Drought..

Sorry for the blog drought... Two weekends ago I spent the whole weekend (Friday through Sunday) at a meditation retreat at the Tucson Shambhala Center... awesome (not to mention intense) experience both for me and for Patrick who was on sole baby duty the whole weekend :)



Last week was Maxine's first birthday at our favorite (and very frequented) park. Then this weekend Evie had another swim lesson. This time the swim instructor actually put her head under.... I was totally prepared for a meltdown but man is our little girl tough! I won't say she enjoyed it but she certainly rolled with it and didn't even cry!

This weekend was also my mamma's bookclub, which started out as just Bridget and I (even Edie was asleep) but soon grew to Erin and Santiago too. Evie was pretty funny with the other kids (both of which are about 6 months younger than her) calling them baby and saying things like "no baby" when they would come near a toy she was playing with... yes our dear girl has gone from darling to devil-I-won't-share child in only two months.

That's all the time I have for now... this next weekend we are celebrating Ben's birthday and having an Octoberfest as a final hurrah before Annie, Ben and Maxine pack it up and move to Ethiopia so stay tuned for much crazy babyage :P

A week of firsts...

Well we haven't had one of these in a long time but Genevieve has had an amazing week of "firsts" these past seven days or so. Now these are not quite as cool as holding up her head on her own or even walking but they are important nonetheless :)

The week of firsts began with our (so really it is a familial first) first week of taking care of the chickens as part of the alleyway chicken coop we have joined. Evie loves her girls and every morning and evening was raring to go as soon as we uttered the chicken word. The firsts kept rolling in when on Thursday night she was in her first parade, holding a purple balloon that said 2007 on it, for the opening ceremonies of the American Association of Birth Center's annual meeting. We paraded in to the tunes of her very first maraiachi band... man did that girl clap up a storm for those marachi kids!

The first, "first" of Saturday was not so appreciated by the babe... her first swimming lesson. I am sad to say that she cried for most of the time, the notable exception being the part where we blew bubbles in the water. Then on Saturday night, continuing the Latino firsts theme, we impromptu went to our neighbor's son's birthday in their backyard and Evie got to take her first swing at a pinata. Then, and this is perhaps the most exciting first of the weekend, Evie had her very first tootsie roll straight from the pinata...ohh yeah.

Finally on Sunday she went to her first little kid birthday party to celebrate Zev turning one! She played in the sandbox, hit a couple of shots of croquet and wore a birthday hat (and of course ate a little cake) All in all it was a fun filled first-type fiesta all week long!

Beetles and more

Last Friday we (Patrick, Evie, Kita, Quanook and I) loaded up the car and headed up to the Blue for a nice long weekend. We met up with my Aunt Betty and Uncle Jim for one night at the cabin... played a couple of mean games of scrabble (got my butt uber kicked... but Patrick actually got a scrabble just like the pros!) and then spent the rest of the weekend by ourselves. Uncharacteristically we went to a few parties... but most of the time we were cuddled up in the cabin because man did it rain!

Over the course of the weekend I was continually amazed at all of the random words Genevieve knows. On Saturday morning Betty found a cool beetle and showed it to her and without prompting Evie said "beetle" I have no idea where she learned that! (Although my best guess is her Wild Animal Baby magazines that Oma Monique bought for her). Then later that day we were walking to the stream and she picks up a pine cone, hands it to me and says "pine cone". What a random set of words she has learned!

The other big event of the weekend was that we finally went to see the Ilka cabin in Nutrioso. What an amazing pad they have there!!



Anyway we got back pretty late last night and there is a mean stomach bug moving its way through our family (I was the first to fall and am happy to say I survived) so that's all for now!

Haircut and other excitement

A quick update while Evie and Patrick are in the bath....


While my parents are in Switzerland we are watching their awesome dog (aka my littlest brother) Quanook (sp?!). I promised Mom I'd post some pictures of the pup so that she would know he is okey dokey while they are away.

In other news we finally gave in a cut bangs for Evie... I think they suit her well....

