, the complexity and nuance of it all. And, Graham the AMAZINGLY patient husband that he is, takes up the slack as I dedicate each morning to marathon training (PDX Marathon this weekend). How I love and appreciate my Gvail….Alaire, if you could only be so lucky when you find love. But, I digress. I promised stories of erratic eating habits and other fun stuff.

So. In the last couple of months, Alaire’s eating preferences have mirrored the ups and downs of a really scary roller coaster. Sometimes we nail it, sometimes we fail. The mainstays consist of grapes, blackberries, applesauce, yogurt, and ketchup. At first I felt like a terrible parent (feeding my baby applesauce for dinner and all), until babycenter.com assured me that toddler eating habits are quite erratic, so not to worry. I did feel a little better after a co-worker’s five year old announced that he only eats cheese after dark (maybe this should make feel worse? for what’s coming?). I guess, in the end, it’s all pretty entertaining.

What’s In: Ketchup, lots of it
What’s Out: eating the fry that feeds the ketchup (I just want ketchup mom)

What’s In: Milk, Milk and more Milk
What’s Out: Food (why bother eating when milk taste so good?)

What’s In: Saying apple (it’s my new favorite word)
What’s Out: Eating apple

What’s In: Biting the top off my sippy
What’s Out: Drinking out of my sippy like a nice little girl
What’s In: Mommy shopping for a new brand of sippies!

What’s In: Fork
What’s Out: Spoon (things seem to taste better on a fork)

What’s In: Wearing my plate as a hat WITH food still on it (pictured below)
What’s Out: Throwing my food on the floor when I’m done (which is the lesser of two evils? We just aren’t sure)

What’s In: Anything that’s not green
What’s Out: Everything green (except green grapes)

What’s In: Left Hand w/ utensil
What’s Out: Right Hand w/ utensil
30 seconds later…
What’s In: Left Hand w/ utensil
What’s Out: Right Hand w/ utensil

What’s In: Still being the sweetest girl around
What’s Out: Tantrums at restaurants (as long as I can eat ketchup)

So, what you’ve really all been waiting for…photos & videos!

My first chocolate pudding:

Plate = Hat, Doh