Steelykid!
drorzel | July 26, 2010The subject of the "spin" of the electron comes up again and again, so as pointed out in a comment, I really ought to do a post explaining what it is and how it works. As a bonus, this gives me the opportunity to do the dorkiest thing anyone has ever done with a cute-toddler video, namely this one:
(That's an early version of SteelyKid's new favorite game. I'll put a clip of the final version of the game at the end of this post.)
So, electron spin. Electrons, and all other fundamental particles, have a property known as "spin." This is an intrinsic angular momentum associated with the…
drorzel | July 22, 2010After a hard day of toddling, sometimes you just need to kick back on the couch with your sky-bison, and munch on a fruit strip:
You know what I mean?
drorzel | July 18, 2010SteelyKid has clearly inherited her father's fondness for basketball. Unfortunately, she doesn't quite understand how to play, yet. She does know that involves throwing a ball up in the air and jumping, though:
She'll get the rest of it eventually.
drorzel | July 15, 2010We've been doing weekly Baby Blogging (now Toddler Blogging) for a long time now-- this is week 101-- but it occurs to me that we've been shortchanging someone in all these pictures: Appa. He is, after all, a sky-bison, so it's about time we got a picture of him in flight:
SteelyKid says "I could totally do that, if Mommy and Daddy would let me."
(We've-- well, all right, I've-- started playing a game where I get Appa across the room from SteelyKid, say "Yip-yip!" and toss him across the room to her. Lately, she's started saying "Yip-yip!" as well, which makes it much cuter.)
(Kate is way…
drorzel | July 8, 2010I got sufficiently engrossed in writing a ResearchBlogging post for tomorrow that I almost forgot today's Toddler Blogging. To make up for it, though, today's post is using those three-dimensional effects that are all the rage these days:
Look out! There's a ball coming right at you!
What's that? The 3D isn't working? Are you wearing the glasses? Well, there's your problem...
As you can tell from the picture, SteelyKid is getting pretty good at throwing things these days. Catching, on the other hand, remains a bit of a problem:
(Alternate caption: "Telekinetic toddler moves balls with her…
drorzel | July 5, 2010SteelyKid has some molars coming in, which led to some intermittent generalized fussiness this weekend. When she gets that way, she can sometimes be calmed down using videos on the computer, such as the "Wheels on the Buss" DVD my mom has. In order to spare the sanity of the adults in her life, though, we supplemented this with kid-friendly YouTube clips, eventually running across this:
I have very distinct memories of this when I was a small child watching Sesame Street-- I hesitate to call them happy memories, because I think I recall being upset when the singers are carried off. But I…
drorzel | July 1, 2010Ah, the busy life of a modern homeowner: making phone calls, dealing with the mail, and doing some washing up:
Meanwhile, outside the house, Emmy ponders whether it would be worth the effort to huff and puff, or if trying to blow the house down would just get her scolded.
This isn't the greatest Appa-for-scale picture, but as a special bonus, below the fold we have a different reference measure:
From this, we can do a little image analysis, and say that SteelyKid is now 0.60 Mommys in height. And still growing rapidly.
The change in post title reflects the other big change around Chateau…
drorzel | June 27, 2010... because SteelyKid is a baby on the move, and she moves fast:
SteelyKid spent a long weekend with Kate's mom, and we went down there yesterday to pick her up. This picture, snapped during a playground visit this morning, gives you some idea of her energy level.
Accordingly, Kate and I are both exhausted. Which means no deep thoughts for you on the blog, but at least you got a cute baby picture out of the deal.
drorzel | June 24, 2010SteelyKid is spending a long weekend with Kate's mother, so we are baby-less. Which means no Appa-for-scale picture this week, alas.
Since I know some of you would freak out without the weekly cute-baby photo, though, here's another shot from the backyard playhouse:
As you can tell, Kate has an ever-so-slightly easier time fitting into Chateau SteelyKid than I do...
drorzel | June 20, 2010I've made a few oblique references to home improvement projects over the last week or so. These weren't for our house, but for SteelyKid's-- Kate's mom got her a playhouse for Christmas, which we finally got around to installing in the back yard. SteelyKid has taken right to home ownership:
Don't let her studied cool in that picture fool you, though. Getting the house was the highlight of the whole day:
(My parents were visiting for Father's Day/ my birthday, so they get a cameo in the video.)