Finally, and possibly most exciting is Genevieve's new kitchen area! We went to Ikea this weekend for bookshelves and came home with all sorts of exciting Evie things, but the most exciting is the table and chairs! They fit perfectly with the super awesome baby stove that I bought last Friday for her. Its great, we now can get her to stay in the kitchen with us for at least 10 minutes at a time :)

Anxiety

It lurks in the corners of all baby’s psyches. It is dark, dreaded and decidedly disruptive. No, it is not the boogieman, at least not so far as I can tell. Oh no, this monster of late is of the separation-anxiety genus, a little beast I call Mommoth. The Mommoth is a fearful creature, able only to keep her terribly tragic tears at bay when Mommy is near. Should the Mommy leave the Mommoth erupts in to a fit of howls loud and persistent enough to break even the most stone-cold heart. Poor Mommoth, her request seems so simple to her, Mommy must, at all times, be by her side. (Except of course when the Mommoth is totally occupied with something soo fun as to not matter what company she keeps… but that is totally beside the point) Why is it, the Mommoth wonders, must the Mommy sometimes go? Because the Mommoth knows, just knows, that the Mommy shall never return and then who, I ask you who, will read Pajama Time to her?!

Our little Evie Mommoth had a particularly hard week this week. So bad that on Wednesday I received a call at work from Nicole saying that Genevieve had just spent the last hour standing at the door, weeping and saying Mommy. I had no idea how to help our little distressed Mommoth… so I thought maybe talking to her would aid her in her sorrow. Ohh ho not so, this just angered the poor Mommoth even more! After she got off the phone she redoubled her wailing and cast the Evil Phone That Just Pretends to be Mommy aside. In the end, the only thing that put her back in the happy camp was for Nicole to fill up her baby pool and let her go for a swim (just about one of the best activities ever, enough to brighten any cloudy day).

And just think only a few months ago I found myself wishing and hoping that she would utter just one single mommy for her Mommy. I guess the old adage is true. Be careful what you wish for...

Anatomy Lesson

We may just have another physician in the family. Genevieve is very into identifying body parts (and bodily functions… but I don’t think you want to hear about that) these days. Practically every morning when I pick her up her first word is either head, nose or eye; accompanied of course with a good pat to my head, pull on my ear or finger in my eye.

This newfound anatomy acquaintance has become yet another tool in our control/distract/entertain arsenal. For example, if she is running off in a direction we don’t want her to all it takes to stop her dead in her tracks is to ask her where her head is. She will come to a screeching halt pat her head, say “head” emphatically and then go back to running. Frequently, this brief pat pause is the split-second advantage we needed to catch up with her. Now, there are, of course, situations where a mere split second just will not do. But oh ho not to worry, the erudite Evie can be stopped for at least 5 seconds if you ask her where her toes are. Given such a challenge she must stop, squat and point to her little piggies... and this process give you at least 5 seconds with which to gain on her!

Identification of body parts is not limited to just human-types. She also likes to point to Kita’s nose and ears just to let us know that doggies too have these features. This week she took it even a step further and, while taking a break from other backyard play, she trotted over to our statue of Saint Francis and started pointing at his eyes, head and nose (the toes were too hard to find I am afraid and with those long robes you can forget about a belly). Saint Francis was a very good sport in all of this and Genevieve, being the loving tot she is, gave him a nice big hug to say "thanks for letting me demo on you" once she was finished.

Weekend o' fun

It was a laid-back but fun-filled weekend in our little clan. We spent most of Saturday bumming around the house; too hot to do anything else. And then around 2 pm the clouds gathered, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped enough to warrant a trip to the zoo. It was Patrick's first time... I think the anteaters were his favorite :)

Then Saturday night we decided to be crazy and give the drive-in a whirl. We threw a bunch of pillows, chairs and (just in case) toys in the jeep and headed out to see Dark Knight. Evie did great. Although she stayed awake for about an hour of the movie so I think next time we'll be sticking to G and maybe PG flicks. Patrick and I were both just so excited to see a movie at a theater of sorts we really would have gone to see anything (I think the last movie I saw was Harry Potter when Evie was like two months old and perpetually stashed in the baby sling).

Today we took a morning dip at the pool. I sat in the shade and read my book while Patrick and Genevieve frolicked. Then, after a nice long nap was had by all, we went to our second Baby Club Congress and listened to the rockin' kids-music rock band, drank juice till we were all wired (well really Patrick and I also had a beer) and ate too many cheese fish to count. Ahh the excess :)

Peaches!

