Please don't feed the animals....

Ahh the developmental milestones we never expected…. Yes it is a running theme here. Her latest passion is for the weak, the downtrodden... the very hungry pets of the Lacroix household. Yes, she feels for them so much that she is compelled every time she eats to share a little (or a lot if she doesn’t particularly like the fare) of her meal with Kita (and Whiskers if he can manage to sneak in). And like most acts of charity we do because it makes us feel good… Genevieve’s joy is evident in the range of giggle to out and out crack-up every time she gives Kita or Whisky a morsel of her meal….

Die cold, die

All is well in Mott Lacroix household… hmmm truth be told maybe “well” isn’t the word for it. Poor Genevieve has had a cold for going on 3 weeks now. Who knew that those darn viruses could be so persistent. Of course it doesn’t help that she now cringes and cries whenever the nose bulb (aka snot sucker) gets within a five-foot radius of her head. And to think, most babes get about seven colds a year. So seven a year times about three weeks a piece…. By god that means that she’ll be sick for almost half of the year! Man I better find a way for her to make peace with the snot sucker…..

Well, even in her ill found state of snot she still manages to look pretty cute. This morning we played dress up with a nice vintage number that was mine when I was about her age. The tights were a hit given that her new favorite pastime is to rip off any sock placed on her foot.

And for my next act....

Genevieve has become quite the performer in the past few weeks. Grandma Nicole gave her a piano and as you can see she is quite fond of playing it. No Mozart yet but she does enjoy a good round of the itsy bitsy spider. Not only does she enjoy “playing” the music she also does a pretty nifty little dance to it every so often when the mood strikes her ☺

When she isn’t tickling the ivories or dancing she is performing the “anything you can do I can do better” routine. This little ditty involves her imitating things that you do and let me tell you she is building up quite the repertoire. To date she does a mean imitation of the pirate (arrrrr), an African bushman (click, click, click), a person laughing (ha, ha, ha) and my personal favorite “devil baby” (a low growl followed by a shaking head). The pirate is her Dad’s favorite and as a result it seems like whenever I leave the room I can hear them arrring to each other and giggling. She also does a few impersonations, her most common one being of her friend Riley, the nanny’s 1.5 year old daughter who likes to go around saying “that” and pointing at things. As a result Evie is constantly saying “that, that, that” and using her pointer finger… ahhh she must be brilliant!

And finally there is Evie the movie star! Here she is in her latest film "Snow is Cold"

Scare tactics

One of the great debates for the eco-minded with babies is whether to use cloth or enviro disposable diapers. Which is “better’ for the environment, believe it or not, is a hotly debated subject. There is one, albeit infrequently considered, option that is hands down the most eco way to go. This path is known as conscious elimination or going diaperless. Now I must confess I am not enough of a hard core greenie to travel this road but we have had some experience with what it might entail. Every month or so Evie starts to get a diaper rash so we give her bum a break and have a diaperless night (or at least a diaperless hour or so). During these times of trouble we have learned her “cues” for when she is going to eliminate and can usually act accordingly, i.e., make sure she is sitting on a towel or bring her to the toilet.

After Christmas my family all went skiing together and stayed at a condo that was a classic circa 1975 wonder. On the second night Genevieve started to have a rashy problem so we decided to let her roam free (the carpets were far from pristine so we figured no one would really notice should there be an incident…and this my friends is why I don’t want to rent our old house). Patrick and I quickly discovered that a diaperless baby was a terrifying notion to my father and little brother. All of a sudden the once adorable baby was compared to a one shot, fully loaded, game of Russian roulette that was to be feared as though her nether regions contained an atom bomb instead of the innocuous and decidedly mundane baby poo and pee. They both watched her like a hawk and when, inevitably, she relieved herself they were both so horrified that they immediately vacated the family room and only returned when Patrick certified that it was “safe”. Being the kind, understanding sister I am I found this phobia of my brother’s to be quite entertaining so of course I had to exploit it by waving her naked bum in his face. Poor Genevieve, nothing but a pawn in my evil design.

In other news, and pictures, Genevieve’s first Christmas was great! She got to spend the holiday with my family and Patrick’s dad, Monique and Sarah. Mom made her phenomenal a stocking, which, as you can see, was rather large. Evie’s favorite part of Christmas was definitely the ribbons, of course a close second was the wrapping paper and certainly last were all the fabulous clothes that everyone bought her.




New Years was spent in Utah at Brian Head where we all got to go skiing and Genevieve was able to see and (sorta) play in the snow for the first time. It was so cold out (5 deg) that really her first snow experience was more of a quick photo shoot ☺ The snow was just one of the many exciting new experiences…. Tops on the list though were spaghetti and the New Years fireworks; she laughed and pointed her way through the whole show.