More pics

Even with the two toddlers we have been busy! Baths were taken, All Souls Parades were attended and even a garden was built!!

Adventures in photography

As a parent life is rarely dull, and when it is you get very nervous because chances are trouble is afoot. Ever since Evie became a biped it has been difficult to corral her, but we have managed OK. Add another toddler to the equation and all semblance of control is decidedly lost. You would think that I would know this already having witnessed Evie with her friends on many occasions. Or, perhaps, I am just an eternal optimist. Whatever the case my naïveté was the source of the most ridiculous almost photo shoot I have ever witnessed.

It all began a few days ago when Vivian and I had the idea to get Evie and Dylan matching outfits and take them to Sears to get portraits taken. I had these great romantic ideas of the two of them sitting on a fake pony, donning big smiles and having a grand old time. With these visions in mind we took them to Old Navy yesterday and immediately found them the cutest little outfits. (mostly on sale even!) The first critical step in the process was easily accomplished surely set the stage for what would be a fabulous photo shoot….

Take one. With their new outfits on we confidently strode into the portrait studio and waited for the photographer to work her magic. When the photographer’s first request was to sit two 19 month olds back to back with no props it became clear that we would have to rely on our own artifice to get the babes even to sit still, let alone take a picture. Oh how we tried. Genevieve would sit down on the cross like told only to have Dylan run from the studio. Then we would get Dylan back in the studio sitting pretty only to have Evie decide that she had experienced enough, proclaim “all done” and leave the room. We tried a fake rock, which both Evie and Dylan enjoyed, but like hell they were going to sit on it together. Then we did a fake rock and a red block… which would have resulted in funny pictures anyway… but that didn’t do it either. After about 15 minutes of trying it became clear that we needed to send out for reinforcements.

Take two. With Evie on my back I ran out of the Sears and into the mall to buy some lollipops. The only candy store nearby was a See’s so I had to buy them vanilla chocolate pops. Then on my way back to Sears I saw a toy store so thinking I would hedge my bets I bought a car for Dylan and a doll for Evie. Complimenting myself for my thoroughness, and cursing myself for enforcing gender stereotypes, I rushed back to the portrait studio. Lollipops in hand we sat them down on the white photo sheet again. The lollipops did the trick for about 10 seconds at which point they both stood up and started roaming around again, but this time their cute little faces were enhanced by white drool. Giving them their toys didn’t help much either… a 1.5 year old just doesn’t get the concept of you do this and I’ll give you that. Bribery is clearly an unrefined skill in both of them. Fifteen minutes and three-fourths of a lollipop later we were all exhausted, admitted defeat and went home.

Mommy myth number 453: Photographing two toddlers together is an easy and fun way to preserve cherished memories.

Dirt versus Dirty

Its a full house these days. Patrick's dad, step-mom, sister and nephew are visiting us for the week and man are we having fun! Of course the principal form of entertainment is watching the kids play. We discovered pretty quickly that Dylan and Evie are two very different birds. Evie is all about dirt and Dylan is all about letting you know when something is dirty.

On their first day together Evie was in the backyard filling up a cup of dirt (pretty normal routine for her) while Dylan played with his trucks. After a bit it was time to come inside for a snack, so Evie picked up her dirt cup and headed for the house. Dylan caught her trying to sneak the dirt in the house... pointed at the cup, said "dirt"and wouldn't let her inside.


Then on Saturday Vivian and I went out to get massages and left the kids with Patrick, Monique and Gerry. When we get home Gerry shows me a video of Evie wallowing in a mud pit that Patrick made for her. The next video is of Patrick trying to get Dylan to even put his finger in the mud. The whole time Dylan is giving Patrick this look like "why would anyone want to do such a thing?"

More tales to come as the week goes on...

Vote or COLOR?

Before dawn, which isn't saying much given the season, the whole family woke up to head to the polls... I know being in Arizona our vote for Obama probably did not mean much on a grander scale, but heck if it wasn't important to us. Patrick, Evie and I showed up at the polls at 6:04 am to quite the line... over 1/2 hour, which of course started to irritate my passenger. The line, however, turned out not to be nearly so irritating as mommy "coloring," aka filling in my ballot, and not letting Evie color too. As I filled out my ballot Evie kept shouting "COLOR... MOMMY.... COLOR" Ignoring the snickers around me I quickly filled out my ballot and then hastily vacated the voting place. For her mildly good behavior we rewarded our baby girl with a banana and milk at Starbucks while we drank our free coffee... All told it was an awesome and (given the result) inspiring election day!

Dirt and Halloween

Evie's second Halloween was a whole lot of fun! It actually started last Saturday with a neighborhood park party (and mini parade) with treats and a pumpkin raffle (which was really more like a pumpkin pick out... every kid went home with one :) As you can see Evie is a dragon this year, complete with sparkles on her shoes so everyone knows she is a girl dragon.



