Best Behave, All

Be nice to me. I have a Little One. And now I can teach Her to Sic 'Em!

We will also avoid Garfield's train depot.

There was the whole death-conspiracy, throw the country into anarchy plan already afoot. True. And after all, there was a war going on, so it was dangerous times. But I personally believe I have discovered another reason for the shooting of President Lincoln in Ford's theater. The place is cursed.
I discovered this, because when Little One and I met up for a day of fun with my old childhood friend Au, we went on a little outing to Ford's, and we received our own bit of Lincoln-luck. It all started when Au asked me about Little One's bottle. "Oh no!" I said. Very confident. Brazenly, even. "Oh no, they never break. She throws them on our slate floor all the time, they're really very tough," I said, "Tempered glass you see". Perhaps, like Lincoln strolling into a theater box sans secret service, it was the over-confidence that triggered the curse.
Because the lobby floor is marble. It said, "Tempered glass, meet Little One's temper." And it shattered quite dramatically before the queue, taking with it most of our formula for the day.
Which was very unfortunate on the train later, when another bottle was apparently abducted by aliens, and we had a lovely 40minute delay. After skipping a nap. That was the third time that day we had a large crowd of people turn their heads in unison to stare at us disapprovingly.
Lincoln-luck.
I say third time, because in between these events we did actually go in and see the historic theater, and listen to the 30 minute spiel about the assassination. Assassinations are serious business, Peanuts. This was a time for attention and reverence.
So to discourage any embellishments from Little One, I occupied her chatter-box with (what turned out to be Her last) few ounces of milk. This worked great! But the curse was upon us.
The theater was silent. All eyes on the guide. He is approaching the climax of the story, it is getting very intense. The president, we listeners fear, is about to be attacked! The guide pauses, for dramatic effect. There is tension in the air. And suddenly-

EEEaaaaaaAAAAaahhhrrrrrRrrpppp!!!!!!

THE loudest belch, you have ever. Ever. heard.
From the lips of my sweet angelic child.
I'm fairly certain if we ever return, we will be assassinated as well. Thankfully we seem to have used up the rest of our Lincoln-luck on the metro, and it was all off-set by having had a truly fabulous time with Au between our bouts of trouble. She's even agreed to do some more sight-seeing with us, now that she's moved to town. There are lots of fun places we can go! But some we'll just skip. On the way out we passed the house where Abe actually died. Au and I looked at each other. (Dying is possibly even more un-lucky than being shot.) We kept walking.

For the Fun of It

There is nothing particularly funny about driving home from Ikea. Which is why, if you had been in the car, you might have thought I was a little weird for bursting out laughing in the middle of the beltway. But you weren't there.
Little One was. She was there and She heard me laughing. And- this is what is so cool about Little One- She didn't care why I laughed. She just heard it, and it was a happy noise. So She was happy, and She laughed too. And there we were, a couple of sillies, giggling hysterically through rush hour, and I thought, "Exactly."
Being a parent is fun. It's not fun in the way I'm used to thinking of it. Not in the way pre-parenting fun is fun; an overwhelming, intense, boiling-over kind of fun. It's fun in this kind of gentler, waltzing sort of way. Not in big bursts but constantly, sort of like getting lottery winnings in annual installments rather than a big lump sum.
See, I have this person with me, all the time. Getting gas, buying stamps, pulling weeds from the walkway- all the time- who forces me to see the world with new eyes and reminds me of the latent adventure in all things. My life is really not glamorous or extraordinary.
But. These things are true: I am surprised at least once a day. I laugh out loud, at least 5 times each day. I feel joy to the point it almost stings, countless times. Every day.
Parent-fun isn't the wild, raptured fun that classically associates with the word; screaming, "isn't this fun?!" with a loud background rushing up and all around. Then later wake up with a headache.
It's fun I don't even really notice all the time. It's just going about living, details like unloading the dishwasher and wiping spit-up off the floor and checking the mail, just humming along with the rhythm of perfectly ordinary days. And then stopping sometimes. Maybe I see my kid taking utter delight in the shadow Her hand makes- Her own shadow, for goodness sake. And I think about that delight and sort of reflect on my ordinary day, my very usual life, and I add it all up in my head and realize that- I am having so much fun.
Being a parent is fun in a way that it makes your whole life buzz with it. It's so fun that in a quiet, sort of sneaky way, it's even fun when you are changing nasty diapers or waiting out a tantrum. Sometimes you don't notice it right away. But then you might be drinking your morning coffee. You might be chopping the bell peppers. You might even be driving, on the way home from Ikea. And then it hits you! All at once! That life is grand and that you are having fun with it. So much fun, it might just make you laugh out loud.

