Here’s a short clip of Tara running around the kitchen and getting into the pantry. I had to bleep out Anna after she sklonked her foot on the wastebasket¹.

Tara runs around the house like this pretty much nonstop.

¹ Because she was naming someone, not because she was swearing.

This has been yet another “too busy to blog” week… so much going on and yet no time to write about it. Last night I was finally so exhausted that I went to bed before the kids did; Jennifer put them both to bed and I was out by 7:30pm.

Tara is now officially a toddler. Walking is her preferred means of getting around, but she still has the uncertain, could-fall-over-at-any-time stagger that is at once cute and hilarious. I have some more video to post at a later time.

I forgot to mention that a couple weeks back Jennifer upgraded her awful Sony DSC-T1 camera–which is really cool up until you try to use it, or look at the pictures it took–to a Canon A610. The Canon is bigger but faster, more usable, and it takes vastly better pictures. Pay attention, folks; more megapixels doesn’t mean better picture quality; but bigger sensors and optics do. You just can’t fight physics. The new camera should help her bring home some good pictures from Singapore when she goes at the end of April.

Anna has been something of a challenge lately. Yesterday, she got up on the wrong side of the bed and things went downhill from there. I was at home in the morning, preparing for a teleconference I was hosting, and outside my office door I could hear all sorts of raging going on. When I picked her up from school, she was moping in the corner. Her teacher hurried right up to me to warn me what a foul mood she was in. Apparently there was some incident at snack time that got her all upset, and though I don’t remember the details, it was yet another instance of Anna getting all sideways when the unexpected happens. She has much difficulty coping with the unexpected.

I am back on the Atkins diet again, as my weight has gotten out of control. I had a lot of success, losing over 50 lbs in 2001-2 on Atkins, staying stable for a couple years, and lately gaining a bunch back. I decided to take control and get back on the wagon before I give it all back. Having done it before, I’m confident I’ll be back down to a reasonable weight by July. I’m glad that Tara is eating normal people food (albeit cut into small pieces), because cooking for three different diets is hard enough.

Tara has really started walking quite a bit this weekend. We had her tottering back and forth between Jennifer and I, and she could take 5-6 steps pretty reliably. Later, she was rising to her feet unassisted, and walking around on her own, sometimes taking 10-15 steps, and occasionally turning around. Crawling is still her preferred method of getting from point A to point B.

Last night she was so excited about walking that she cried when we picked her up to take her to bed, and tried to claw her way back to the ground again.

If you can’t see the movie, try the MPEG or WMV versions.

Tara gets closer every day to walking. For a couple of months, she has greatly enjoyed walking around while holding on to mom or dad’s hands. A month or so ago, she started pulling up on her crib bars, toy bins, and now walls. Lately, she is showing improved balance, and can even stand for short periods before plopping down on her bottom or on her hands and knees. Still, her favorite activity is still to take our hands and stagger around like Ted Kennedy on St. Patrick’s Day.

In other news, Anna’s fever subsided and she actually went to school two days this week. In a related story, Tara now has a fever. Be sure to tune in next week when mom or dad will undoubtedly be sick. Ah, parenthood.