Last weekend was fun of course but the main event was last night! My parents came down from Phoenix for the festivities and mom and I took Evie trick or treating while Patrick and Dad held down the fort. Evie managed to make it all the way around the block (with some help from Nana and Mom... we made our dragon "fly" occasionally). When we arrived back at home Papa and Dad were hanging out on the front porch, drinking some adult juice and passing out candy. While we were out trick or treating they both decided to get into costumes... Dad was a devil and Patrick apparently was a pirate... with a georgetown shirt and elephant on his shoulder....


Evie thought trick or treating was pretty cool but much more interesting to her was a chance to get out into the front yard and explore some new dirt. Both last weekend and last night she was far more interested in soils than sweets. We kept having to urge her down the street because, it being Arizona after all, every new house had a different sort of rock or sand in the front yard. I think next year I am going to dress her as a farmer so when she gets covered in dirt it will just enhance her costume!

Go Cats!

Whew this past weekend was full of fun! On Friday night I went out with Rachel and Bridget to see Dar Williams. It is so much fun to get out and about with friends... something about having a toddler at home makes you appreciate going out all the more.

We went out again on Saturday night to the homecoming football game at U of A. Patrick's firm has a sky box so it was football deluxe. (See anyone familiar on that mural?) Evie got all dressed up for the game and we even got her to cheer "Go Cats" by the time the whole thing was through. This of course means she is totally prepared to hang out and watch the UofA vs ASU game in another month or so... The night was, however, a pretty long for her (past 11 pm by the time we got home) and she passed out in the ergo around 9 pm and slept the rest of the game and the whole walk home. One of the security guards thought it was so cute he insisted on taking a picture....

Potty

(In case she ever wants to run for public office I have censored the private parts...)


How does a parent know when their toddler is ready to take the leap toward modern plumbing? I originally thought that this, like ohh so many other stages in Genevieve’s life would be self explanatory. I have come to realize over the last week or so that it is not as easy as one who already knows how to use the facilities would think it is.

It would seem that Evie is ready for the world of panties; yet she can’t quite put it all together right. One of her favorite activities in the past week or so has been to strip down naked and go sit on the little baby toilet that Gerard and Monique gave us many, many moons (haha) ago. Now she will sit on that seat for upwards of twenty minutes but naught will come of it, except of course for her saying over and over and over again… Go pee pee? In fact, last Friday I hung out with her for about a half an hour while she sat on the baby toilet and even drank water to no avail (Except of course unless you count her spilling water into the toilet and saying “Look mommy pee pee”)

I am usually a low-tech mom but I am seriously considering this new fangled device that my Mom was recently telling us about. Apparently the wonders of microchips have come to a diaper near you… in the form of a wetness sensor. The idea is that as soon as the kid starts to pee you hear a tinkle and know that she (or he) needs to get to the pot ASAP. According to some study this is one of the most surefire ways to get the babe out of the diapers and into the world of underpants. Given that this seems to be the critical connection that Evie is missing I think we may just have to give it a whirl… I’ll let you know how it works out…. In the meantime Evie is requesting any back issues of baby-life or wild animal baby that you may have laying around because she is running out of good mags to read while indisposed.

Greetings

Coming into our house these days is a little like entering a foreign land. With Genevieve around we have adopted all sorts of strange customs: hermetically sealed toilet seats, cabinets with nothing in them and chairs inexplicably on their sides or facing walls. Though strange, these customs are not nearly so daunting as the language of our land… Evienglish. Now Evienglish resembles your standard English in many respects, it is just pronounced a little odd in patches and has a tendency to take phrases and turn them into one gargantuan word. Although quite well versed in Evienglish even her fellow citizens (i.e., Mom and Dad) sometimes have a bit of a communication gap.

For example, earlier this week as I was putting Genevieve to sleep she stopped me from reading her story, gave me a very serious look and then grabbed my hand and said “gaicetoeatyou mommy” I gave her a puzzled look and then she emphatically did this again, shaking my hand and saying “gaicetoeatyou mommy”. Then, frustrated with me, Evie walked to the door and said “gaicetoeatyou daddy?” so I let her out the door to see her dad. Who, being a better Evienglish interpreter than I, shook her hand and said “Nice to meet you too, Evie.” Ohh of course! Silly mommy, the handshake should have been a dead give away!


Now the key to Evienglish acquisition is repeat, repeat and repeat. So, like any new phrase Genevieve is not happy just to “meet you” once. Oh no, she meets just about all of us about three or four times a day now. And let me tell ya, meeting people is pretty exciting. So exciting that she will even jump up and down as she shakes your hand (thus the blurry photos). But really why just meet people? Shouldn’t dogs and cats be met as well? Genevieve, being an equal opportunity meeter, also frequently goes up to Kita and Whiskers to shake their paws and say “Nice to meet you Kita”. Whiskers, being the more tolerant of the two, bears the brunt of the pleasantries…. Occasionally getting not just his front paws but back paws shook too.

So there you have it, your Evienglish lesson, not to mention a bit of insight into one of our customs, for the week.

At the zoo...

