Wednesday morning I discovered the ultimate Liza distraction tool. I stuck her in the bathtub in our bathroom while I was getting ready.

This tub is known around our house as “the big bathtub” because it’s nearly twice the size of the tub in the kid’s bathroom. Liza doesn’t get in the big tub much because it’s hard to chase a slippery 18-month old around a tub the size of a small pond without getting wet yourself or nearly drowning the kid. (See? I did learn something from Eli’s upbringing.)

I didn’t realize, however, it would be so much fun to play with the tub toys with NO water! Who knew?

This morning I took photos.

Those are tub crayons. Good thing they wash off easily.

A moment between the kids. Yes, I art directed Eli into place but once he got there he was way cute all on his own.

This outfit is the bringer of messes. Every time I dress her in it, within 45 minutes there’s a huge mess of some variety that requires a wardrobe change.

One of the many moods of Eli. He was telling me a story about a king, knight, dragon and a fiery game of checkers.

Yeah, I’m totally gah-gah over this kid when he has this expression on his face.

And now, a brief conversation regarding Eli’s reading.

“Eli, let me see what the sticker says. Okay, you can read that one by yourself.”

“Wait, what does the sticker say? Library books have stickers for Eli?”

“It says level 1.8.”

“Level 1.8? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. Eli’s reading roughly level 2 books on his own.”

“What is this scale? Is 1 ‘Dick and Jane’ and 10 Thomas Pynchon?”

Our trip to the beach.

Stay tuned! I might accidentally post something else next week.

I’ve mentioned my love of Matt Fraction’s comics before, what with Casanova and Five Fists of Science and his run on Iron Fist. You want to know why I love his work?

I’d be remiss, however, if I didn’t at least point out that in this issue, Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson deliver what is unquestionably the Sensational Character Rediscovery of 2008 with the addition of Dr. Nemesis, a Golden Age character who co-created the Human Torch, fought the Invaders, and then spent the intervening time building new eyes and then using them to hunt down cloned Nazi super-soldiers and shoot them in the face with his guns made of science. And really, I don’t think I’m overstating matters when I say that a crotchety old super-genius hitman is exactly what the franchise has been lacking all these years.
–Chris Sims, about Uncanny X-Men #504

Oh, did I mention that he has a picture of his son in a dog cage? Strega pointed that out to me. Clearly Matt Fraction and I are somehow related.