his feet are too big. here's what i've been thinking lately - that the t2 i know now can't possibly be the same t2 that i met 9 months ago. they just don't seem like the same child. in fact, he doesn't even seem like the same child he was last week. i think when something changes and evolves so deliberately right in front of you, it's very hard to piece all the time together so that it makes sense and flows properly. and at the same time and in a very opposite way, it does flow properly and he's most definately the same kid he was the day he was born. it's all very weird. to keep life's larger questions from blowing my simple little mind, i continue to concoct baby mush in the magic bullet. this keeps me occupied and gives me the illusion of having control over something. this afternoon i steamed carrots and then bulleted them with garlic hummus. tonight i blended our leftovers again. it's sad that i have so much fun dishing out my experiments. it isn't even about nourishment or my neurotic need to feed anymore. it's all about my ego and getting positive feedback from this creature who is now my job. how's it taste, boss?
this is my friend pharida and her little girl sadie. pharida lives up the street from us and about two months after t2 was born, she came over to introduce herself. i loved that about her. i also loved that she was wearing yoga pants and a t shirt and didn't have a stitch of make up on was so completely comfortable with herself. i also loved that she brought coffee and chocolate. it was friends at first sight. there are days when we're each others salvation. many afternoons i cart t2 over to her house and plunk him down with sadie while pharida and i pop popcorn and gossip about people in our neighborhood and the people at the park. we meet at the swings and swap US weeklies and People magazines. very often we go out after the babies are asleep for drinks and plates of french fries. tonight, we're going to a movie. t2 is an amazing little creature. he's opened so many new doors for me - to family, to humor, to adulthood & responsibility. who knew he'd also bring so many awesome people into our lives? three cheers for little tay. there are some new pics posted from our trip east. check 'em
well, this is one way to do it. while t2's new method of transport may not be the most efficient means of getting around, it certainly is creative. so points for ingenuity kiddo. we had a great trip east and it's good to be home. t2's newfound mobility hasn't given me time to do much of anything except chase. god forbid i leave a door open - he bolts toward the light like a moth to a bug zapper. zzzzzzeeeeetyttt. i did, however, have time yesterday to give a take 2 to the magic bullet, the handy little chopping device that helped me create the healthful, delicious but not-so-much-a-hit salad slushee a few weeks back. i figure all this moving around means 2's burning more calories, right? i gotta keep fillin the tank so he can do fun new things like go searching for treasures in our trash can. this time i tried some fruit. cantaloupe and raspberries to be exact. throw them in and chop, chop, chop. a little watery. i'll add banana. bbblllleeeennnndd. still watery. maybe i'll add some cheerios. wwwwhhhhrrrrr. better, but still not quite right. so i open the cabinents in search of a thickening agent. sugar? no. corn starch. hhhmm. corn starch? no. maple syrup? honey? rice cereal. ah-ha. rice cereal! so i added it and blended and the result was a mixture as good as any bought in the store. except it tasted a little, um, off. i think it was the cheereos. i decided to chill it and try it anyway. later in the day, i chopped the remainder of my tofu dog, some of my mom's sweet pickles and a little mustard. and last night, i magic bulleted some stir fry leftovers. all of these goodies were waiting in the fridge for us today. this morning we tried the fruit mixture. t2 humored me for about 5 seconds and then decided it was horrid and splattered every bite i gave him. phewy. this evening, however -- oh, this evening was a different story! i heated the stir fry and dished it out. mmmmm. mmmmmmmmmmm. mmmoooommmm! this is delicious! it's lip smacking good! this is the most delicious dinner i've had yet! you're an amazing, wonderful, inventive cook and the best mother on the planet! he said all those things. really. because it was a success, i named the stir fry kitty b's amazing chop, chop, chopped suey fry. next up, tofu dog mash. seriously, folks. i may be on the way to my very own show on the food network. cooking for kids with kitty b.