Good-Bye for Grandma

Dear Grandma L.
I had lots of fun with you. You play a mean game of patty-cake. You give me the sweetest peaches. You let me have snuggles when I bonk my head, and you make chickens for me to eat up. Thank you for coming and keeping me company in my car seat. It's lonely here in the back seat without you, but mommy says I will see you again soon. Please bring Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle with you, because they are fun also. And please make me more chickens. I ran out this morning, and mommy is being a total slacker about it. She says the slimyness makes her green. I thought being "green" was a good thing? Grown-ups are very confusing, Grandma. Here is a smile to get you through till next time. I love you!
Little One

Still-Life With Fruit and Baby

Grandma L took us berry picking out on some farms (grandma L knows how to get the best berries). When we got home with our bounty I thought it might be cute to take a picture of my little berry surrounded by berries.
I saw a photo-op. Little One saw a binging-op. She lost no time diving in and stuffing fistfulls of berries into Her mouth as fast as She could gobble them. Jiggling around a bit at the sheer joy of hitting such a jackpot. Singing a bit of happy-berry songs between mouthfulls. Aww.

I let Her go ahead and spoil Her dinner (and Her onesie). Come on, it's summer! We all enjoyed the reminder of how wonderful fresh berries on a hot day can be. Plus I think that my picture was actually much improved by Little One's modeling improvisation. Still-lifes are much better, don't you agree, with less still, and more life!

Little One Meets Meat

Lucky for us, Grandma L stayed on an extra week after the rest of the fam headed home. Now, I hate to reveal the dark side of my little family, but the truth is we have no problem exploiting others for their talents. Which is why poor Grandma spent a lot of her time with us like this:

A good hostess would cook for her guests. But listen, would you entertain Rachmaninoff by playing chopsticks on the piano? That would be silly! So we all just enjoyed the products of Grandma's kitchen internment. Including Little One! Because Grandma helped this vegetarian mamma canivorate the baby. That's right- thanks to Grandma Little One got to start eating chickens. Here She is, trying Her first meat:

Does She like it???


She does!

Well of course She does! Grandma made it! It's a sad day, I suppose, for the poultry of the world, but clearly a happy day for Little One. I guess I'll have to cook up some more when Grandma's gone. Hope I won't be too chicken to try it. HA! Ha ha! Chicken. hee.

Gypsy Trip- Welcoming Committee

It had been a long day of delays and tummyaches and missed naps, but finally- at 1:30am- Little One and I got home. I pulled Her sleepy self out of the car seat, and Little One thought, "I must still be dreaming...it looks like Daddy's whole family is here!"
I tucked that tuckered out girl right into Her very own crib-finally- to get some Zzz's, but sleepy as She was She wasn't dreaming.
When we got home Her Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt T and Unlce L were all waiting for us! Someone had to come while we were gone to keep J from abject depression. He misses us, you know. Lucky for us we got to see them a bit too!
There is a reason why I love this family. Ok, there are lots of reasons. But this is a big one. These people insisted on getting ice cream from my favorite place- every. day. Fun and cuddles for Little One, fudge and cherries for me. Talk about a great welcome home!

Gypsy Trip Event 3- Texas Finale

Well, the problem with finishing up the trip story (finally) is that there was no Camera, so I have sadly few pictures of the actual event. And a picture is worth a thousand words, my friends. And we all know that though I am certainly capable of putting thousands of words in the place of the missing pics, NO ONE , wants that. So instead here's what we've got, and just know that it was awesome, and a ton of fun, and that my baby cousin is all grown up and married and that makes me sniffle.
WOW has motherhood turned me into a sentimental sissy.
Here we go:

Hanging out with BOTH aunties before the big events began. A rare and wonderfull time I got to be with both my sisters at once. Heaven, Peanuts. Heaven.

Little One prety much had a full time babysitter on this trip. Which made us both very happy.