So those of you who talk to me regularly know that I have been on a bit of a local food crusade (I know, I know, how very trendy of me) these days. Well in my never-ending search for local fruit today Genevieve and I journeyed just a little north of Tucson to Catalina to pick peaches and apples from Howard’s Farm (an article from the Daily Star this week inspired me). I must confess I have never (at least not that I remember) gone to a u-pick-it farm before so I didn’t really know what to expect. We drove for about a ½ hour and then up a dirt road to a little plot of land in a rural, large lot, area of Catalina. We were greeted by Howard himself, who loaned me a wagon for Evie and told us any tree with a pink ribbon was fair game.

Genevieve and I spent about an hour there wandering through the orchard. I let her walk for most of that hour and she became quite adept at plucking peaches. I tried to direct her to the ripe looking ones, but given we both have the same amount of expertise in peach picking I mostly just let her take whichever peaches tickled her fancy. At one point she was a ways ahead of me and found an apple on the ground and just started chomping away at it… hey they are organic anyway so I just let her go crazy… plus something about her eating an apple essentially fresh from the tree warmed the heart cockles. Well that apple became a prized possession, and stayed in her hot little hands for the next three hours while I ran some errands and then around and about the house. I finally wrenched it from her hands just as she was going down for a nap… lucky for her we have a nice big bag of more!

Boom boom

Rain, lightning, and most important, thunder; were the excitement of the weekend. On Friday evening there was a wicked storm that came on quick and dumped buckets. (Originally we had planned to go camping on Friday and Saturday nights… turns out we were lucky Patrick had to work late) Anyway, we started out on the front porch watching the rainfall… Evie and I even ran through it a bit, but just a bit because she got a little scared…. Then we moved to the more sheltered back porch and hung out and watched the trees bend, the thunder boom and the rain fall. Every time it thundered Genevieve would get a little nervous so we would turn to her and make light of it by saying “boom, boom.”

On Saturday (after a detour to the tire shop because of a cracked sidewall on one of the jeep's tires) we ditched our warm abode and drove the hour up to Mt. Lemmon and the Rose Canyon Lake campground. We were pretty excited to try out our new tent that I bought about four months ago. I had no idea when I bought it just how large it was… I have named it gargantor… Needless to say it is a huge step up from our little two man backpacking tent and has enough room inside to house a small army so it was pretty spacious for the four of us…. Maybe a little too spacious because Kita spent most of the night going from window to window pacing around. In the old tent she could barely stand up so we never really had that problem. Anyway, after we had the tent all set up we went for a little walk down to the lake and then I tried my hand a vegan car camping fare… I think it turned out pretty well but you’d have to ask Patrick for an honest opinion.



Overall it was a nice night out. The best part though was as we were all snuggled up together laying down to sleep for the night there was some thunder in the distance. I was a little afraid Evie would get scared and start crying but instead she laid there listening and then after awhile after a particularly loud clap of thunder she whispered… boom boom.

Socialite

Genevieve was quite the pint sized socialite this past weekend. On Friday Monica, Jason, Amelia and Soren came over (no pictures of Soren... all of the ones I took turned out to be a blur!) for dinner and a little play.



Then on Saturday Evie came with me to the Mamma Bookclub which (of course) doubles as a play date. At book club she had all sorts of fun getting into trouble with her fellow walkers Ila and Joe. Then Saturday night we went to Ben, Annie and Maxine's house to celebrate Ben's new book, A Boy and His Shadow. There were more awesome friends to play with there and... quite possibly the highlight of the weekend... a couch to jump on.



Then on Sunday Evie hung out at the racquetball club daycare and played with all sorts of kids while Patrick taught me how to use the weight machines. Finally, last, but certainly not least, Evie and I hung out at Ksenija, David and Joe's house with Haylee, Mark and Jameson because Ksenija and her family are moving to Takoma at the end of the month. They took us all over to the pool at the park and the three kids played and played and played! What a great weekend!!

A day in the life....

Generally I write about the exciting and unusual… you know struggles over finding a breast pump, torturous sleep schedules, unique bowel movements… I thought, especially for those of you who don’t get to spend “normal” days with Evie, I’d track our movements and the environment for a day a report (or rather blog) back. So here is what I found. The day is question is last Friday, July 11th.