all week i've been thinking where we were last year at this time. a year ago today, we arrived in santa monica and saddled up to our empty house. i think today's the day we also learned that our moving truck was 'off track' and all our worldy belongings would be here 2 weeks later than we thought. we had our car, our suitcases from our road trip across the country, two easter baskets, 2 sleeping bags, tayloe's golf clubs and for some reason, our vaccum cleaner. with that, we bought a cheap mattress and commenced operation camp-out house, in which tayloe and i spend 10 days at pacific st without a lick of comfort except before mentioned matress, a $20 tv from goodwill, 2 plates, 2 forks, 2 glasses and a bowl also from goodwill and 1 hotel towel. later in the week we bought a washer and dryer from michael london. also, i was 6 and a half months pregnant. i was trying to remember today if i really minded it (it sure seems like i should have), but i don't think i did. all i remember is feeling happy. when our moving truck finally did arrive, after two weeks of calling everyday and getting 1,000 different stories about where they were and when they'd be here, it was 7 p.m. the night before we were getting on a plane to go back to the east coast for the menokin bluegrass festival. my cell phone rang around 6:45 that night. i answered. on the other end: hey, yeah, mrs. emery? me: yes on the other end: well, it's us. the movers. and, uh, we're on your street and we're seein that there's a taco bell here on the corner. so we're gonna stop and get some tacos. ok? me: um. ok? (looking out the window and down the street and in fact seeing a moving truck parked outside the taco bell) on the other in: is that ok? you want somethin? seriously. he asked me if i wanted something. like, maybe, furniture? we loaded everything in this house, went to bed and left the next morning. we didn't touch a single box or unwrap a single piece of furniture. and i don't think we were really terribly fretted about it. how very zen of us. anyway, tayloe took this picture on our first night in california, which was before all that. we were somewhere near the california-arizona border in a motel parking lot. we'd been to sedona, to denver, ridden in a helicopter, driven through a snow & hail storm, stayed in a real western inn in durango, slept on the rim on the grand canyon, hiked around the pueblos in mesa verde. it was just us at our finest. it's been the most fun year, hasn't it tay? i'm the happiest i've ever been.
thank heavens for grandmothers. my mom got t2 this little suit. i call clothes like these proper clothes. i'd dress him in this little get up if tayloe were a pga champion and was in the lead on masters sunday. so what if sometimes i pretend i'm married to phil mickelson? it's allowed. today wasn't a special day like that - phil was nowhere near the lead and bought the farm on the first hole yesterday - but it was warm and that was reason enough to duddy up the baby. i had another gerbil day trying to figure out what all i need to do before we leave for virginia. this'll be t2's seventh trip across the country, which tayloe pointed out this morning is more than some people have in a lifetime. sometimes i wish he could remember this first year and all we've done together. he'd probably never ever want to go to utah again. i imagine he'd probably pester us daily to take him to mt. airy and greensboro, thinking it was as easy as getting on a plane and going there - the way i would always say "let's go to disneyworld!!" when i was 4 and my parents would ask me what i wanted to do on any given saturday.
if you're a mom of a little kid, maybe you're thinking about having another one. maybe you're about to have your first one, like my closest friend cathy, who is FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT and due Aug. 25 (let's everyone give a whoop, whoop for hip, hip Cathy Lipp here!!). maybe you're feeling brave - brave enough to try some kind of 'alternative' birth. like, say, a birth in water. first, screw your head back on, woman, and put down the hippy dippy tea. if you've done that and still think it sounds like a good idea, heed this advice: make sure you really, really like water. like it enough to spend 50 degree days sitting on the beach while your kid swims in the ocean, which is also 50 degrees. enough to go to the pool for no fewer than 6 hours a day in the summer (4 in winter). enough to say "sure, you can go swimming in that water fountain in your brand new sunday dress." enough to ride the log flume ride 35 consecutive times. because that's what your kid will want to do. she'll want to do all of that. possibly all of that in one day. meet my niece eliza jane. she was born in a pool. and look at her here - a fish out of water. we check her weekly for gills. mom and dad and eliza left this morning after a really awesome week, despite the fact that i had some kind of stomach crud a good part of the time. i'll see them in two short weeks at the bluegrass festival so that made saying goodbye a little bit easier. it's been a somewhat eventful week, i think. tayloe the dad made it home safely from africa and showered us all with great gifts from uganda and ghana. the week t2 and i spent without him was hard simply because we longed for his company and his jokes and his fill-the-room personality. i turned 32 last week and i cut my hair short. and even though i was asked back for a second interview at the yoga studio, i didn't get the job. i think the moment i started asking how many hours i could work at home a day, they scratched me off the list. so the universe answered - it would have made our lives very complicated, and i was fretting just thinking about how we'd make it work. i feel relieved. so we're back to normal for a few days until we shove off for the east coast for a week at the cottage in warsaw and the festival. if you're the prayin' type, please include a warm sunny day in virginia on april 21 on your list of requests. amen.
Heading home. Long trip but the last part in Uganda was incredible when we visted the Queen Elizabeth Game Reserve. Miss you guys...be home soon. XXOO JTE
