Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from cooooold Detroit. Addie reminds us of that every time we go outside. "Cold" she simply states. So true, so true.  We're all cozy in the house now, stockings stuffed, apple pie baking in the oven, turkey brining in the fridge. Kiddos (that's us I like to think) in the basement playing Guitar Hero on wii while Addie colors with crayons on the pull-out sofa. We went to the children's service at church and then I'm going to the 11:00 candlelight service with Pop Pop and Nana.  I can't wait for Santa and Christmas tomorrow and hope I can remember to leave out some milk and cookies for Old Saint Nick (I'll be hungry after all that singing).

Ho ho ho!

Tis the Season

Can Christmas really be next week? Wasn't I just eating turkey sandwiches leftover from thanksgiving? I love Christmas and this year I feel like I've been so busy that I barely had time to stop and sniff the evergreen. Actually I did do that two weeks ago when I bought a wreath for our door. We have a 5 foot silver tinsel tree as a nod to old hollywood (and the size of our apartment) so I do like to get a real sniff-worthy wreath. At the christmas tree lot the sales dude caught me meandering amongst the trees, nose in the air taking deep breaths. Can I help you? Nope, just smelling. He said he'd leave me to it.

We're off to Detroit on the red-eye Friday night to spend Christmas with my Dad and family, back on New Year's Eve possibly with time to watch the ball drop (or just go to bed). I'm excited for Addie to see snow, and I know Santa is bringing her a pair of pink polka dot snow boots. Sure, I realize she'll only wear them for 10 days max but that can be a long time in the world of baby clothes.

Merry Christmas and may all your holidays be bright.

(Addie's intent expression is a result of her new love. Elmo. Why is Elmo like muppet crack?)

H.B.G.M.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Mit!



Thanks for being our Monday night babysitter

CHiPs

Ponch and Jon welcome their newest recruit.

I'm trying to think of an appropriate segue to slip in that I got to mingle with Johnny Depp, Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat) and Tim Burton. Addie. CHiPs. California. Hollywood. Actors. Johnny Depp. Me. Hey, that works! Cap and I got a babysitter and went to the premiere of Sweeney Todd at Paramount on Wednesday. Cap wasn't sure if he was going to be able to sit through 2 hours of singing, but we both rather enjoyed the gory musical.

If you're familiar with the musical (which I wasn't until my Mom filled me in prior), then you know that the Demon Barber (Johnny Depp) and his Lady Friend (the ever lovely Helena Bonham Carter) chop up unsuspecting clients coming in for a shave and bake them in pies. Delightful! Thankfully the reception didn't have any tasty tidbits that resembled pies although I did gobble down a few sugar-coated jelly donut holes which could have turned my stomach if i used my imagination, which I didn't. I use the term mingle rather loosely. We all were in fact sipping cocktails within feet of each other at one point (after seeking out this situation) but there was no hope of casually interrupting to ask them if they liked my new red corduroy jacket or to show them a headshot of Addie and see if she can be in their next production. TSA should hire publicists for security.

Kelp to Toe

As expected I took a zillion photos and about half a zillion are of Addie looking down. She is a very intent and serious beach-goer focusing on the job at hand whether it's transfering sand from one bucket to the next or introducing her toes to a nice slimy kelp bulb.

I'm going through family withdrawal and so is Miss A. I must say I rather enjoyed a 5:1 Adult to Addie ratio over thanksgiving weekend. My mom, brother and sister were so wonderful with Addie and she adored them - after she got reacquainted with a little help from a stuffed walrus and chex mix bribery. We wish we had brought crayons with us because Gran taught her a new trick. Addie now insists that we draw her pictures that she can color in. All of us took turns drawing fish, bees, and owls so she could scribble on their eyes. This came in very handy at the fancy bistro we went to for my Mom's 60th birthday. Addie miraculously sat through 3 courses happily chomping on ice and coloring in my two dimensional fish and bubbles drawn on the paper tablecloth. Turns out she loves port-cured grapes and pumpkin cheesecake, and could take or leave pannecotta with an apricot puree. I've been practicing my drawings since we've been home adding an octopus, a duck and a Christmas tree with presents to my repertoire.

I've added the final shots from our trip to the slideshow or just head to our flickr account and peruse on your own. I'm game to renting a house in Cambria anytime - anyone interested?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Addie and all of us wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving from Cambria!


