Art Star

Addie got some lovin' from our friend Adam Helms this weekend who is in LA from NY for his second solo show at Sister, a gallery in Chinatown. We brunched and then later met back up that night to take in the gallery opening reception which was impressive. What else would we expect from one of the hardest working and most talented artists on the scene today? When Addie met Adam's dad, who is the nicest man, she immediately burst into tears. That was the first time I'd seen her become afraid from meeting a new face. Poor Mr. Helms. Addie has cried one other time from fear and that was New Year's eve when we all blew those noise makers and she stared up at us from her exersaucer and then just melted. We've seen Addie elicit these sorts of tears from other babies before just by batting her eyelashes, especially little boys who aren't ready yet to handle Addie's obvious charms.

This was the second weekend in a row that Addie's had the chance to meet some of her parent's bestest friends for the first time. Last weekend my friend Jessica was here and like a total idiot I didn't snap a single shot of her and Addie together. It was great to see her of course, and she was a great help with Addie while Cap was out of town. We had another art filled weekend checking out the Rothko exhibition at MOCA Pacific Design Center and then going to the opening reception of a photography show in Santa Monica. From Addie's perspective, I think she still might prefer the grocery store to a gallery but she definitely doesn't mind getting smooched by an art star.

food shmood

I don't know what my problem is with food. I’m just not motivated to jump on the solid food train with Addie. Some parents I'm sure can't wait to introduce their child to new flavors and textures of food. Me? I'd be fine if she just consumed formula until she had enough teeth to chew and could therefore share adult food. Perhaps it has something to do with my own disinterest in the kitchen. I like baking and I like eating out so maybe if she was going to eat baby brownies and dine in a baby food brasserie we would be fine.

Addie's been eating rice cereal for maybe 2 months and only 2 weeks ago started her on vegetables – carrots and then today made the foray into the world of sweet potatoes. What will people think of me that my 8 month old is still on rice cereal and orange root vegetables? There are some factions of mothers that scoff at the jar food believing that it will train her to only like bland food. Of course, I don't want my kid to only like American cheese and egg noodles with butter but there's plenty of time to cultivate a distinguishing palate - like when she has molars. I'm curious to try making some baby food (carrots and cumin?) but at this rate she'll be in kindergarten so I'd better at least just stock up on a variety of the organic jars. I read the ingredients and it's just carrots and water - no salt, no sugar, no preservatives. Sounds fine to me.

This doesn't even begin to broach the question of To Raise a Vegetarian (pescetarian) Child or Not. It's one thing to make decisions that only affect your own body and health, but it's another to make that choice for someone else. Cap and I haven’t come to any conclusions on this subject yet. Being rather naïve about baby food, I was browsing that section of the grocery store and was appalled to see that they have jarred veal for babies. Meat in a jar seems disturbing enough but veal? Sorry folks but I'm possibly going to be controversial here and state that I think that is just plain wrong and repulsive.

The video of Addie sampling carrots for the first time isn’t going to blow your mind but there is a split second where she seems stunned and confused by the new flavor but then quickly recovers her cool and chows down.

Bon Appetit!

Dada's Home!

Cap is back from 7 days at Sundance and his girls are very happy to have him home. I'm sure Cap is going through celebrity withdrawal after hanging out with (get ready for some name dropping) Parker Posey, Heather Graham, Molly Shannon, Peter Sarsgaard, Crispin Glover and Christina Ricci to name a few. I had a dream a few months back where Cap ran off with Drew Barrymore so I was pleased to hear she wasn't around.

Last night we celebrated my birthday with a decadent and romantic dinner at Chaya Brasserie in Beverly Hills. For dessert we shared a chocolate croissant bread pudding with caramel ice cream complete with a candle and a white chocolate sliver with Happy Birthday written on it in dark chocolate. I love edible birthday wishes. For lunch I went to Baja Fresh, announced that it was my birthday to the guy taking my order, and in celebration he gave me a card to get my next meal free. Then when I was helping myself to the salsa bar, they made an announcement over the intercom "Happy Birthday Sarah". I'm the local Baja Fresh Birthday Queen. I felt very special. I was told by a co-worker and new mom, "I can't believe you still care about your birthday." Well poo poo to you. I get one day a year where I feel entitled to a little cake and a free bean and cheese burrito.

Happy 8th Month Birthday Addie!

I think my little girl might just have her Mama's blue eyes

. . . and belly button.

Have I revealed too much? I thought belly buttons were the creation of the delivery doctor, but now I'm thinking they are genetic. Deep thoughts, I know.

Today Addie is 8 months young. I'm planning on saying the same thing about myself tomorrow when I turn 33 years young. The good news is that I won't have a TB test on my birthday, but I can't say the same for Addie who spent her morning at the pediatrician's office. I was expecting more immunizations so it was a gift that she only got a single needle. She was really brave too - just a tiny squeak of protest but no crying, no tears. Phew!

Despite the constant state of booger nose, Addie's in great health. She's 17 lbs. 2 oz. and 26 3/4 inches which is about the 25th percentile on both. She's a little gal with a lot of spunk - crawling, pulling up and picking up the tiniest dried-up crumbs of Didi's catfood with her little pincher fingers. We're so proud.

Taking a stand

Yup. Addie has recently mastered pulling up. Down went the crib mattress to the lowest level and out went the beautiful crib bumber. You shall be missed crib bumber!

