It's never too late, or too early, to spy on your child

Kate is almost 15 months. So you may wonder why at this late stage in the game I went out yesterday and blew $200 on a video monitor. Let me begin by fully rationalizing the expense. First of all, the same used monitors on ebay were going for only $30-$50 less. Not that $50 is chump change, but there's a certain amount of risk in buying ebay crap, er, merchandise, so we opted to go for new. Then there are the wide options in the store. For $100 you can buy a big ole honking screen that is like a mini cathode ray tube. For another $50 you can get a teeny tiny screen. They bait you for another $25 on top of that for a larger screen. And then, for $200 you can get a handheld "large" screen that's digital (so that you won't end up watching your neighbor's baby instead of yours). So yes, I blew two hundred buckaroos on something I swore I wouldn't buy.

But here's the thing... it is so addicting to watch! It's only been a day, but man oh man, I'm finding things out about Kate I never knew! For one, she rolls around for at least twenty minutes before falling asleep. She sounds asleep, but she's standing up, repositioning herself, flipping her head to the other side of the bed, tossing horsey around, rolling on her right side, her left, and then, finally, tucking her legs under with the butt-up happiness. All the time horsey is clutched carefully to her chest.

What brought us to this point was the other night. She was waking up every hour with teething pain, and then at midnight we broke down and went it. (I think I mentioned this -- mysteriously all teething pain was relieved by leaving her bedroom. Ring a bell?) Well, after much more crying, and much heartache on Daddy P's on my own part, she slept until morning. Come to find out, she had thrown out horsey sometime in the midst of it all and had been forced to sleep horseyless! I didn't know this was possible! We both felt so bad we decided then and there to buy a camera.

In case you're wondering, it's the Summer something one for $200. One day in and I'm totally stoked about it. Awesome picture (even in Kate's pitch-black room), and a nice size screen. The thing weighs nothing and has a video-off option so it works like an audio monitor. Very nice. Plus a rechargeable battery so I can stop buying so many freaking AAs.

Weather here was gorgeous today, which allowed her to get outside and play for a little bit. She was very interested in the leaves on the ground and carrying them across the yard to put them in her bucket. She tasted some dirt, moved around my pots, and checked out the bark on the tree. A pretty good day all in all!