A few photos of Mom

Being the person taking the photos is both a blessing and a curse...it's a blessing in that I'm not in many photos and it's a curse for the same reason. So, here are a couple of photos of Lulu and me recently (neither of them especially flattering):

taken on a Tuesday after dance class and dinner
(hence the ballerina pink leotard on Lulu and dirty plate)

I know--it looks likes she's frenching me.
I'm sitting on the step-stool b/c she's "driving" me to school
I think this might be a good-bye kiss?

Lulu is VERY into bossing people around right now--she's always doing role-reversal games and pretending to be the Mommy or the Teacher. I have to confess it's kinda fun to give her a taste of her own medicine and whine and complain--I think that's where the kissing came into play in the second picture. What I really wish is that it were possible to capture the expression on her face when she's bending over you and telling you words of comfort like, "Don't cry, Baby!" It's the sweetest expression of concern accompanied by a head-pat.

She's a very good mommy to her stuffed animals right now, too. This one is of her comforting her bunny rabbit and keeping him warm:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ballet

Lulu had such a fun time in ballet class yesterday. I took quite a few cute pictures and they just beg for sharing.

turkey-themed motivation poster for Thanksgiving

I love her chubby thighs--I just can't help it!

look at those ringlet curls!

They were frogs after the teacher cast a spell with her magic wand....

too silly!!

bar exercises

Cooking with Children

Walter teaches econometrics on Monday nights. So, on those evenings, Lulu and I get to prepare dinner together. Last week, she helped me make chicken meuniere.



And peel carrots.

Under close supervision, of course!

So proud!

And Daddy thought it was delicious when he came home...after she was bathed and put to bed.

Friendship Feast

On Friday, I re-arranged my office hours so that I could attend the "Friendship Feast" at Merryhill with Lulu.  I was really stoked because it's the first event they've done during the day that I felt I could legitimately attend without worrying about how it might be perceived.  Plus, it was a Friday and I only had one class and office hours that day anyway, so it wasn't a big accommodation to make anyway.

I volunteered to bring corn and there was also turkey & gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, and dinner rolls.  All very tasty (although enjoying it wasn't really in the cards).

L-R:  Samantha, Lulu, and Adam (or He Who Shall Not Eat Eggs)

In hindsight, I was too ambitious when I filled her plate.
But I was hoping to eat off hers until her teacher insisted I fix my own.

Lovely scene of children enjoying thanksgiving dinner with each other

I have to preface the rest of this with the admission that I'm not as impressed with Lulu's teachers this year--she adores them and they adore her, but their um, "crowd management skills" aren't as good as her previous classroom. So, there were approximately 15-18 toddlers, a large subset of their parents in the room, and food. And when the toddlers (children? when does one stop being a toddler?) were done eating, it was CHAOS.

Bridge (the school principal) and Carmelina (one of the teachers) attempting to
organize the disorder with some music and dance

And for proof, I offer up this video:



I swear, it was like a drunken frat party but without the drinking. And the whole experience lasted (from start to finish) exactly 45 minutes. By the end, some of the kids were crashing and burning into naptime, so they were sent outside to the playground to allow the teachers/parents to clean up the classroom for naptime.

A Couple of Short Videos from Miami

Here is Lulu "cooking" for us on Friday night at RosaMexicana:



And enjoying the beach with her daddy:

Totally jinxing myself...

...but I have to share what a sweetheart Lulu has been over the past two days.

I know that most of what my relatives end up hearing are the horror stories of recalcitrant behavior and temper tantrums, so I thought in the interest of fairness I should document this, too.  (even if I'm totally jinxing myself by even mentioning it publicly)

Lulu has really enjoyed her pretend play with us, especially Daddy.  On Sunday night, they were playing a role reversal game--he was the baby and she was the Mutti.  It was pretty funny, too--Walter kept trying to get her to segue into playing with me so he could work on dinner but she refused saying, "You're not my Kind (child).  Daddy ist my Kind."  (which is really funny if you take the words at face value)

She was "driving" him to school by sitting in a chair and insisting that he sit on her step-stool beside her.  Apparently, if Lulu's imitation is any indication, I drive like a Nascar driver.  Then, once they were at Schule (school), they walked into her bedroom and then Mutti left for work.  When her baby cried when she left, Lulu would rush back in, pat him on the head, and say, "Don't cry, Mommy will be back."

Pretty cute, huh?

She's also been really loving lately, too.  She's very generous with her kisses and her hugs and even volunteered that she loved me (rather than just repeating it after me).  She does lots of little pats on arms and heads and generally acts like a sweet, little girl.  It's wonderful.

When I picked her up at Merryhill this afternoon, she ran over to see me, then ran back to give the friend she was playing with a kiss on the cheek.  Then she ran over to another little boy and tried to kiss him and was really upset when he wasn't interested in reciprocating.

It's a foreshadowing, I think, of the little girl she's becoming.

Ozean

As part of our trip to Miami last week for my work, we took Lulu to the beach.  South Miami Beach to be precise.  We played in the sun, sand, and surf before walking across the street to eat some delicious Cuban food (at a restaurant owned by Gloria Estefan).



The combination of ocean and moors y cristianos (black beans and rice) did Lulu in.  She had eaten about 3/4s of her meal when her head started to bob as she fell asleep sitting up.  I kid you not.  I had her lie down with her head in my lap while we finished our meal and then her daddy carried her out of the restaurant (still asleep).  We walked back across the street, found a park bench, and did some people watching while she slept.



After Lulu was up, we walked up the beach a little longer to one of the bigger hotels to catch a taxi back to our hotel in downtown Miami. Lulu was SO excited by the ocean and playing at the beach, that we had to take our small collection of sea shells with us to school yesterday to show to all of her friends.

Mathematical Calculation

Somehow I knew I would rue the day when Lulu discovered numbers and counting....now we have a child who is obsessed with "a little bit" versus "a lot." Or, she wants "just one, not two."

And heaven help someone who doesn't give her what she expects!

Here is her dancing in delight at getting some peanut butter (erdnußbutter) chips that Daddy promised her and then being upset that he apparently gave her only "a little bit."

Sigh.

Thank you, Nanny!

Nanny sent us a special Halloween treat on Monday from the popcorn store. Lulu has had a great time playing with the little stuffed ghost and has begged us incessantly for candy popcorn, cookies, gummi pumpkins, and little chocolate jack-o-lanterns.

Here are a few pictures of someone enjoying her new "purse."







Thank you, Nanny!

Kitty Cat

Here is a short video I took from last Friday night of Lulu being eine Katze (a cat) with her face painted. Pretty darn cute!



And the second is Lulu enjoying the playground for a while this past weekend. The weather's been sunny and warm and we've enjoyed the time outside (especially because it's about to turn rainy and cold--highs in the 60s!) Notice how she's figured out how to do her own "englein" (swinging)? She always wants Walter and me to swing her by the arms when she's holding both of our hands. Apparently, our work is now being outsourced....

Halloween Carnival, part deux.

Apparently, I was mistaken--last Friday's event was a "harvest festival" and their Halloween festivities were on Monday.  They made trick-or-treat bags out of decorated paper sacks and then went around to the various classrooms to do trick-or-treating.

Another mother who was there was kind enough to send photos of Lulu to me so I can share them here with you (her little girl, Adena, is the one on the far right):

this was a school-provided "fairy" costume b/c her parents are slackers at Halloween
(We sent her to school without a costume on).

Lulu leading the way--why am I not surprised??