5:45 am – Evie wakes to a very wet morning… it is actually only 72 degrees outside. I pick her up out of her bed and she says “gimme bear” then take the bear and gives him a big hug, a bear-hug if you will (ohhh sorry, couldn’t resist)
6:00 am – To the kitchen for banana and some spinach-scramble eggs (I’ve found that I can hide the spinach in the eggs and actually get her to eat it!)
6:45 am – Flop onto the bed to wake up Patrick
7:00 am – Run around the kitchen while we drink coffee. The dog food and water must, of course, be placed on the counter before she is allowed to run amok, otherwise there would be water and mushy food everywhere.
8:00 am – Says bye-bye and iloveyou to Patrick as he leaves for work.
8:30 am – Change the poopie diaper and jump into the car to go to the park and then the zoo!
9:00 am – Zoo opens. The monkeys were howling and jumping and Evie got very excited watching them. The lion was roaring too but she wasn’t nearly as interested in him as she was those monkeys. I let her out of the pack to walk around the aviary and she trotted off after one of the ducks who looked decidedly nervous about his little stalker. After about 45 minutes we played in the water park type area and she got sprayed by another kid, she did not like this at all and started to cry a little bit. I asked her if she wanted to go and she gave me an emphatic NO but also didn’t want to let go of my hand. We hung out there for a little while longer and then, all nice and wet, jumped back in the car and went home.
10:30 am – clean diaper and a nap.
12:00 pm – Woke up from nap, received a fresh diaper and then ate one of the frozen cream cheese lunches that I make en masse for her.
12:30 pm – Went out to Pollywogs baby resale store to trade in some clothes and sundries. Evie was very fond of the stuffed animals and the dolls. In the end I bought her: wooden car, cool cloth book with a little stuffed bear that you can remove and dress, three outfits and some awesome new shoes.
1:00 pm – Went to Bed, Bath and Beyond for some new storage containers
1:30 pm – Across the street to Trader Joe’s for the bi-weekly grocery trip. Evie kept grabbing the items out of the cart (once it was full enough) and handing them to me. At Trader Joe’s we saw Jenna, one of the nurses from my pregnancy class group, she said hi to Evie, but Genevieve was pretty shy with her. At the checkout Evie “helped” the cashier by handing him items to scan, she received a purple balloon for all her hard work!
2:30 pm – Home again for a snack of pita, tomatoes, grapes and a plum while I put away the groceries. She then helped me with the laundry by carrying one side of the basket and putting some of the laundry in the wash (and some on the floor…just to prove that she is not the totally helpful toddler)
2:45 pm – Bounces around the house playing with her toys, she was especially into the owl puppet that Uncle Brendy bought for her.
3:30 pm – Nap
4:30 pm – Wakes up, gets a clean diaper and eats a little pre-dinner snack of cheese and milk.
5:00 pm – More playtime. I sat with her at the piano and played some kids songs we have and tried to sing them to her. She seemed to enjoy just sitting there with me while I plunked out the songs.
5:30 pm – Patrick comes home. Evie is in the living room… she has figured out how to get on top of the piano stool and is playing the piano herself. We push the chair in so she can’t get on it and she gets upset.
6:00 pm – Dinnertime. Friday night vegan pizza special… (on my third try of making pizza from scratch I finally cook the thing all the way through!) Evie eats a little of the pizza, she really doesn’t like the tofu sausages (which, I swear, are awesome) because they are too spicy. She put one in her mouth and then, much to our dismay, spit it out onto the floor with surprising force.
6:45 pm – Bathtime! Now whenever you say bath Genevieve gets really excited and runs to the bathroom. She and Patrick take a bath together and brush her teeth.
7:15 pm – P.J.s and then the evening walk. Part of her bedtime routine is to walk around the neighborhood in the Ergo.
7:30 pm – Back from the walk. Patrick is tired so I put her to bed. This entails three stories and followed by three songs.
8:00 pm – Evie is happily cuddled up with her blankie and her doll, corelle and out for the night!

Whew what a day!

Fourth of July

As Patrick and I drove up to the cabin at Blue on July 3rd we discussed how we couldn't remember what we were doing for most of our July 4ths over the past five years. No longer able to blame such lapses on a lack of sleep; we determined that we just would have to do something exciting this 4th of July to make it memorable.





