Let the Halloween festivities begin!

Can you guess what Lucy is for Halloween?

Dorothy, of course! We went to a Halloween party at Lucy's friend Dylan's house today. It was a fun way to kick off the "holiday season"! Lucy was a perfect little Dorothy (complete with Toto in a basket, which she calls "Nono"...apologies to the real Nonno!) and made a huge hit at the party. I am really glad that I did not get her a bunting costume with a hood because I knew she would never tolerate it (it was hard enough to get her to sit for ribbons in her hair). She is now obsessed with the red shoes, of course, and as I type this she has them in her crib....would not go to sleep without them. I'd better go retrieve them or she will wake up in the morning with red glitter all over her face!


This is so cute and really shows what a difference a year can make. Here are Naomi and I with Dylan and Lucy at the Halloween party last year...

...and here we are this year! The babies are no longer babies, but we both have babies in our tummies now. Next year's picture will be even more fun, with us both holding a kid in each arm!

The World's Largest Rat

UPDATE (Sunday 10/21): The rat never returned. I'd like to think it was because of me, but who knows, maybe they just had a one-day rat rental? I ran into some of my neighbors this afternoon and we were talking about the rat and I told them that it may very well have left because of me. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. A girl can dream.

The World's Largest Rat booth at Coney Island

Rewind to the summer of 1996. I am living in Manhattan and take a trip with my friends to Coney Island. There, I encounter something I will never forget -- a booth bragging, from a loudspeaker, that you can go inside and see the "World's Largest Rat." That is right, you can pay to see an enormous rat, supposedly even biggest than a cat. Um, no thanks, I skip the show and opt instead for a ride on a wooden roller coaster that I find out later had had an accident the previous day. But at least I am spared from seeing the world's largest rat.

Fast forward 11+ years (has it really been that long?). I leave my home this morning and directly across the street it is there. The world's largest rat. Seriously, a 20-foot rat with huge claws and fangs and what looks like a gaping wound in its abdomen. Before you get too grossed out, I should mention that this rat was made out of inflated plastic and was there to make the point of some union picketers (they are renovating the supermarket across the street and using nonunion employees). I guess a "rat" has some sort of anti-labor connotation. Ok, I get the point and I support their right to free speech and also their message. But putting a giant, bleeding rat effigay literally outside my front door is a bit much. The protestors are supposedly for "community standards" -- and I know by that, they mean that workers should get paid and treated equally, etc. But please tell me how this giant rat is helping improve the community?

I dropped Lucy at daycare and on my way home, I decided to have a friendly chat with the picketers. I told them that my daughter was terrified of the giant rat. Ok, so she wasn't...but really, this girl is afraid of chickens, so who knows what will happen when she gets a good look at the rat? One of them thought it was funny, telling me to tell her it was Mickey Mouse. I told him that while I understand his humor, she does not. I reminded him that she is a baby and thus quite irrational and also not developed enough to understand union politics. One of the men was quite nice and talked to me. We talked about the project and the workers and I told him I support his cause but I wish he could do it without the rat. He said he would talk to the protest supervisor. Ok, I felt proud that I had spoken up without losing my cool.

Around noon today, I came home from being out and both the picketers and the rat were gone. There were two police officers standing there, and they noticed that I noticed the missing rat. "No more rat," they said. Wow, I thought, they took the rat away because of me and the officers remember me and want to thank me! Um, no. "Is it gone for good?" I ask. No, they tell me, it will be back tomorrow. So I tell them that I had talked to the union guys and told them that the rat scared my daughter and that it does not belong across the street from a residence. Do THEY care? No! One of them says "doesn't she watch cartoons?" -- and I was like, "Curious George does not have giant bleeding rats in it." I told them that it was inappropriate for a residential area, to which they informed me that I live in the city, not Lexington. And they suggested I simply keep my blinds down. To which I told them that I honestly thought they would be more supportive, and that my condo cost the same as a lot of houses in Lexington (ok, that last comment was a bit bratty, but they really made me mad). And really, this is Brookline, not downtown Boston. Anyway, reason number 8 million that I am glad we are moving...

And now, for a photo of the rat I saw today. This is not the actual rat (they took it down before I could take a picture), but this is exactly what it looked like. Would you want this across the street from your house??

p.s I looked up more about these rats. According to one article, the original rat was "not mean enough," so the designer "added bigger fangs and a pink belly with 'festering nipples.'" The company that makes them sells between 100 and 200 of them a year...and is nonunion. (Click here to read more).

Halfway there

Well, more than halfway actually. I am now over 21 weeks pregnant, which means only 19 weeks left to go (give or take, but let's hope by not too much on either end). This pregnancy is flying by! Here are some pictures from today:

"I can do it!"

My Nana will surely appreciate this post. When I was little, no one could show me how to do anything, even when I didn't know how to do it myself. For example, I always wanted to knit and my Nana is a great knitter. She would start to show me how, but after only a few stitches I would start in with "I can do it! I know how!" The result? I did learn how to knit...at age 30 (from a book). Looks like my little girl is the same way. She constantly wants to do things that she does not know how to do yet, but then gets very mad when someone tries to help. This has resulted in more than one fierce tantrum! Here she is trying to dress herself. I just let her do it now and don't dare interfere.



This is her most very creative look...sock gloves:

Baby names?

I am trying to come up with a good list of potential baby names. We think we might have it narrowed down to a few, but I want to gather all suggestions before really getting down to thinking about it. So, if you have a suggestion, please leave it in a comment for me! I am accepting both boys' names and girls' names because the gender will be a surprise :) Oh and I am really looking for something classic/old-fashioned, yet neither too common nor too strange. Thanks!

