No Quiero

So, apparently when Clio was eating lunch today, and sweet potatoes (which she used to love but suddenly loathes) were on emphatic offer, she finally threw up her hands and said "No Quiero."

When Miriam and Alexa were telling me this, there was some confusion. I thought Alexa was just switching into Spanish in her explanation, and asked her to translate. Eventually I figured out that this was not Alexa's interpretation of an action, but that Clio had actually said the words (pronounced "No karo"), meaning "I don't want that."

What a way to start talking.

So you all have a visual of the beloved Miriam, here's a picture at last:

Baby Pollocks

I happened upon some nice tubes of fingerpaint at Target yesterday; today we had a painting party, which turned out to be the baby version of something out of the 60s, like Woodstock without the music. A users' guide, in case you'd like to try this at home:

First, strip the babies down to their diapers. (In the meantime, take a look at yourself: do you mind if your clothes get covered in painted handprints? )


Now, once you've put down a sheet and some nice big paper on the ground (do this outside!), it's time to get out the paint. Squeeze it out on the paper:

Or directly on the babies, as Dave is doing with Eva here:

Let them have at it!

Our budding artistes include Scarlett:


Abraham:

Clio:
And Eva:



Now, when the fun runs out (and it will, in about 15 minutes) have a bucket or plastic trash can ready for a quick mudbath (a la Lucia at the lake):


Or just hose 'em down. Clio found the water refreshing:


Finally, get dry on Daddy's pants


And admire your artistic genius: Voila!


I must credit Aunt Maud for the painting inspiration. A true advocate that no child is too young for fabulous activities, she had Clio at the easel as soon as we arrived at the lake before the 4th of July:

Clio's Maternal Family Tree

Over the 4th of July week, Clio spent some time in Minnesota, getting to know the extended Duggan-O'Shaughnessy clan. We managed to get pictures of her with many of the major players. You should be familiar with some of these characters, but you might not recognize us all relaxed and lake house-ified, so here's a primer:

The Mommy

The Daddy

The Nonny

Papa (or, as Dave says, Pop Pop)

New to the blog, Great Granddad

Uncle Rory (We somehow missed Aunt Nicole, but I'll be sure to point her out in the group shot)

Uncle Brian

Aunt Maud

Cousin Finn

Cousin Lucia (having a "mud bath" after I taught her a little Yyves-Klein style body painting, in case you're wondering about the bucket. Also doing a darn good impression of some of those Depression-era photographs of kids bathing in buckets, only cuter, if such a thing is possible)


And now let's see if we can keep them straight. This is all family who managed to turn out for Clio's 11am birthday party on July 5th (thanks you guys!)


Back row, from left: Papa, Aunt Nicole, Aunt Maud, Nonny, Daddy, Great-Aunt Leeno, Great-Bonnie, Great-Uncle Art, Uncle Brian, cousin Lucia. Front Row, from left: Cousin Finn (getting him out of the pool to take this photo was quite a feat for Brian and Maud), The Mommy and the Guest of Honor, Great-Granddad.

Too bad I don't have pictures from the 4th party- so many second cousins, even I can't keep them straight!

Asides

When we were traveling with Clio, people kept saying what a happy kid she was (did they miss the tantrum-like behavior when she got manically over-tired?) She IS a happy kid, but in those situations, I begin to wonder if "happy" is another euphamism, like "cute."

Other asides:
Clio is totally into the magnets on our refrigerator. She likes to be picked up so she can pull them off of the freezer. She also likes to crawl around with them, and occasionally thinks its cool if she manages to reattach them to the fridge.

She is also really into pointing. Have I mentioned this? She has a very strong point, where her shoulder comes up to her ear and her arm is firm and straight, but Dave thinks her aim is often off. (Truth be told, we don't always know what she's pointing at, and what her intention is. Is it directional, like Take me over there? Or questioning, What is that thing?)