Well I am happy to report that we did not do anything exciting per se this holiday, we didn't even make it up to Alpine for fireworks, but that it was most certainly memorable. Genevieve hung out and played all weekend long, alternating between the jacuzzi, the stream, the sand by the stream, the front "yard" of the cabin and the bathtub. The common thread was definitely water. In fact on Sunday Evie managed to take a dip in the jacuzzi, play in the stream, bathe in the bath and swim in a lake (Lake Roper outside of Safford) all in one day!

It is always hard to leave the cabin, especially when my folks get to stay! But I am happy to report that it has started to rain here in Tucson... always my favorite time of the year!

Vocab lesson

As I mentioned last week Genevieve has gone from a totally unintelligible chatterbox to a mildly understandable chatterbox. When I was about this age my mother wrote down all of my words and their “meanings” and saved it for me; so I thought it would be cool to do the same for Evie. Not to mention the fact that it is a handy guide to give to anyone who is taking care of her and doesn’t naturally know the lingo. So here it is; vocab lesson a la Genevieve at almost 15 months:

• Milkie – pronounced noilkie = any liquid
• Cookie = all food, except for cheese
• Cheese = the good old cow stuff
• Balloo = balloon (she surprised me at trader joes this week by asking for one by name)
• Uppie = up and down
• Cuppie = cup
• Shoe = self explanatory
• Bath = the good old daily wash (and yes it is daily now… her eating habits are just to messy to do anything else)
• Eye = your eye, her eye any eye that she can poke a finger in
• Noooe = nose
• Book = big or small, this one also occasionally gets “ie”d to become bookie
• Blankie = usually means her green and white blanket that Lara made for her but can also refer to a towel or other cuddly object
• Duck = those yellow tub guys, also frequently gets “ie”d
• Baby = anyone smaller than her
• Car = those large tin boxes we ride around in
• Go = get me outta here
• Hot = anything with more heat than a fridge
• Keys = self explanatory and a personal favorite for stealing
• Hat = yup you guessed it, that thing that goes on your head to keep the sun out of your eyes
• Wow = expression for anything she deems to be exciting, new or fun
• Yes = hallelujah we finally got her to say yes! Usually accompanied by an emphatic nod.
• Give me = duh, give it to me. I am trying to turn this one into “please”… I know, good luck.
• Thank you = usually only uttered when we tell her to, but occasionally we get an unsolicited thank you
• The golden oldies of vocab: No, Hello, Bye-bye, Daddy, Mommy, Uh-oh, tickle, cat and doggie.

And, finally, my personal favorite: I Love You

ChicWOWgo

Last week the whole clan packed it up and took off to Chicago. Patrick had a conference/training deal-o there and I thought it would be fun to take advantage of a nice hotel room in the city! (Plus Patrick didn’t want to spend too many nights away from his “girls”) It was great for me because I was able to visit with a friends from grad school (Sara came by the first night before leaving for a trip to Las Vegas) and college.




The theme of the trip was WOW. Evie has recently converted from an unintelligible chatterbox to a marginally understandable chatterbox. One of her new favorite words is wow. On our first day we went to Millennium park and took part in some fun free kids festivities that included a circus show. As the jugglers juggled and the balancers balanced she started clapping and saying “wow”. I was soo amazed because this was the first time she was really saying things all on her own in reaction to something abstract as opposed to just the good old doggie or milkie.



The wows continued into the next day when we took a trip to the Art Institute. Patrick and I would show her a painting and she would look up at it and say wow. Although, quite frankly, it was the sculptures that really caught her eye. Fortunately for her the whole basement of the Art Institute is kid friendly and included a number of touchable works of art.

The biggest wow of the vacation was definitely Saturday morning at the Shed Aquarium. I let Genevieve out of her backpack and allowed her to wander around the exhibits. She would toddle up to an exhibit, smush her little nose on the glass, look back at me and then proclaim, “wow”. We stood at the Caribbean reef exhibit for at least 15 minutes (which to a 14 month old is the equivalent to 3 years I think).



On Saturday afternoon we went to visit my good friends from college Rachel and Lara and Rachel’s husband Mike made us a fabulous lunch. Rachel is pregnant and I am a bit afraid that Evie’s visit put the fear of baby-proofing god into them…. Don’t worry guys you have plenty of time before you need to do it ☺

When not out and about, Evie and I spent quality time in our hotel room. The biggest wow-factor here was the huge window complete with a ledge big enough for her to stand on. Literally every morning I had to drink my coffee and stand behind her (in case she got too brave and tried to walk along the ledge) for a good 20 minutes while she wowed at the street below.