Gran, Cap, Addie, Uncle Brother and Auntie "Snorg" Jennifer.


The best brined turkey, hot off the bird.

We drove 4 hours with a 21.5 lb brined turkey in the trunk, cooked it for 6 hours and finally feasted a little later than expected after Miss A went to bed. We did sneak her a sliver before she turned in for the night and gave it the "All done." What a good vegetarian. The rest of us gobbled it up along with Cap's always yummy homemade apple pie.

Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. Here are a few more photos from our trip. I sure have lots to give thanks for!

learning experience

We went to a one year old's birthday party and of course I had my camera with the plans to document the party and then be able to send them a cd of the images. I took 179 shots and I'm pretty sure the birthday girl was blurry in all of them. It was like she had some sort of anti-focusing shield around her. If this was a paying gig I would have been fired. Thankfully this isn't. After this event and then taking another zillion fuzzy shots with my zoom lens of Grandpa Mit that were also pretty much blurry, I bought myself a nice new prime lens (non zoom) which I'm hoping will help solve the camera shake problem. These two photos are my favorites from the party, but then again, I might be biased.

Friday Night

This is why we leave nice tips.

Addie's Dinner: Two bowls of salsa (resembles tomato stew more than pico de gallo), side of guacamole and black beans. 

Adult's Dinner: Cheese enchiladas, 2 margaritas each, and in bed by 8:45.

Mama's Lil Helper

I was inspired to make Halloween cupcakes 2 weeks back and thought I'd recruit Miss A to help. She excelled at putting the cupcake linings into the tray, but she also excelled at taking them all back out and stacking them together in a tower.  

She also thought the mixing bowls might just make a perfect perch for which to sort your measuring cups.  Thankfully they were still sans batter.  I noticed that she has two different shirts on in these pictures, but I can promise I've only made cupcakes once so I think I must have misjudged the day's weather somewhere in the baking process.  

The Checklist

Pail. Check
Shovel. Check
Ice cube. Check
Bellybutton. Check

And in other news, Didi is back from the Kitty Hospital tonight after 2 nights away from home for, um, blockage issues. Addie went bonkers with excitement when they brought Didi out into the waiting room at the vet. She was frantic though that Didi was in her carrier and wasn't allowed out until we got home. We do love our Deeds.

(and thanks Gran for her adorable dress)

Everything is "Mine"

At the park, Addie borrowed a little boy's caterpillar toy. His mom kindly shared but the little boy didn't agree shouting "Mine Mine Mine" from the confines of his swing defenseless to protect his property. Addie decided it was "mine" too when she objected to us returning the caterpillar to the little boy when it was time to go. She's big on "mine." Everything is "mine" even if she already has "mine." She'll be eating a cheese stick. I'll be eating a cheese stick. Her cheese stick is "mine" and, according to the rules of Addie, my cheese stick is also "mine." When is "mine," mine? Sigh.

Our household also has a few new traditions. Because of our work schedules, we don't all eat dinner together. However, I think the idea of a family dinner is important. It took me a loooooong time to realize the art of Somewhere in Between. So, while we can't eat together every night, we can eat together at least once a week. Introducing Friday Night Family Dinners. Asking me to cook something isn't in the cards, so we all troop off for a dinner out. We've had hummus at a Greek restaurant and Addie sucked on a lemon wedge. weirdo. Last night we went to Swingers and dined on sauteed tofu, veggie chili and veggie BLTs listening to punk rock. Addie drank water from Cap's glass with a spoon. again, weirdo. I love these nights. Then on Saturdays we get a babysitter, I put on mascara, and Cap and I go on Date Night. Ah date night - sushi, a movie and cocktails. I guess Saturday nights are mine.

A is for Arachnid (and Adelaide)

Happy Halloween!

Cap pointed out we have a theme - 8 legs. Last year Miss A was an octopus, and here she is again with extra appendages as the itsy bitsy spider.

Cap's pumpkin was inspired by Guitar Hero III (he made me write that).

See other photos from Saturday's Halloween block party with Addie's daycare pals.