I am roused in the mornings by Addie chatting away to toys, to the mobile, to her hands and to whatever catches her fancy, real or imagined. One bleary eye opened, I peak over to the crib which now resembles a pink cage more then her cushy palace digs of weeks past. She can frequently be seen standing up looking around the room and when she spots me sitting up (finally) I get a big toothy smile.

Of course this new skill also means that the coffee table is Public Enemy No. 1. She pulls everything off it not to mention those extra sharp edges. She hasn't fallen on to the table edges yet but she's bonked her head enough trying to pull up on everything else. Will the coffee table stay or be banished to the storage unit temporarily until her balance is more steady? We're still undecided on that one.

Addie has typed this message to everyone herself:
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuuuuuju dcxse425rtehdfv

Highfalutin

Slap slap slap. Addie's got her own crawling style. I like to call it Highfalutin which is the term used by my onetime hip-hop teacher to describe his Atlanta style of dance. She's got a nice high reach with those arms of hers. I know, you can't believe I took a hip-hop dance class once. Me either. It was 50 minutes of complete embarrassment. I'm still recovering and that was almost 2 years ago. Addie, however, has got her own thing going on here. Slap slap slap.

Shop Girl

Cap's been raving about how fun it is to take Addie to the grocery store, so today I took her out for an afternoon at the local Ralph's. He was right, it does make shopping much more fun. When she was tiny I basically boycotted grocery shopping because her car seat didn't latch in and i either had to stick her and the car seat in the food part of the cart and balance produce around her or carry her in the baby bjorn - way too much of a hassle. Cap was a dream because I think I only went to the grocery store once when I was on maternity leave. Since being back at work, I'd rather eat cereal every night than face grocery shopping.

Armed with 2 Buy One Get One Free coupons for formula, I decided to see just how fun it is to take Addie shopping. Now that she has mastered sitting up, she gets to ride up front in the cart where she can smile at her admirers. And she has many. It sort of makes me feel like a celebrity. People ooh and aww at how cute she is and she really does look cute because she looks so darn tiny sitting there like I've propped up a little porcelain doll. At the seafood counter, the attendant dude took out an entire chilled octopus from the bed of ice and waggled it in front of Addie. She loved it - squealing and smiling with delight. She does have an affinity for cephalopods as we all know. At the check-out, she was even given her very own Ralph’s balloon to take home. Better than the circus!

(You might ask, “what the heck is Addie holding in the photo?” Why, a dragon fruit of course. Never heard of dragon fruit? Me either, and I wouldn't let her put it anywhere near her mouth. For all I know, it's skin is poisonous when eaten.)

material girl. 10

Bored by your pink or blue nursery walls? or are you like me (and I'm guessing not) that you don't want to hang anything above the crib because what if there was an earthquake and Addie was showered with glass or smothered by a quilt. So, if that's a concern and you still want to add a little pizzaz to your nursery decor, or in our case the 8x4 feet corner of our bedroom that is dedicated to Addie's sleeping lair, then might I interest you in wall decals?

I'm telling you these are HOT. How can you not want Space Invadors above your darling daughter's crib? I'm also intrigued by the Keith Haring angels and babies since I'm a huge fan of his work dating back from 7th grade, and I rather like the flock of birds too. They can even do custom colors for you. There is something for everyone. Do you decal?

Addie

The 2006 Top 100 Baby Names List is out. I know, you couldn't be more excited. I greet this year's list with mixed emotions. The first thing I do is check out number one (Emma) and then quickly scan the other 99 to see if Adelaide has made it. This is one list I hope she doesn’t make. I know it’s silly, but I really did think having a unique name was important. This was not the only criteria, of course. If it had been, we could have just picked something insane like Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards). Oh wait, that is actually ranked #89.

I will admit that when I was pregnant I guarded our choice of Adelaide for fear that even uttering the name would cause it to spread like wild fire so sure I was of its perfection. Maybe it was because I grew up amongst a bevy of Sarah’s that I wanted her to have something special. There were 6 Sarah’s in my eighth grade class (of 25 women) and then more recently I was one of 3 in my office out of only 6 women. I think that must be some record – 50% Sarah’s. I bet you can name at least a handful of Sarah's that you know. While Adelaide hasn’t made it to the Top 100 (or the Top 500 I hope), I was shocked to see that Addison had skyrocketed to #26. This means that there will be a gaggle of Addie’s in her elementary school not to mention the plethora of Maddie’s that will exist thanks to the continued popularity of Madison (#2). This doesn’t even take into account how many Abby’s there will be with Abigail ranking #9. My tongue is getting tied in a knot thinking about it. There might not be a key chain, barrette or mini license plate with Adelaide pre-printed on it at the Disneyland gift shop, but there is a pretty good chance there will be one with Addie.

Looking Dapper

I spied this embroidered button down shirt in a Venice boutique while I was still pregnant. It was in the boy section and I thought that people were crazy when they said that girl's clothes are cuter. Well, months later it went on sale and, throwing gender caution to the wind, I bought it anyway. After all, I'd wear it. It's been hanging idle in our closet for ages though and now it's almost too small so we decided to give it a spin today. I think she looks rather dapper.

Misunderstood

Dude sitting in the aisle seat on our flight to Chicago: "How old is your daughter?"

Me: "She's 7 months"

Dude: "Oh, so she must not be very intelligent yet."

Me, indignantly: "She's very intelligent!"

Dude: "I said, 'So, she's not into television yet.' I was wondering if she wanted to watch TV on my portable DVD."

Glad we got that cleared up! Happy 2007!