Lastly, I am recently fascinated by the noises she is making. While actual words seem no closer, her babble has become more and more sentence-like, and I frequently repeat it back to her. In so doing, I've noticed that there are lots of noises I can't mimic. My theory, which Dave completely discounts, is that this is evidence of the extra phonemes she has. I learned in a long-ago linguistics class that babies are born with the phonemes needed to speak in any language, but gradually, without use, they are lost to us, and eventually we have just the set to speak our own, and related, languages. So I believe that she is making sounds right now that I literally do not have the ability to reproduce. Nature is wild!

The Grandparents Peterson

First of all, while I'm on this archival kick, here is Dave as a baby with young Barb and Glenn:


Fast forward 30+ years, and Clio enjoyed a week of grandparental attention at the end of June. Luckily for Clio, Grandma and Grandpa have already seen just about every sight in New York over the years of visiting their first born, so the focus of their trip was all Clio, all the time. They read books (don't you love how Clio seems to be telling the story to Barb, and not the other way around?),



discovered Clio's favorite game of divesting the shelves of their board books,



and went for stroller rides. Lots and lots of stroller rides. In fact, Clio got so into her daily outings, she started grabbing the Maclaren handles to indicate it was time for a stroll. Her grandparents were very obliging.



They also got to experience baby music class. They even brought a camera, so I can now document the activities at Music Together.



Here's Dagwood, Clio's intended from a few posts back. He really is quite adorable- can you blame her for the lip-lock?



You'll notice that most of the pictures feature Clio on her own or Clio and Barb. Seems like, as in our little family, the man of the house is also the photographer of the house. But my total favorite picture from the visit is one of Pete. I have no idea what led up to this moment, but I think Barb has captured a hilarious scene:



Enough said!

Traveling with Clio

There's a Cardigans song called Traveling with Charlie that Dave put on a mixed tape for me when I took my road trip to New Mexico (before we were dating!) and during the 7 hour journey we just endured, I had it stuck in my head, with the name changed to Clio.

Clio did NOT do well on the plane. In fact, we were THAT couple, sitting in the back of the plane, apologizing and smiling sheepishly as our child threw books and food at people, poked the (sleeping) passenger next to us, pulled the hair of the guy in the seat in front of us, and generally carried on. To be fair, she did not nap and was extremely over tired. And, due to a hailstorm, we got stuck on the tarmac for an extra hour before takeoff. We kept thinking that maybe, MAYBE she would wear herself out and sleep, but it didn't happen. Not in the airport, not in the plane, not at baggage claim, not in the taxi line, and most definitely not in the cab home from JFK.

I have learned a few things from this:

1) plan to leave for the airport directly after a baby's nap, rather than planning to be in the air during a nap- that nap will not happen and you'll be that much closer to meltdown when you board.

2) invest in some of those toys that take a zillion batteries and have flashing lights and voices- board books and stuffed animals just won't cut it.

3) fly Sun country or other second-rate carriers whenever possible- yours will not be the only screaming baby.

4) bring a change of clothes not just for the baby, but for yourself as well. Clio dumped an entire bottle of water all over us. She got a dry shirt, but Dave and I had to sit and stew.

5) if you are scheduled to land at 7pm at JFK, you will not be home anywhere near the baby's bedtime. You will be home at 10:15.

Tomorrow we'll get back to happier times with pictures from the gloriously summery week.

Good night!

Playing Catch Up

It has been a busy couple of weeks, with visits from "uncle" Vishu and The Grandparents Peterson and a trip to Minnesota, including a long weekend at Aunt Maud's family cabin up North, a 4th of July party at Nonny and PaPa's, a First Birthday party, and lots and lots of new excellent activities. All of which means I have hundreds of new pictures to edit and about a zillion stories to share. It may defeat the whole immediacy thing that's supposed to give blogs their edge, but what can I say? We've been too busy to get to the computer.

Because so many people have been astounded by Clio's resemblance to The Mommy, and because Dave is teaching my own mommy to use her scanner, we'll start with another one from another archive: here I am with Brian and Mom, around easter 1976. We see a lot of Clio here.