Warm weekend

We had a busy, fun weekend! Jeff flew back from his very glamorous business trip to Fargo, North Dakota on Friday evening. He was greeted by Lucy in her new "I [heart] Dad" jam-jams. I took these photos of her while she was desperately trying to get the camera from me and thus not very happy. Adding to the effect is the little cut on her nose (a casualty of having crusty boogers removed from her nose all week). Despite what these photos show, she did like the new jam-jams!


Here is a bit of video...very funny...of her pleading with me for the camera. She tries everything, including asking for her "turn," thanking me in advance, and asking me to "have it." I finally gave in. Time to find a cheap kids' digital camera!

On Saturday, we went down to the Cape to Lucy's Greatnana and Greatpoppa's house. She was such a lucky girl to be surrounded by so many relatives...in addition to Greatnana and Greatpoppa, there was Nonnie and Nonno, Greatgrandma, Great Uncle Paul, cousins Daisy and Nick, and Nick's girlfriend Jenny. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day:





Today, we went to Lookout Farm in South Natick. We started at the petting zoo, which as you know can be a very scary adventure for Lucy! Just like our visit to Drumlin Farm, she was not exactly a happy camper. But Jeff held her the whole time and was so patient and loving with her that she started to feel more comfortable and even ventured so far as to pet the goat. Progress! After that, we boarded a little train to the apple orchards and kids' play area. There was another petting zoo there and she did ok. Not thrilled, but a bit more comfortable. We picked some yummy apples (and even ate some right there in the orchard...shhhh, don't tell!) It was the perfect outing for a sunny "Indian Summer" day. Now I just want my 60 degree fall days back!

Chippy

Lucy chipped a tooth today...something I have feared might happen for a while (mother's intuition?). I got a call from daycare that she had tripped while out on a walk and that the tooth chipped in the fall. Her face didn't hit the pavement or anything terrible like that...more that her teeth banged together and so one of them chipped. That is good news because I'd hate to think of her banging her mouth on the ground. Also, she didn't sustain any other injuries and has been in fine spirits. I think the tooth was soft to begin with because it is the one that has always a little "deformity" in it. Anyway we are off to the dentist tomorrow for an x-ray. I just hope there is no root damage. I suppose we can live with a chipped tooth until she gets a new one...when, at age 6? Poor little chippy...she still has the world's prettiest smile to me :)

Lucy's George

We got Lucy a new Curious George doll yesterday and she is officially in love. She calls it "Lucy's George" -- which is very exciting because she is just now starting to put two words together like this. We also got her a little "bike" for around the house. Here's a little video:

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Introducing...

...our healthy little baby! We had our "big" ultrasound this morning and all looks fantastic with him/her. We could see the leg bones and arm bones...amazing. At one point the baby really stretched out and we saw a great view of both legs...like little frog leggies!!! It is wonderful to know that everything looks healthy. Not even any small causes for concern. When we had our ultrasound for Lucy, they had found a little something, which turned out to be nothing, but it still scared me half to death. So this time I was very glad to hear that all looks ok. Here are some fun pictures of the little bugger:

A nice profile shot (that thing near the nose is a little hand). I think the nose is less button-like than Lucy's...perhaps more like Mommy???

Can you stand how cute this is? The bottoms of two little feet.

Profile...look at that big tummy :)

Another profile

I like to put my hand in my mouth!

Who's your mama?

Jeff took some pictures of me and Lucy today. I take so many pictures of her but rarely get ones of the two of us. Do you see any resemblance at all? I still think she hatched out of an egg :)

Me and my two kids (you don't need to look too closely to tell I am four months pregnant)! Lucy's baby made it into the picture as well.

I love this picture! I actually think our chins and smiles look alike...and the shape of our (round) faces.

Silly little baby

Lucy has never in her life taken a pacifier. When she was very little, I tried...anything to calm down a newborn! But she just never got the hang of it. Now, I am grateful that we don't have the pacifier as a crutch that we need to get rid of, which I know can be tough at this age. Anyway, the other day I found one of her old pacifiers (one of the many that we tried) in a drawer. Just for fun, I popped it in her mouth. Oh, sure, now she loves it! Of course, it is not something I let her keep and it went promptly into the trash (starting a 19-month-old on a pacifier would be insane) but it did make for some funny pictures. Ok, let us never speak of this again!!!

Back to School, Part 2

The weather finally got cool and fall-like this week (yeah!), so Lucy got to wear some of her cute new outfits. She looked like such a big girl in them! Here are a few pictures, plus a little video showing off her smarts :)

Toga! Toga!

Lucy spent all of Sunday afternoon in what can only be described as a toga. It was actually a white onesie that she managed to unbutton at the bottom and wear over just one shoulder. She completed the look with some free-flowing Grecian curls :)

Back to "school"

Ready to head out the door...too bad it is still too warm for her "back to school" clothes!

Lucy has the dorkiest Mommy ever, making computer labels for her lunch bag...

...and sleeping bag! At least she is too young to care about these things.

Lucy had her first day at her new day care today. We knew it might be a tough transition because she has been out of day care all summer, being lovingly watched by her Nonnie and Nonno while I was at work. Today she only went for a few hours and although she was crying when we left, I got a great report when I picked her up. Apparently, she was very interested in playing with the trucks and the airplane toys (and she didn't want to share the airplane with anyone!). I picked her up at the playground, and I actually arrived there a few minutes before the day care group did so I got to see her walk into the park holding on to the little rope thing that they use for the children. It was so cute and I was amazed that she held on and walked so nicely with the group! She goes for a few more hours tomorrow and builds up to spending all day on Friday. Then, next week she will be on her regular schedule of attending on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I hope she keeps doing well!