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.

Dining with the Triplets

Friday night Addie and her pal Clyde along with their parents were invited to dine at The Triplet's house after work. It was a last minute invite so we didn't have time to bring any food for Addie or for me to bring my camera.

My jaw dropped when we walked in and Madison, Kylie and Ethan were all sitting peacefully at the kitchen table eating brocolli with forks. I had no idea that silverware should be on Addie's agenda. Addie was actually rather adept at it for her first time but she still refused to eat the brocolli that was kindly set forth before her on her own plate by our very gracious hosts. She did eat the inside of grape tomatoes leaving the skins, her serving of tofu dogs, and of course the pasta course.


By the end of the meal, Addie had dumped her plate on her lap, exchanged sippy cups with Ethan, and then stolen Kylie's empty plate. After the kids dinner, we let them loose in the backyard where the adults drank wine and beer and devoured pizza. The triplet's house is the perfect place - tons of space, toys and even a brand new puppy who came by for a visit.

Slurpee

Since my Dad noted that it has been almost a week since my last post, I thought it was my duty to fill the Addie-void despite the lack of available material.

After a lovely wine lunch in Los Olivos on the last day of our road trip, we stopped at the local market for a diet coke in a can (I insist on a can over a plastic bottle as I'm convinced it tastes better). There isn't much to say about the photo, but I like that it has a timeless appeal; we could be anywhere in the U.S. at any period of time .

We've almost been home a week, settling back into our normal schedule and routine. Monkey has tooth #10 coming in and last night she shrieked enough that we ended up bringing her into our bed where she flailed around punching me with arms, elbows, feet and knees. I gave up (rather impatiently after about 5 minutes) and slept on the couch. There I only get geriatric Didi waking me up every few hours so I can lift her back up on the couch where she curls up behind my knees and goes back to sleep. I'm ready for a two bedroom and a cat ramp.

the last hurrah

Today is the last day of our 2 week vacation. After returning from our road trip Thursday, we jumped on an airplane Friday to Seattle for my friend Bethany's wedding leaving Miss A in the loving care of Grandpa Mit. Bethany and I lived 2 doors away from each other in Mamaroneck, NY when we were in first grade. We loved Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake and even our cats were best friends having napping playdates at each other's homes. I cried like a baby when I saw her walk down the aisle. I'm out of practice with weddings and forgot I'm a chronic weeper and didn't bring a single kleenex. I had gotten sucked into a free make-over at Nordstroms and was terrified that I now had canyons carved by tears with all the make-up I had on. It was fun though to get pampered, and I learned that there is actually a technique to using an eyelash curler.

This is the first time that we've left Addie and I am going through withdrawal especially after the bliss of spending so much time with her on our road trip. Cold turkey is rough. At the wedding there were 2 little blond haired cherub girls and I wanted to kidnap them. Cap is on his way to the airport now to head home, and I'm so jealous he gets to see her today. I'm staying over one more night and then have meetings all day in our Seattle office. I have that first-day-of-school-after-summer-break nervousness in the pit of my stomach. Maybe I'll try to cheer myself up and get another free make-over at a different counter at Nordstrom's.

Extra thanks to Grandpa Mit and the Aunties for rocking out with Miss A in our absence.

Check out all the photos from our Cali Road trip.

Greetings from the Road: Day 12

We're coming home today.


Good-bye cold, cold Monterey.


Good-bye seals (can you spot 4?).


Good-bye moon jellies at the Monterey Aquarium.


Good-bye Pebble Beach seagulls.


Good-bye Mama carrying an Addie on her back.


Good-bye sand flinging elephant seal.


and thank-you Subie chariot for keeping us safe.