Sweet potatoes!

Josie moved beyond rice cereal today and tried some sweet potatoes. Do you think she likes them?











Mmmm...sweet potatoes. See? Some are actually going into her mouth.

Couch climbing and mat smiling

Josie on her zoo mat.












Happy mat.














Josie is fake couch climbing here. One false move and she plummets almost a foot into the couch cushion!

Josie's first wedding

Josie attended her first wedding this weekend. She was a model child throughout both the ceremony and reception. The ceremony was held right around the corner from Wrigley Field (the bride proposed to the groom last year on the jumbotron!) and the reception was held in Andersonville at the Swedish American Museum. The bride is a friend of mine who was in one of my first marathon training groups. She did all of the wedding design and it was beautiful--a yellow and grey/white color scheme featuring yellow whirly pop name tags; lemons and a single, floating white flower centerpieces; huge, spherical white balloons and very cool invites and program. There was also a wedding cake shaped like a hot dog in a bun, temporary tattoos and a viking helmet you could don for photos. And an open bar, but Josie abstained.

Spawn of librarians

Stretching

It's important to stretch properly after a bath.








Aerial shot of Josie's unique style of yoga.








She thinks it's pretty fun to gnaw on her toes. She does this even when fully clothed and I keep finding wet socks on her.

Workout

Josie is getting very active on her mat and pushes herself up with both arms.







She didn't seem to want her feet to hit the rug, so she kept those raised up, too. Maybe it's because we told her the carpet was a river and it was filled with crocodiles.






Drop and give me twenty, Simpson!

Mystery duck update

<--My duck






<-- Cornell's duck









This just in...the mysterious duck referred to in a previous post has been confirmed as a "Muscovy Duck." Read all about it: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/domducks.htm (scroll down a bit to see the Muscovy).

Here's some of what they say:

Let’s deal with the *Muscovy Duck* first, as it’s pretty easy to tell. The most obvious character of a muscovy is the red facial skin. If your duck has a red face, it’s probably a Muscovy Duck. This red skin can be quite bumpy, exaggerated, and frankly, gross, with a knob on top of the bill and lumps all over. If you see that, it’s a slam dunk Muscovy Duck. The wild type plumage of muscovy is all black, glossy greenish on the back, and with large white wing patches. But, because of our fondness for white, domestic muscovies can be pure white, all black, or any degree of pied black-and-white.

They don't mention the Muscovy's yellow feet, and my duck looks like it has more of a duck head and less of a turkey head, but the rest of that description is spot-on. Wikipedia notes that there are feral populations of Muscovy ducks in almost every state in park areas. And finally, the Muscovy duck is apparently quite delicious, so I hope that duck is careful (it walked right up to me, but maybe it sensed I'm a vegetarian).

Some-bunny cute

Look at this cute bunny rabbit that I found.















Here's a full-body shot of the outfit.






Bunny fell asleep (which is good, since she had woken up early from her nap while I was posting pix. Just in time for me to catch some cute shots!).






More sleeping beauty-bunny.








PS Thanks for the cute bunny jacket, Grandma!

Mystery duck of Humboldt Park

Josie and I walk through the park almost every day. Normally, our creature sightings are limited to birds, squirrels, ducks, geese, lots of dogs and the occasional turtle. But both yesterday and today we witnessed a strange creature that we'd never seen before. As you can see, this animal stands out...it's like a cross between a turkey and a duck (and possibly a cow with that color pattern).


Yesterday there was a group of men standing around and discussing this strange bird and today one of them had returned and was feeding him some bread crusts. Here's a closer shot of the mystery fowl.

Some Humboldt Park sites

Humboldt Park bridge.







One of the many park pathways.








I like Humboldt Park!








At the Humboldt Park Zen Garden.








I don't know why there are buffalo in the Zen Garden.

More ready for walkies pix

Where are you taking me?











The park?










Yay!










Let's go already!

Ready for walkies

I love this picture. Josie was rarin' to go on our usual morning constitutional to Humboldt Park.

Rainy day Monday

Jack watched Josie on Monday while I was out at some appointments. It was raining, so they couldn't go outside. She apparently liked watching the rain from her bouncy chair, though. Here's a shot of her--it looks like she's either on the Lido Deck of a cruise ship or perhaps recuperating at a nineteenth century sanitarium.



On Tuesday it was nicer, so I took Josie for an afternoon walk and Jack came to meet us after work. She fell asleep on the way home.








Here's a close-up of her cat nap.

First food!

Tonight's menu features rice cereal.








Mmmm...solid food.








A little blurry, but you can see that not all of the cereal made it into her mouth.








All done!








Mmmmwah...(makes kissy noise)...magnifique! My compliments to the chef!








Hanging out in her jammies after cleaning off the remnants of dinner.

Jolly Jumper

Today we received the Jolly Jumper that Emma is letting Josie borrow...thanks for sending it, Beth!







As you can see, the Jolly Jumper is aptly named (at least the jolly part...Josie didn't do much jumping in it today, just hung around in it and smiled). Look at those cute little feet!

Simpson Labor Day visit

Hey, Josie...Grandma and Grandpa are coming to Chicago!








Hanging out with Grandpa.








At the bistro with Grandma and Daddy.








Zeeb makes a brief appearance.