Beginnings

I don't often cut someone's head off in a picture... in fact, when I took this quick photo on a Saturday morning walk, I included my daughter's entire body and was just hoping the combination of that plus her reflection in the water would be somewhat interesting.

The unaltered photo was okay, but I find this cropped version much more captivating. It's like the speed bump acts as a divider between reality (the top half of the photo), and some impressionistic view of reality as reflected in the puddle. You don't get the entire story in either part of the picture... you're forced to piece it together yourself by examining both halves. Tasty.

My daughter is full blown toddler now. The baby fat is mostly gone, replaced by strong muscles and an even stronger sense of self. It constantly amazes me how much this kid talks - and even more so the deep meaning and level of reasoning behind her words. She is the constant debater and negotiator - producing rather convincing arguments on things like why she should be able to get the sugar coated vitamins rather than the plain ones.

I attribute her self confidence to a number of things: a mom who is equally confident, Montessori school and gymnastics - along with the fact that I was able to stay home with her for the first six months of her life, and her mom for the first two years.

Two of my wife's sisters are credited with starting the radical cheerleading movement (one of them is now a city commissioner). And so, while my daughter was still in the womb, I came up with a radical cheer of my own for her (my apologies to fans of the Flintstones):

"Tough like Bamm-Bamm, sweet like Pebbles, mess with me and you've got troubles."

It's a silly rhyme that didn't mean anything other than me wanting my daughter to be a strong and caring person. It looks like she's turning out to be exactly that, and I'm very proud of her.