Counting Cupcakes

1 cupcake

2 cupcakes

3 cupcakes

4 cupcakes

Noah's Ark

After last Saturday's pumpkin bonanza, we were on a roll and spent Sunday exploring the amazing Noah's Ark exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center. I don't even know how to describe it but it was beautiful, sad, silly and a little scary. If you are in LA, you must go; if you are visiting, you must go. Addie was sorta freaked out at first but once she found a sweeper she seemed content to tidy up the ark's kitchen (um, can you do that at home too Addie?). There are 7 kinds of fake poop in their ark, which is a detail I can appreciate.
We explored The Ark and all the animals with our daycare pals, Clyde and his parents and the triplets with their mom and grandma (otherwise known as Daycare Andi). It was hilarious watching the 5 of them together. I really wish I could be a fly on the wall at daycare one day.
During story time, all the parents and kids were sitting in a semicircle except Addie who stood dead center or decided to revert to crawling and hauled butt into the other room. Then she came back in, and took off down the hall the other direction. Clyde followed and then he decided to add some screaming to Addie's running game. Addie joined in. Now we have 2 toddlers running around and screaming not really out of earshot of the storyteller. Then Ethan, Madison and Kylie join the gang. Cap and Clyde's dad Joseph find them in the elevator lobby running in circles, shouting as loud as possible and having the best time ever. We then adjourned to the outside amphitheater for some snacks and, of course, more running around and shouting. YAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

See other photos from our trip to the Skirball Center.

Pumpkins pumpkins everywhere

It's Pumpkin time and every kid in the USA is getting their photo taken with the ubiquitous orange gourd. Last year at this time Addie coudn't quite sit up on her own and we could easily plop her down and snap away. Now she isn't interested in posing for pictures or sitting still.

On Saturday we visited the Underwood Family Farms. Addie got to meet a real goat, chicken, rabbit and goose all of which she kept a rather safe distance from unlike her fearless pal Jake who immediately snuggled up with a goat. We went on a tractor ride, ran through the pumpkin patch and ate pumpkin pie for lunch. We even saw Carrie Ann Moss from The Matrix. Cap picked out a Dada, Mama and baby Addie-sized pumpkins, and Addie got to sit in the pumpkin-filled wheelbarrow. I think the entire thing was a little overwhelming for Addie, okay, for me too, but it was still super fun. Next year we'll tackle the corn maze and climb the giant hay stack. Next decision: what should we carve on our pumpkins?

See other photos from our pumpkin extravaganza.

Addie Ghost

Addie brought home this magnificent piece of holiday appropriate art last night from daycare. Addie's finely colored ghost is displayed on our refrigerator along with two other artworks made with chalk on construction paper that she did at daycare. At home we have a drawing pad and crayons where she creates one masterpiece after another. The drawing usually taking about 1 minute. The crayon tip eating and being chased around with the crayons takes about 3.

The Slide

Addie locks in her prey with her laser beam stare. Dada is forced to watch her go down the slide all by herself. Watching, watching watching . . .

. . . and down, down, down she goes content that all eyes are on her. 

Helicopter

Saturday we checked out the free children's music down at the Santa Monica pier. How come we haven't done that before? Silly us, it's free and it's fun. They had rattles (sponsored by Dimetapp) and other instruments, arts and crafts and a band all the way from Long Island. Addie spent most of the time running around behind the stage, behind the arts and crafts table or smack dab in front of the bubble machine. We gotta get a video of her saying "bubble bubble." Too sweet.
She also decorated a mask with stickers and watched me try to hula hoop. Then she discovered the back of the arcade where they have those ride-on kiddy cars. She got to sit in a tractor and a helicopter. I didn't even bother to put the .50 cents in the machine since she seemed to be enjoying herself without it jolting and rocking.
Addie loves helicopters. She always is the first to point one out in the sky - funny how we can usually spot at least 1 on a walk to the park. She loves to look at the film cell from Apocalypse Now that Cap has in a light box in our hallway. If you are carrying her she'll make you stop so she can point at the helicopter- nothing like a little napalm, dead bodies on the beach, Robert Duvall and a military helicopter to pique your kid's interest. When my brother was little, he couldn't say helicopter; he called them hepicoppers. I can't wait to see what Addie says. Right now she points and says burr burr (bird).

We Come in Peace

OOOHHHHWEEEEE! GREETINGS EARTHLINGS!

I think this photo deserves a little "Insert Caption." Go ahead, show me what you got. What are Addie and Cap saying?

Nanoo Nanoo.