Overall it was a fabulous trip and I was a bit sad to see it end because Evie and I really got to spend 5 solid days of mommy/daughter time, just a reminder I guess to do it again and again.

A hairdresser I am not...

OK. I give up. How the heck to other moms with little girls get their hair to be so darn cute? I have given this my best shot, honestly, and all I can come up with is a daughter who looks like an escapee from a Dr. Seuss book. Everywhere I go I see little darlings all dressed up with enviable pigtails and other forms of cutsy up-dos.

As I see it I have a couple of (pretty significant) forces working against me in my quest to be a master baby hair doer. 1) The only time Evie stays in one place for more than T-minus 10 seconds is when she is asleep (and even then you only get about a minute before she tussles one way or the next) 2) Having never really had luxurious locks of my own I have very little experience in this department and 3) The hair clip for the extremely fine-haired baby like my own has yet to be invented.

So I guess for the time being she will just have to be a stunt double for a Sneech (hopefully she won’t really be a snooty starry sneech though)

Paper Products

About a year ago Patrick’s Dad, Gerry, came to live with us for awhile because Monique, Patrick’s step-mom, was helping us watch Genevieve while I worked and Patrick studied for the Bar. One of his biggest concerns with our lifestyle was the serious lack of “paper products.” Gerard was appalled at the notion that we would not have any paper towels or paper napkins and only two or three spare rolls of toilet paper in the house at any given time. Living without an abundance of paper products was, well, not quite living. I thought this paper-rich lifestyle choice to a bit odd at first but have since accepted it as just another way of approaching a problem. (I myself am a cloth rag girl, for everything but toilet paper of course). Having accepted his way of life; whenever Gerry and Monique come to visit I make sure to go buy the jumbo pack of toilet paper and a few rolls of paper towels just so that they can feel at ease.

As it turns out my early acceptance of this lifestyle is a good thing because the “paper products” gene apparently skips a generation. Yes Gerard you will be happy to know that your granddaughter shares your penchant for paper products. Unlike her Abu, however, Evie is not satisfied with just an abundance of paper in the house. Oh no our little paper princess loves it so much that she feels the need to not only immerse herself in it but also to trail it around the house like a blankie. And all this would be messy but none too problematic, but Evie must, as is per usual, take it step further and has acquired a taste for paper, and therefore insists on carrying any paper she finds around with her like a snack, taking little munches here and there as the hunger takes her... (And yes I do think this is a comment on my cooking….)

Alas, I was originally hoping that the paper obsession was just a phase…. Given her family history, however, I fear it is going to be a permanent problem!

Snow days?!

The whole crew headed up to the cabin on the Blue this past weekend. Only this year it was not to escape the heat… in fact in Tucson last weekend it was a gorgeous 70ish degrees… which meant it was downright cold and in fact SNOWY up in the mountains. We drove through honest to goodness snow for about 2 of the 5 hour trip up to the aptly named White Mountains. Originally Patrick and I had lofty plans of backpacking overnight sans Evie to celebrate our 6th anniversary which is this weekend. Well we are both pretty hard core, but neither of us are masochistic per se, so when we saw all the snow we decided to scrap the overnighter for a nice long 18 mile hike up a mountain (Mt. Baldy) as our anniversary date. By Sunday it had stopped snowing and in fact most snow (well really we thought all snow…ohh how wrong we were) had melted away.

Excited about the exertion we took off in our car just like the good old days, Kita was the only child again ☺ We, however, only got as far as Big Lake (about 20 miles from the foot of Mt. Baldy) where there was sooo much snow (like 5 ft) and the wind was whipping so hard I felt like I was back in Wisconsin. Now this didn’t deter us totally. What really put the kibosh on the climb was actually the fact that the road to the trailhead was closed, it hadn’t been plowed!! (I later found out that actually the road has been closed for a whole year now because they are doing work on it and only open it on the weekends during the summer)

Plan B now thwarted we moved on to C, which was to drive to Greer and get a big ole greasy breakfast (ohh yeah it is almost like hiking :) While in Greer we wandered into this great little gallery where I found a fabulous painting that I decided we had to have. The price was right and Patrick agreed it was beautiful so we decided to buy it. (Clearly hiking is more cost effective for us) Well the only problem with our beautiful art is that it is ohh about 5 ft by 4 ft large and we don’t have a terribly large car. Getting it back to the cabin was no problem because we didn’t have Genevieve with us… but getting it home was another story… one involving Kita riding home in the front seat, Patrick scrunched up into such a little ball that the normally steel stomached man got car sick and me driving a car with NO visibility whatsoever. Anyway to make an already long story not too much longer we arrived home safe and sound and the painted was unscathed. Woohoo adventures with the Lacroix clan.

