Did someone say cheese?

It won't shock anyone who knows me and Jason that one of Rosemary's favorite words is "cheese," which she uses appropriately when either the cheese the food or a camera is anywhere in her sightline. It's cute, but the funny flip side is that it's suddenly kind of impossible to get a genuine, unposed smile. So it goes! I guess that's all part of the transformation from babe to kid. 

Daffodiliac

Another flower video, I know, I know, I'm repeating material. But after all, it's springtime, FI-nally. A cause for celebration if ever there was, even if it is still chilly-chilly here. Spring takes longer coming to NY than it does in the Pacific Northwest (and elsewhere), so daffodils always appear in droves in the grocery store before they show up anywhere outdoors. I love them and although I sometimes go the rest of the year without buying flowers, I almost always buy bunch after bunch of daffodils for a few weeks right around now. Maybe it's just to tide me over until things start blooming, which they are just doing now. The little purple and yellow crocuses are open, daffodils are about 5 inches high, and I saw buds on our neighbor's lilac bush.      

Rosie is big into smelling things these days. (At the grocery store today she rode around in the cart sniffing a loaf of bread for longer and with more enthusiasm than seemed totally normal, which was a-ok since it kept her occupied in between crumpling up the grocery list and shaking the can of coffee beans like a giant maraca). These flowers aren't particularly fragrant but she still gave them a noble sniff. I'm looking forward to introducing her to lilacs - now, those are the big guns.

In Which Our 9-Mile-Long Hallway Finally Serves A Purpose

Rosemary's behind the curve when it comes to walking (which is fine by us, no complaints!) but she does love to roam around with her little wagon, which was a fab birthday present from her Grandma and Granddad.

 

A Light Obsession

Like most other 14-month-old kids, Rosie has become can't-keep-her-mitts-off-it fascinated by most things grown-ups use. She went on the internets for 10 minutes today using my cell phone and I had to call Verizon and ask them to remove the charge. (They obliged, since I've never used it to go on the web before, and then helpfully locked that feature.) The only way I can get my cell phone away from her is to offer her my wallet instead. She loves the volume control on the stereo, remote controls, the refrigerator, and...(yes, this video is supposed to be dark, and yes, that is our microwave beeping in the background for posterity)...

 

...the dimmer switch in her bedroom. She greets it like an old, dear friend every time we go in there and by now has learned how to lean far to the left to get at it without nearly tumbling off the changing table into the diaper pail. This was between bath and bedtime tonight.

Baby on Beach

Well, THAT was nice! We spent a terrific week down in the Yucatan Peninsula, near Tulum, with Jason's family and, wow, is it gorgeous down there. Most mornings we relaxed at our beach house, which was on pretty Soliman Bay about 20 minutes north of Tulum, and then ventured out and about in the afternoons when the babies were up from their naps. We spent a lot of time relaxing on Tulum's long, pretty beach and visited the Mayan ruins that are right there overlooking the ocean. Rosemary (aka "Osie" as Dash calls her) had a lot of personal highlights, including guacamole with every meal, salsa music, beach doggies, climbing the stairs in the house (and pausing to look at the peacock stained glass hanging in the stairwell window), the very warm swimming pool, and most of all, of course, hanging out with her cousins Elijah and Dash. Oh, and she also liked pointing out the crescent moon design in a hanging lamp and the real thing outside (the "booo" - she doesn't quite say her m's and n's yet, really, though she does like to hum).

There are many more pix on picasa, including some really pretty ones of Jason's and my snorkel trip to Gran Cenote, one of the most beautiful of the area's many, many limestone freshwater caves. Or so I'm told - we kept it simple and didn't do any diving or other kidless adventures this trip, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I think we chose well. It was breathtaking and tranquil - a pond in the middle of the jungle with a big, dark cave with bats and birds flying around, tiny fishies swimming near the water's surface of the water, and sunbeams shining down through the trees.