Eliza loves tunnels. I think it’s because her dad loves caves so much. She crawls through them, rests in them, sits in them and sings to herself.
Going to the park with her is so different these days. She can climb the steps to the slide all by herself and she ven sat in a big kids’ swing yesterday for the first time.
Will all of Eliza’s teeth please hurry up and come in? We’re all anxious to meet you. Thanks.
Eliza is now healthy, except for some teething pain that makes her a grumpy puss. She does her best to be happy, honestly. But sometimes she will just scream and shove her fingers in her mouth.
On the other hand, she has now discovered the joys of Dora and Diego, much to our chagrin. We were hoping this wouldn’t happen for a while longer, but it was inevitable. She goes around the house singing “Backpack, backpack!” and “I’m the map! I’m the map!” Good times.
So yesterday brought the news that Amazon acquired Zappos. For those not familiar, Zappos is a company that sells shoes (primarily, although they now sell other things) and is known for its nearly insane customer service. Seriously, they will do just about anything they can to make sure you’re happy, and are responsible for crazy customer service stories. This story about Zappos sending a woman flowers is maybe my favorite customer service story of all time. My other favorite thing about them is their “Pay new employee to quit” program.
As a result of the acquisition, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos released this youtube video
Take a minute, and watch the video…it’s worth it.
So Jeff explains a bit about the deal, and why Zappos and Amazon are a good match. According to Jeff, he only knows these things:
Why do I mention this on what is ostensibly a blog about library science stuff? Because I feel strongly that our future isn’t in content, really…it’s in services. No one does service better than Zappos. If we take Zappos customer service strategy (do anything to make the customer happy) and the four things that Jeff Bezos knows about running a company, how could we change libraries for the better? What can we do to be the Zappos of information?
Because I’m tired, I’ll just do a brief update rather than my usual laundry lists. Plus, we’re entering the phase of toddlerhood where not as much changes from month-to-month as it once did.
Biggest development: Eliza has a new obsession with dressing up. As you can see in this photo, she hardly goes anywhere without several necklaces. She has been known to walk around the house with 8-10 necklaces, several scarves, and mom’s underwear around her neck while wearing a hat, dad’s socks, and mom’s shoes. She also loves to put stickers on her left arm (she is very obviously right-handed). She is all about adornment right now. This stage is a mystery to me, since I don’t remember being much of a dress-up kid.
Needless to say, she’s going to go crazy for Halloween this year. She will be the kind of kid who won’t leave the house without her ____ costume, even though Halloween was three months ago.
Other changes / developments: lots more eating with a spoon or fork, although she’s kind of lazy about it sometimes. She is now saying “sorry” at (mostly) appropriate moments. Hates to get scolded. Absolutely loves nursery rhymes and makes me repeat them over and over. No longer in love with yogurt. Has discovered the joy of apple slices. Wants her food separated (she apologized to the apples this morning when mommy foolishly put grapes in the same bowl with them). Has used the potty once and is clearly interested in it. Pretends that her animals and dolls go to the potty.
Still the same: her favorite activity is still reading, but now she has memorized several books and “reads” to her dolls. Still loves to dance, listen to music, and wrestle with Daddy. Still loves icecream (who doesn’t?).
Wow, Eliza is 19 months old. And every day is still a big adventure.
I got ambushed by the Dutch Boys at the OCLC Blog Salon at ALA Annual 2009. Evidently, so did lots of other people…the video below is the result.
OCLC Blog Salon:Shenanigans with Shanachies from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.
Here’s a short little audio summary of what I’m up to at ALA Annual 2009.
Direct link to the AudioBoo, in case you have a problem with the above.