Most of the rest of the afternoon was passed going in and out of the house, ringing the doorbell…
drorzel | June 19, 2010Friday was the last day of the school year hereabouts, so SteelyKid's day care had an end-of-year ceremony for all the preschool classes, which included her group ("Waddlers," which are between "Infants" and "Toddlers"). They gave certificates to all the kids, for a variety of different things. Here's a picture of SteelyKid's certificate:
I have no idea where she gets that from. No idea at all.
drorzel | June 17, 2010No elaborate pose this week, just simple, classic Baby Blogging:
A few months back, her weight had failed to increase as quickly as expected, so she had a couple of weight-check appointments scheduled. The latest was this week, when it was discovered that she had gained about three pounds since the last check-up (the proportional equivalent of me gaining 25-30 pounds) two months ago. She's now right back on track at the weight expected for a Great Big Baby.
And she's still the cutest thing in the world. She has recently become fascinated with cars and trucks, pointing them out all the time,…
drorzel | June 10, 2010Kate was away last Thursday, and just got back yesterday, so this is the first time in a week that all of us have been together. In honor of that, we'll break out the fancy camera remote technology for a group portrait (a Baby Blogging first!)
Emmy snuck into the lower left corner of the frame, to express her skepticism at all this shmoopy biped stuff.
drorzel | June 3, 2010I sometimes get comments asking why so many of the baby blogging pictures are taken from above. The answer is twofold: 1) I'm rather tall, and thus it's hard for me to get down to baby level to take pictures straight on, and 2) when I do try to get down to baby level, most of the pictures come out like this:
SteelyKid, like Emmy, interprets "Daddy near ground level" as "time to play" and comes charging over to me. It's usually dumb luck if I manage to get the camera up before she pounces on me.
So, if you want Appa-for-scale images, you're generally stuck with shots from above:
Fortunately…
drorzel | May 27, 2010Kate here with two pictures of SteelyKid at play. Here's one from last night in which she is beginning to realize the difficulties with her plan:
(Very shortly after this, she solved the problem by demanding that I put my sandals back on, and then leading me around by one hand while she pushed her cart with the other.)
And here's one from tonight where she works on recreating the fun-with-towers experience:
With my steadying the bottom, she eventually built that single column to be taller than she could reach the top of while standing. She was so pleased with herself.
(No, Appa isn't in…
drorzel | May 20, 2010How did my day of solo SteelyKid wrangling go, you ask? I can sum it up in one picture:
She's quite a handful...
(To be fair, this is part of a game that gets played even on days when I'm not about to fall over from exhaustion... But it seemed like a really appropriate picture to sum up the day.)
drorzel | May 19, 2010SteelyKid's day care is closed today and tomorrow for a Jewish holiday (happy (?) Shavuot to those who celebrate it), so she's home all day for the next two. Of course, Kate and I are both crazy busy, so my parents are coming up to watch SteelyKid today while we're off at work. We really had to twist their arms to get them to agree to spend a whole day with the cutest baby in the universe...
Anyway, in honor of that, here's some bonus baby video of SteelyKid playing one of her favorite games with Grandpa:
It's less elaborate than a lot of her favorite games, but really, anything where she…
drorzel | May 18, 2010I have copy edits for an Anglicised edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog to review, lecture notes to write, and a faculty meeting to go to, so I'm going off-line for the rest of the day (with one possible exception). To keep you amused in my absence, here's some video of SteelyKid dancing to Bruce Springsteen:
Ain't no party like a SteelyKid party, because a SteelyKid party don't stop. Except during the sax solo.
Should you want to hold your own SteelyKid dance party, here's a list of songs that she has been directly observed dancing to:
"I'm Going Down," Bruce Springsteen
"The Lion…
drorzel | May 17, 2010SteelyKid's every-so-often bath was last night, and as always, she was fascinated by scooping up water in a hexagonal cup thing that's part of one of her bath toys, and watching it drain out. Which is completely understandable-- not just because she's a baby, but because there's a bunch of physics at work, here.
I realize this is trampling on Rhett's territory, but I made a little video showing the physics part (in the sink, not the tub, because I don't want to have the pay the therapy bills that would come from posting video of SteelyKid in the tub):
The explanation is laid out in the video…
drorzel | May 15, 2010It's a beautiful day here in Niskayuna, and we have family visiting. So here's a bonus baby picture (also in use as my Facebook profile picture at the moment), in hopes that while you're distracted by the cute, I can sneak outside with SteelyKid and enjoy the nice weather.
Everybody say "Awwwwww...."