This was taken for my photo class homework. I bought a fantastically complicated new flash and the assignment involves "dragging the shutter." Basically the flash fires at 1/10,000 of a second but I manually make the shutter speed at 1/15 of a second which captures movement in the background while the quick flash suspends the subject. Like most of my homework assignements I go into a panic, run around like a chicken with my head cut off, and then eventually remember that this is supposed to be fun.

bird duck agua shoe achoo!

Finally, we took some video of Addie's words. We haven't tallied them up yet but I'm guessing maybe she can say about 30 words in varying degrees of common use. Some I have only heard once or twice, like "thank you," but "mine" she has mastered. In this 4 minute video, we "read" Colors with Peter Rabbit and then at the very end a little Bunny's Noisy Book. You'll hear her say duck and bird on several occasions, hat, shoe (i love it when she says shoe), agua (indicating her sippy cup which incidentally has milk not water in it), egg and bee. You also get to hear her slurping down her "aqua." slurp slurp slurp. My favorite part though is the last little bit in the video when the Bunny sneezes.

Blueberries for Adelaide

This girl loves blueberries. Frozen blueberries.

We gave Addie fresh blueberries many months ago and she would reject them with a splutter spewing all blueberry molecules from her mouth. Okay, she doesn't like blueberries.

That was then this is now; and now involves her blueberries direct from the freezer. I admit that this is how I eat them when they are not in season. Every morning I eat Special K with Strawberries and sprinkle it with frozen bluerries. Unlike other frozen fruit in a bag, the blueberries are actually not solid ice, but, don't get me wrong, they are cold. It's sort of like eating a blueberry slushee nugget and Addie likes them that way too. That second photo might lead you think that perhaps she doesn't like this at all, but in fact eating frozen blueberries is such a dynamic culinary experience of flavor and temperature that it takes all the muscles in the face to enjoy them.

Addie also insisted on eating her breakfast with her fancy, new, suede boots on. They are a tiny bit too big still, so she only wears them at home for fear that she'll wipe out at daycare trying to run around in giant clodhoppers. I had to resist the urge this morning to dress her in her black Star Wars T-shirt, white mini skirt and black suede boots. Maybe I should have just stuck some cotton balls in the toes and let her be the fashion envy at Andi's House.

Mrrreooowwww!

You would think Addie was imitating the lions at the zoo but the ones we saw on Sunday were napping on their backs. Or maybe she's pretending to be Didi. Oh, wait, Didi is also napping on her back most of the time.

Addie absolutely loves Didi. While she can be gentle, petting her or hugging her, she is just as likely to be pulling her tail or using the ball of fluff as a punching bag. Foolish Deeds just hangs around protesting in her typical raspy voice but rarely gets up to leave. Feeling sorry for our abused pet, I've now incorporated Addie into Didi's treat time thinking that Didi might learn to love Addie more if there was some sort of reward. I bought these horrifically expensive freeze dried treats from the pet bakery at the Farmer's Market. Addie holds out her hand and Didi will eat the treat delicately from her fingers. This sends Addie into hysterics clapping and saying "Mmmmmm." "More, more more," she demands. If we get the treats out and Didi is nowhere to be found, Addie will lift up the dust ruffle on the crib and peek underneath shouting "Hello Didi!" We've had to limit the ritual to 2 treats otherwise we'd be in the poor house (okay, sometimes 2 in the morning and 2 at night). The box must also be hidden, not from the cat, but from Addie. Sure, it's sorta cat bribery, but it's also win-win, right?

Conversations

Addie and Me:

Me: "Addie, can Mama have a bite?"
Addie: "Mine"
Me: "Please can Mama have a bite?"
Addie: "No"
Then she gives me a bite.

Matt and Max*:

Matt: "Max, can I have a bite?"
Max: "Yes."
Matt leans in to take a bite.

Max pulls it away and yells, "PSYCH!"


(* This Max, age 19 months, lives in Seattle and wants to be a trumpet for Halloween.)

U

This post has been brought to you by the letter U.

morning at the aquarium

9 am on a Sunday is definitely the best time to go to the usually packed Long Beach Aquarium. We finally joined so we can pop in whenever we want and not feel obliged to see every fish, puffin and otter on exhibit. Now we head straight upstairs to the South Pacific where we can watch the brightly colored tropical fish, stingrays and the giant sea turtle play.


