1982

My Mormor

My mom's mom is very sick and not doing well. They do not expect her to recover from a recent fall. Please keep her in your thoughts. Here's a picture of her and I at our wedding. 

Sing, Sing a Song

It confounded me for weeks: how in the world could Lucia learn an entire SONG and the full lyrics and verses, but be unable to say the following: Can I have some _________ please? I'd have her repeat each word, but she couldn't string them together. She'd say More Please, but not the full sentence. We'd practice it over and over and over, but it eluded her. 

I figured she was just being stubborn. I mentioned it to our daycare provider, in hopes that she would encourage her to use the full sentence. Once I told her Lucia had no problems learning songs, she had a surprising suggestion: make up a song and have her sing it. 

So that night I sang Can I have some more please? for her and she caught on immediately. It's hilarious. She says MORE at the top of her lungs, then I ask, what do you say? And she says Please? I say, no what do you say? And here she comes with her little ditty: Can I have some more please? To the tune of a basic scale warmup. Do Re Mi La Ti Do. It is so funny. Tonight she was banging on the door because she wasn't quite ready for bed, and she cried, I want some water! Now, she does this almost every night and most nights it's a ruse to prolong bedtime. But tonight, she said PLEASE Mommy! Then, in between cries, I heard her sing her song. Which I mean, was really hard not to laugh about. I brought her water of course. 

It's so funny the way kids learn; I would have never ever thought to try teaching her a song. This will inevitably come in handy in the coming months and years. 

Vay-Gus!

My good friend Megan, who I met in Annapolis at a Christmas party 10 (!) years ago this year, celebrates her 40th birthday this week. To celebrate, her husband gathered a group of us to make merry in Las Vegas for the weekend. It was great, great fun. I shared a room at the Monte Carlo with her niece, who I cannot seem to fathom is almost THIRTY; I still imagine her being a mere teenager. The hotel was nice; not lavish but definitely nice. Mad props to Shannon for selecting it. I arrived very early (maybe too early?) Saturday morning and the rest of the gang wasn't scheduled to arrive until 3 or so, so I lollygagged around, which mostly consisted of trying to find a spare outlet in the casinos to charge my phone. Then! On Facebook, one of my sister's high school classmates happened to be in Vegas and said come by and see her. And so I did! I haven't seen her in about 20 years, and it was wonderfully fun to catch up. She has a business making baby bibs and burp cloths and sent Lucia a gorgeous set when she was born. So sweet.

The gang arrived and soon we were off to celebrate. I was really thankful they were on East Coast time, as I had gotten up at 3:45 that morning to head to the airport. We had a nice dinner at a burger place, then headed to bed. At 10 p.m. On a Saturday night. In Las Vegas. But what can I tell you? We were tired. Sunday the girls went to the Spa at the Monte Carlo; I had forgotten my bathing suit so I dashed across the street to Ross and unbelievably, found a cute suit for $20 so I could properly soak in the hot tub. After we cleaned up, we headed to the Venetian for an impromptu lunch at Bouchon, which was so unbelievably amazing. I had quiche and housemade sausage (with veal!) and a crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc. After brunch the server asked if we'd like a private tour of the kitchen. UM YES!! It was absolutely gorgeous and fascinating, despite the hairy eyeball we got from the head chef. 

Making croissants

The Birthday Girl

Head chef way in the back

MMMM Butter! 

Afterwards we did a mini photo shoot with a friend Megan met from launching her photography biz. We then headed back for a very long walk to the hotel, where I may have whined because I was tired. I managed to squeeze in a quick nap before dinner -- yay!  We headed to the Bellagio for an amazing birthday dinner at Sensi. Our table was amazing with a full view of the kitchen: see? 

Afterwards we played a little blackjack and I won $100! Wheeeee! Both nights I was in bed by midnight -- a definite Vegas first. But it was nice to take a medium speed; there's massive pressure once you're in that town to PARTY HARD and we just weren't up for it. We focused on laughing, eating great food, and making memories. I had forgotten how HILARIOUS Megan is and several times I giggled uncontrollably at her quips. She funny! 


The last day I went to the MGM Grand Spa, which ahem, is a mere 48,000 square feet. For $25, I soaked in the hot tub, took three showers, and sat in the steam room, and snuggled on the chaises with trashy magazines and an extremely comfortable robe. I have dreams of that robe. We had a nice lunch afterwards, and I headed home. It was such a fun weekend; I'm so happy to be included in Megan's posse. 

The Artiste

While we await to hear more about Japan and ponder our earthquake kit and whether we should just fly to Delaware or Norway immediately, I filmed a video tonight of Lucia drawing, since it was very hard for me to believe she drawings we posted earlier today. See for yourself. I was really impressed. 

Hey Thats Me!

Cannot stop laughing because I'm positive Pete is messing with me. Unless I drew it and just forgot? I can't remember. I vaguely recall drawing with her last week. The fact that we are trying to determine if the art skills belong to me vs. Lucia is also hilarious. -- Heather 

I found this little drawing this morning. She drew it a couple of days ago. I think its me wearing glasses.

Mus!

This is Lucia's drawing of a mouse! I can't believe she drew this; maybe she'll have Pete's art talent.

You Spin Me Right Round - Third Time is the Charm

I've tried to post this THREE times. Sheesh.

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I took this video the other night after we cleaned her room and stored the chair ottoman to make more space for her. She's singing along with her Elmo "ipod," with which she's totally obsessed.

These pictures

The one of the mother and daughter trying to talk made me cry. Please donate to the Red Cross if you haven't already. This country is devastated.

Fresh Air

It seems that YouYou, Girl, Toy and Bunny collectively needed some fresh air yesterday, so after getting them dressed and ready, we piled them into her pram for a quick walk. Someone quickly decided that pushing a stroller wasn't as fun as just walking, so mommy had to offer encouragement to keep pushing. Which meant Mommy also had to hunch down and push for a while too. Which may have made Mommy's back hurt. But it took a good half hour to go one block, so we'll consider this a win on our list of activities.