Last weekend Genevieve and I went up to Scottsdale while Patrick attended a conference there. We were going to spend time at the swanky hotel with him but ended up chillin' with my folks at their own swanky house... just as nice as any Scottsdale hotel. The highlight was taking Evie to the Phoenix Zoo. We only saw a small part of it, but what we saw was pretty darn cool... it certainly made our little Reid Park Zoo look provincial. My personal favorite was the wallabies. Evie's personal favorite was the wild and wet cave play area.

Genevieve M. Lacroix

Genevieve Marie Lacroix - age 18 months
Home - Tucson, AZ
Height - 33 inches
Weight - 23 lbs 1 oz
Teeth - 11
Bedtime - between 7:30 and 8:00
Naps - One a day, about 3 hours
Favorite place - outside
Favorite phrase(s) - I don't know and Get up Mommy (or Daddy)
Favorite color - green (or at least I assume so because every time I ask her what color something is she says green)
Favorite song - tie between the Barney song and Row, Row, Row your boat
Favorite object - tie between her green and white blankie and her stuffed "buddy"
Favorite activities - feeding chickens, drawing and going to the playground
Favorite foods - bananas (must have one every morning), eggplant (good to gnaw on raw), cheese and pita bread
Favorite snack - "scooby snacks" (no we aren't giving her pot brownies... Riley has gummy snacks called scooby snacks and as a result Evie calls breakfast bars, ice cream and fruit leathers scooby snacks.)
Favorite animal - tie between the kitty (meow, meow) and the horsey (neigh, neigh)
Favorite reptile - gecko (particularly the ones that inhabit our screens every night)
Favorite way to get around - running or (if she must be helped) her big stroller
Favorite shoes - blue crocs (she even calls them by name)
Favorite pet - Whiskey (meow, meow)
Favorite friend - Riley
Least favorite number - 5 (she can count to eight but always skips the number five... I think it must be hard to say)
Least favorite activity - brushing teeth
Least favorite food - green peppers
Least favorite word - "No" but only when that no comes from someone other than her.
Activity most recently outgrown - Bedtime songs... she now just asks for bed "Get in bed?" after her last story each night.

New chickens!

So this is our week to take care of the alleyway chickens... because we are a new addition to the bunch there was a need to get a few new hens so that everyone has enough eggs. We tried to hatch some under a broody hen but that didn't work out so well, so on Tuesday when I was at the feed store picking up chicken food I also picked up two new chicks... it was a lot of fun! Probably the most amusing part for me was that I was driving the S2000, so I felt just a little silly parking the yellow sports car between the big trucks in the feed store parking lot and then driving home (with the top down of course) with two squeaking little chicks in the car... I kept singing in my head "one of these kids is doing her own thing..." Anyway here are some picture of the whole chicken crew and the newest additions... an Aracuana and a Red Sussex . I must admit I picked the hens based on the fact that they both had furry (or tufted if you want to get technical... I think) legs. I tell you one thing for sure though; Genevieve loves her chickens, or as I call them, her "girls".

Weather

There are many advantages to having a toddler; you get an opportunity to laugh a whole heck of a lot more than you used to, you become more aware of things like leaves and lizards and you (usually) are able to sleep more than when that same toddler was a newborn. Now that Genevieve is no longer such a total newbie to this world I am also discovering that, like so many other things, with the good also comes the, well, not so good. Frequently that infectious laughter is followed (all too quickly) by a frustrated wail and the wonder of a sharp pointy stick swiftly becomes a bellow of rage when said stick is removed from a certain little girls hands because we don’t want to make that first trip to the emergency room just yet.

So our quest these past few weeks has been to try to navigate our way, to the best of our ability, through the daily toddler storm that inevitably blows through our house. My father taught me well… when going out for a hike, or any such outdoor experience, one must prepare and pack for all weather. You know, have a rain coat in case of rain, sunscreen in case of sun… that sort of stuff. So Patrick and I decided that our first step into this maelstrom would be to pack our parent bags with the necessary tools, aka the house rules. This way we can make our way through the storms and enjoy the sun more ☺ Here are the top four:

Rule No 1: Food (and sleep) is the stuff of life, aka feed Genevieve when she is hungry and let her sleep when she is tired. Seems like a no brainer but hey ignore this rule at your own peril.
Rule No 2: “Look, over there, a ____,” aka, beat back the impending doom with a little harmless distraction. “Ohh sweetie instead of that large, dangerous metal object you just found why don’t you play with this awesome mud instead.”
Rule No 3: Ignorance is bliss. Sometimes it just works better to pretend you didn’t hear the blood-curdling scream that just escaped Evie’s lips… even if it broke your glass.
Rule No 4: Know when to act. Although most of our “discipline” is really pretty weenie we have established a few actions that absolutely deserve a reaction… at the top of this list right now is biting… that bad boy gets the 18 month old version of a time out.



Thankfully even with all these rules and micro-bursts we are still able to have a whole lot of fun. This past weekend was no exception!! On Friday we took off for Ben and Annie’s place in Nutrioso and hung out there all weekend with the Wallace-Ilkas and the Ericksons. There was a great hike up Escudilla, lots of kid running, some mean horseshoe games and a fabulous pony keg of Four Peaks beer ahh life is good!

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!