3rd wedding anniversary + K's 2nd (1st official) halloween

It just happens that our wedding anniversary will eternally be the day before halloween. Not sure what chaos this will bring in the future but in 2007, we had a butterfly fluttering about this week. A butterfly disguised as K.

I actually had lofty plans to make her costume and dreamed of K adorned as a woodland fairy creature. I went so far as to make her tutu, got the pattern for her hat and shoes, and after two Saturday hours spent (wasted) on this endeavor, I gave up and went out and got the butterfly (bumblebee???) getup.

And tonight, J, K and I went out to dinner to a local French restaurant to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. K's current fixation is the Eiffel tower so she was wide-eyed for all of ten minutes. Then the food took too long and by the time it arrived, K had salted every inanimate object on the table, including my glass of Kir royale (delicious, still). J wrote me a poem and there was lobster claw meat in my mashed potatoes. Sigh, why can't it be our anniversary every other night? Happy anniversary J!!

The first pumpkin picking outing

Ah, there are so many things to love about the arrival of autumn (by far my favorite season). And now that we have lovely K in our lives, there is the addition of a soon to be classic autumn activity - pumpkin picking!

It was more than a little strange picking pumpkins in October in tank tops and shorts due to the 90+ degree weather, but at least we all know about the cause of such oddity in global temperatures (we can thank Al Gore for that evidently).

I would also like to note that K has started speaking full sentences, as opposed to pointing and grunting one word. During the course of a day, K may say the following:

"Kakadoodle doo! K wake up"

"Dada go to work"

"Mama pick up K's cup"

"K eat dip dip waffles"

"Mama read hat book"

"Dada buy K rocking horse" (NO JOKE)

"K fly away or K run away" This is a recent obsession of hers. 19 months old and already she doesn't want to be seen with her mom at the mall.

Another first: The Zoo

K experienced her first trip to the zoo at the national zoo in Washington DC this past weekend and had it been 10 degrees cooler, we would have all actually been comfortable. Perhaps the excessive heat was to blame for the lack of animal sightings? For the first 30 minutes, every animal exhibit we came to was devoid of any living, moving creature. But there were plenty of rocks and trees. Which is why K kept pointing and enthusiastically crying out "rock"!! Naturally, she believed we were spending the afternoon at a rock museum and was humoring us, sweet child.

Okay, admittedly these pictures are not going to win me any awards in photojournalism. But it was just too hot, I tell you!

We will probably wait awhile before our next zoo outing as K wasn't as excited as we had hoped. That and I suffered massive panic attacks at the tiger exhibit when my maternal instict to protect my offspring consumed me. Why is it that as a mom you envision every worst-case scenario in every circumstance??

Our (fleeting) return to NYC

Over the labor day weekend, K, J and I went up to NYC for a little E & E (eating and eating). That was our primary goal, along with 1) getting J a decent haircut; 2) hitting up children's boutiques; and 3) seeing old friends. The haircut didn't happen, J began to complain when I dragged him to the 9th toy store in 2 days, and having brunch with old friends made us feel like we never left nyc.


We stayed in Union Square for old time's sake and during the entire weekend, the city never missed a beat. K particularly was in sensory overload - the fire engines, the fantastical toy stores, the near-perfect croissants (her favorite pastry to date) and strollers, dogs, people everywhere! Oh, and undoubtedly the very best part of the entire weekend for K was...





...pistachio and hazelnut gelato at Cones in the west village. Who knew you could buy (and eat) happiness?? Or that it came in a sugar cone?

Here are some more pics from the trip:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80427798@N00/

Martha, you have nothing to fear from me. Your throne is secure.

My first sewing machine!

Does it look like it cost $20? Yes. But does it sew? Heck yeeeeah.

The first project: A mini pillow for K's chair. Much to K's dismay, I've definitely caught the crafting bug. K is doomed to lose social acceptance if my visions of sewing all her kindergarten outfits play out.

Living for the here and now

K is now 17 months and surging ahead, with no concern for the past. I, however, lurk perpetually in the past, especially on evenings such as this when I'm going through her baby albums. I am silently desperate to clasp onto those moments so tightly, hoping to keep them fresh in my memory banks for as long as I can.

As I look through K's baby pictures, I feel like I am living some of the moments for the first time. This is because, sadly, I committed the worst of parenting crimes in that I failed to live in the present for much of these moments. I remember when K was a week old, I was thinking about when we'd ever reach the 12-week mark. When she reached 12 weeks, I yearned for all the allure that the 6-month stage held (solids! yay! what did i know!). When she graduated to 6 months, I pinned all my aspirations on 10 months - surely she would walk by then (again, i knew not for what i wished). I counted the days until she turned 12 months - surely that number contained magic? And as she inched toward 14 months...I held my breath for her first non mono-word sentence.

K has grown up too fast. I miss her grunting, instead of saying "momma, up, now!". I miss the the chubbiness, the drooling, compulsion to put everything into her mouth, the fascination with pulling herself up to a standing position before she plopped down again.

I'm determined to try harder tommorow to savor every unique moment that K offers up - the teething tanturms, insistence of running around unclothed and diaperless, the need to plunge headfist into every conceivable danger. I understand now why we shouldn't live in the future - it comes much too quickly!

The first family vacation, south beach style

We just returned from the "first" family vacation in South Beach, Miami (but have no j.lo glow to show for it - I guess spf 85 was a wee bit higher than neccessary). K experienced tons of "firsts": plane ride, beach sand, ocean, the pool, palm trees, seeing women running around topless, and art deco.
We actually ate everything but cuban food - the hotel was not within walking distance (in 90 degree humidity) of little havana, nor the rest of miami. So we spent most of our time on the beach, by the pool, eating at the pool restaurant and on Lincoln Road mall (which is a close approximation to being in a European city with all the euro[trash]peans lounging at the outdoor cafes chain smoking, sipping espresso and ordering a pound of bufala mozerella for dinner.)
Highlights of the trip include:

1) genius jones - a most delightful toy store!

2) ice box cafe - considered by some as home to the best cake in the u.s. after tasting the sour cream pecan coffee cake (for breakfast, might I add - aren't vacations sinfully indulgent?), we'd have to agree.

3) cafe con leche - strong cuban coffee +steamed milk + unknown and obscene quanitites of refined sugar = AH, NOW I'M BUZZED FOR THE NEXT 12 HOURS.

4) la sandwicherie - a french sandwich stand run by a group of italian men. the sandwiches were generous and fresh and packed with goodies (like a special french vinagerette).

5) friendship. we stayed in a hotel that was unfathomably spectacular due to the graciousness of j's friend. the setai lived up to the hype, but we missed out on the celebrity sightings since K's bedtime was 8pm. ah well, there's always next summer!

A few of our favorite moments...