On the baby front – Evie had a great time playing in the “wilderness” She mastered the not so easy task of walking on uneven ground with a only a few muddy nose dives, got to swing in her fancy new airplane swing, played along the Blue in the sand and even was allowed to stay up late and watch Indiana Jones with the big people!

The American Dream....

Ahh the American Dream: the car and the house with a shiny pool. Life is easy and you are living large. Friends come by and enjoy and celebrate your success... Well folks I am happy to say that at the ripe old age of 13 months Evie has achieved American-Dream Status. Yes, she worked hard to get here and is very grateful to those who helped her along the way: Nanny Nicole provided the sumptuous cottage, cousin Melissa the fast wheels and Nana Mary the luxurious baby-olympic-sized pool. (And of course a nod must be made to me, aka Mom, for turning a lovely shade of purple in my effort to blow up the gargantuan pool)

Now that her dream is complete she goes out everyday to survey and enjoy her kingdom. First she takes a ride in her car. So far she can only manage to propel it backwards on her own, a bit dangerous, but worry ye not she is very good about looking back over her shoulder to ensure she does not run over any residential cat or dog. If moving forward is required she must elicit the help of one of her big people; who are generally more than happy to oblige. Then, once the car is nice and warmed up, she “drives” herself home to her plush baby-mansion and does any number of domestic tasks: open and close the shutters and/or door, cook a meal at the sink or just sit inside and enjoy the tiny roof over her head with a nice snack (provided once again by her big people). Then she suits up and jumps into her aquarium pool. Splish splashing around without a care in the world one can hear the giggles of happiness, her squeals of joy and the sighs of content that can mean nothing but ahhh yesss I have arrived.

Finally. and this is the apex of her day, she gets to take the inhibiting swimsuit off (or at least mostly off… she insists that wearing the top as a hat sets off her eyes and who am I to argue). She then gets to enjoy the most important part of owning your own kingdom… running around in the buff without any reproachful roommates or nixing neigh sayers!

Hula!

My folks just got back from Hawaii this Friday... sounds like it was an awesome time! They brought back Evie this rockin' hula outfit which (much to my surprise) she loves to wear!!

Little Miss Bubble Mouth

I’ll admit it, Evie does not take a bath every day… or really most of the time even every other day. It is more like every two days or so, provided that there are no extenuating circumstances (most of which you really don’t want to know about, trust me). This lack of suds means that when she does take a bath she gets pretty excited about it. She splashes, squeals and generally has a good old time. Splashing and happy babble are welcome bath time activities. I am afraid, however, that not all of her bath happenings are quite so innocuous. One of her favorites is to “pretend” like she is drinking the shampoo bottle. Although we do not bathe her every night, we are not reckless parents. We always check to see that the bottle is closed before she begins her faux imbibing. Or so we thought….

Last week Patrick was giving her a bath while I was cleaning up from dinner (which Patrick proclaimed to be Space Food… but that is another story entirely). I went in to check on them and sat and watched while they played and noticed that, as is per usual, Genevieve was drinking the shampoo. I mentioned to Patrick that maybe we should take the bottle away from her because it isn’t exactly a desirable habit for her to have. He pooh-poohed me and proclaimed the bottle closed… no worries. We went one for a few more minutes talking while Evie splashed, and then, Evie looks right at me, smiles really big, opens her mouth and a HUGE bubble comes floating out as she begins to babble. Guess that bottle did have some soap in or around it eh? The look on her face was utter shock and disbelief at her ability to produce something she was sure only came from the magical little pink bubble stick and bottle. After her initial shock she realized the comedy in the situation and started giggling, the whole thing put Patrick and I in stitches too.

Needless to say that tonight during her bath duckies and cups were in abundance but shampoo bottles were decidedly not.