How cute are these little guys poking their heads of their cozy, barnacle homes?!

smitten

There is a boy named Max.
Max is 18 months old.
Max and Addie are friends.
Max's Daddy told Addie's Daddy that Addie is Max's favorite person in the world.
Max's Mommy told Addie's Daddy that Max says "Good-night Addie" before he goes to sleep.
This story makes Addie's Mommy want to cry and hug Max and hug Addie.

Good-night Max.
Good-night Addie.
Good-night Mommies and Daddies everywhere.

self portrait

Has it really been an entire week since my last post? And to make it worse, I've been spending all of my time in front of the lens in an attempt to take a few decent shots of myself in different light situations for my first homework assignment. Sadly, my thighs hurt from the strain of jumping up every 10 seconds to check the focus and reset the self-timer. Of course I waited until the last minute and then went berserk Saturday and Sunday shooting photos of myself and neglecting my motherly duty to snap shots of Addie's adorable mug instead.

labor day par-tay

Thanks Stathis Clan for throwing an awesome labor day party.

LA is H-O-T this weekend. scorching really. Cap bought us an air conditioner for our bedroom but we can't sequester ourselves in there all day so we've been taking refuge with family. It was so bad that I brought Addie's highchair into our bedroom and fed her dinner in there. I've also been recovering from tonsillitis. blech.

Reprise

The video is 3 minutes long but if you can watch all of it you'll be rewarded with an encore piano performance, tambourine thrashing, more piano using various limbs, and a little jig at the end. Auntie Snorg's wish to have Addie train for SYTYCD has come true. I love this video because I think it shows Addie intently doing something I've never been able to do - play a musical instrument. Her piano playing at times on this video seems inspired by a deeper muse. This gene she gets from her Dada.

photo journalism

I was inspired on Saturday by a TV show. You will be thankful that it wasn't So You Think You Can Dance this time. That was my number one favorite show last season and a little part of me died when it ended. So beloved was this show that I wanted Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer and one of the "jejees" as host Cat Deeley would say, to be Addie's Godfather. I haven't signed up for break dancing or latin dance lessons, yet. Nope, this show was on an amateur photographer.

I caught the last 3 minutes of feature about a women who has been documenting her children on film since they were born. She wanted photos that they could look back on and understand their childhood. Her photos were gorgeous and she said she shot them in a photo journalistic style and defined it in two phrases: black and white and wide angle. I was immediately inspired to capture Addie's life at home with all the chaos, clutter and quiet moments that are often tangled up together. This also meant dusting off the giant flash which I continue to eye nervously as a mysterious piece of photographic equipment. Monday I start my fall semester photography class. I think it's called Color Transparency or something, but it's basically Another Good Overview class and we'll be tackling flash photography as part of it. I'm excited because I can use my digital camera in the class for the first time.

she found it!

This video is dedicated to Auntie Snorg, whose love of belly buttons is infamous. Now that Addie has discovered her own belly button she's on the hunt to find yours. Watch out.

Truth or Myth: Innie our Outie. Are belly buttons shaped by how the doctor "ties off" the umbilical cord, or genetics. I open this up to unscientific debate.

Encore, Encore!

Ta-da! Thanks GranJanne for Addie's fabulous pink mini grand. Liberace would be jealous!

6:55 AM Hat Box

Last night I had my Office Summer Outing so 25 of us headed to Dodgers Stadium to watch them squash the 'Stros. Two of my dreams sorta, almost came true. I had 2 dreams come true on our road trip (seeing a Banana Slug and going to the Monterey Aquarium) so i figured I was out of dreams for a while. But guess who was on the jumbotron and didn't know it? Supposedly I looked rather pensive which I guess is better than picking my nose. Next time we go to a game, I'll dye my hair Dodger Blue and be sure I get on the jumbotron again - and know it. Then around the 6th inning the center fielder tossed a ball into the bleacher seats (they call them Pavilion seats here but who ya kiddin') and it was right at me. I screamed. I know I did but I couldn't actually hear myself. It was fight or flight and my body chose flight. I ducked. It landed in the row in front, got bobbled around and then rolled into the empty seat right next to me. Co-workers and other fans scrambled for it. I scrambled but in some sort of super slow, super delayed manner. I might have lunged for it after it had already been claimed. This is why I don't play sports or video games. So, it wasn't cathing a foul ball or a home run, but I'm pretty sure that's as close as I'll come to fulfilling that dream.