Rockin' the UT orange with Jaju at rehearsal dinner (we WERE in Austin, you know. Austin is in the country of Texas. Like, the wild west, Peanuts. It's hook 'em horns or become BBQ out there. The outfit was for Little One's safety, as well as for brownie points with the bride and my dad, who are UT alums. Also the cuteness. There's always that.)

"Yeee haw Aunt E! High-chair rodeo!"

Little Miss Texas, posing for Peanuts.

OOOoooh! Picture with the VIP!


It is sad this is my only picture from the actual wedding, but happy that it's with Her Gramma and Her Gramma's dazzling Aunt D.

A bunch of part girls at the reception


My two favorite angels

It may not look like a lullabye, but this is me (remembering lessons learned from Lordy's wedding) putting Little One to sleep. And it worked. I will have to store this up as a desperate measure in case we find desperate times in the future.


Could CousinL get any prettier? No. No she could not. That guy in there is ok too. But what's he got to do with all this? Look at the dress! That's something worth throwing a big fantastic party for!

Ok, ok. So love and domestic bliss and the beginning of a lifetime of happiness also. That too. Congrats lovely CousinE! Your wedding was almost as gorgeous and fun and sweet as you!

Gypsy Trip Event 2- One Last Havasu Party

Here is a little tip for you.
Never go through airport security with 50 bazillion bobby pins in your hair, k? Because it is rather challenging to be searched while holding a wiggly, unamused infant. It makes you almost miss your plane. And it makes you lose an epipen because you can't pay attention to the person searching your stuff while not dropping wiggly infant or stepping outside the taped-on box on the rug. And for heaven's sake we must NOT STEP OUTSIDE THE LINE!!!!!!
Just a little tip.
Little One and I arrived at our next destination and were swooped up by Jaju for a little R and R. Those of you who know me best know exactly what I did the instant my feet hit Vegas soil. That's right.

Mmmmm.
We had a great time at Gramma's house. Gramma and Little One spent lots of quality time together, and I visited friends and took naps. Little One had lots of new toys to play with, and Her own crib in Her own room to get lots and lots and lots of sleep in. Ahhh. We like Gramma's!

She also got to take Her first dip in a swimming pool. Gramma showed Her how to kick around in Her floaty, and She was motoring around the pool like a rogue speedboat in no time. Sadly I have no evidence, because by then poor Camera had encountered its misfortune. But here are some other fun ones!

I'm sad to say we had our last dip in that pool. Gramma and Jaju are moving to Texas! Luckily Little One and I got a chance to practice our ya'alls, because just a few days after touching down in AZ, we were off again to Austin, TX. Bye Lake Havasu! Certain things will be missed. But I didn't want Little One visiting Gramma there on spring breaks anyways, so it's just as well. Not that I know anything about that. Er...ahem....uh.....moving on!

Gypsy Trip-Event One, Grand Finale

This wedding was awesome. It was beautiful and sweet and a LOT of fun. Little One came with us to supervise the getting dolled up. (you can click to make pictures bigger. Just be careful what you ask for with that booty shot down there).

She hung out with us behind the scenes as lovely Lordy prepared for the big I Do.

And then She hung out with two lovely girls I have known since high school, who we shall dub: the Wedding Angels of Martyrdom. Because the WAM's- who mind you traveled quite a ways to see this wedding- were the designated Little One holders for the ceremony. And they did not actually see the wedding. Because Little One screamed througout the.entire.thing.

But then the reception started. And Little One came out, looked around at the dance floor and the DJ and said, "is this a party? I like parties!" She made up with the WAMs-who luckily forgave Her- and rocked and rolled the rest of the night.

She was all laughs and giggles and flirting with everyone, bouncing up and down on the dance floor and just having a blast until the middle of some hard-rock song, in the middle of the dance floor; she crashed and was out for the night.

It was a long, late, fantastic evening, but we headed in early for a few hours of sleep before packing up at 4am and making the long drive out to civilization and beyond to Fresno to hop on our next plane. We were tired. But it was worth it. Because it was SO fun, and even if it hadn't been, we would not have missed Lordy getting married for anything. Ah, Lordy.
Lordy, Lordy, Lordy. Wasn't it just yesterday we were racing down Big Bear on our Charlie's Angels snowboards, swearing off boys entirely? And now look at us!

Sheesh. Things change, I guess!

Well....some things change. Some, thank goodness, never do.