Draw-ring

Yesterday Rosemary drew her first rudimentary head, but it was on her doodle board thing so I came running over with the camera just in time to see it vanish. Quick draw, quick erase. Today I filmed this. Rough transcript goes something like this: "Eyes, and a head...all clean! That's a hippopotamus head...[something I now can't understand]...eating an apricot!"

And yeah, that thing she's wearing is a sleep sack, which she still sleeps in. It is getting hard to find her size now, believe me. Also, she likes to lounge around in them for way too long after she gets up. I do not know when we will break this habit. I fear we may have to move onto Snuggie: The Blanket With Sleeves (TM) soon. Her first slumber party will be a rude awakening.

More Kid Logic

Another conversation. Hope I'm not boring anyone to tears with these.

Me: What's a utensil Can you name a utensil?
R: A fork...a spoon
Me: And what do Daddy and Mommy have that you never do?
R: Salad!

Cracking Jokes

I don't know if this story will translate, but hey, I'll give it a try. On Memorial Day we were driving across the Brooklyn Bridge as I was picking up my voicemail messages. I announced that I got a message from Paco - a dear friend who Rosemary has a particular fondness for. At the same moment Jason was asking Rosemary if she knew what bridge we were on. She said, "Brooklyn Bridge!" And then, hearing my announcement about Paco, she revised it and said, "the Paco Bridge!"

Then the other day, three weeks later, we drove across the bridge again. She piped up from the backseat, "The Paco Bridge!" I was surprised she remembered her joke (if you can call it that).

Then the other day during lunch she said, "Choo choo!" to Jason. He said, "Choo choo what?" And she said, "Chew chew your food!" It was like a protean knock knock joke.

Last thing: she was getting ready for dessert. Jason asked her if she wanted a big scoop of ice cream or a little scoop of ice cream. She said, with certainty, "A BIG scoop of ice cream." Thought-heavy pause. "And a little one on the side."

Two conversations from this morning

Two conversations from this morning.

First thing:
Me: Did you call me?
R: Yeah, I couldn't find the way out.
Me: The way out?
R: The door in the crib. I couldn't find it.

A little later:
Me: You woke up early today, huh?
R: Yeah.
Me: What woke you up?
R: Donkeys.

Summer School

Just when most kids are ready to stop thinking about school, Rosemary (and lots of her 2-year-old peers) are getting totally psyched. We had R's preschool orientation a few weeks ago, which consisted of a big group playdate with the teachers while parents were in a meeting in the other room. R was intermittently totally cool with this set up - playing happily without us or talking to her new teacher - but most of the time one parent was in the meeting while the other was in the classroom or hovering at the door in between. I think R found it equal parts fun and scary and is now fully obsessed.

It's interesting to see what "school" consists of. Mostly singing in organized rows, it seems.

A Few Scattered Thoughts on Last Few Months. And Tomorrow

I get so focused on reporting what we did I usually forget to say what Rosemary said about it at the time. Or the other little day to day things. I've got to remember to do that more often since you know, kids they say the darndest things, and if I don't write it down well then it is gone forever. I tried to use this blog to look up when Rosemary started using simple sentences -- her preschool's asking -- and I really couldn't remember.

From long ago: Last March when we were visiting friends in Seattle, I overheard Rosemary ask her first proper question -- to a dog, Jessie. She said, "Do you know your ABCs, dog? Do you know them?" Jessie is a dignified creature and did not answer. Now she is full of questions -- not to mention many answers. The answer to any question these days is usually "chocolate."

Of course R is as unique as a snowflake but she's into some things that are pretty much textbook 2-year-old girl: handbags, stuffed full of misc items. She gets super frustrated when she can't zip it shut. Often takes a stuffed "friend" of some sort with her but doesn't have a super duper favorite lovey. Except Ba, who she sleeps with (draped over her head) but doesn't bother taking out of the house. These friends seems to have weak constitutions as they are often "sick" and require medical attention, usually in the form of a doctor's visit ending with a dose of tylenol. Other big pretend games right now: cooking, going to the store.

Favorite books: Gruffalo, Hush Little Baby -- each renewed about 20 times from the library. Museum Shapes (Met Museum kids' book) is another favorite. Thanks to that book she has gotten pretty good at all the basics, but weirdly her favorite one -- and the first she was quick to recognize out in the world -- is the arch. I guess is totally legit shape although it seems like kind of a secondary one. (Of course it is a Met Museum book so there are lots of palazzo arches in art history.) Frog and Toad books and Little Bear books are other favorites.

This impressed me: A couple of weeks ago I said to Rosemary that I'd like to brush her teeth before her bath rather than after, so we would get it over with and wouldn't have to worry about it later. She looked at me and said, "Like Toad." I was pretty impressed, since she was talking about the Frog and Toad story "Tomorrow." We'd read it a few days before. Toad wakes up in a crappy mood, wanting to stay cozy in bed but thinking about how his house is a mess and how tomorrow will be all ruined because he'll have to spend the whole day cleaning up. Frog suggests he clean it today so he can enjoy tomorrow.

The last few days if I ask her to stop doing something mischievous - say, messing with stuff on the counter she knows she's not supposed to have, like my camera case -- she will look at me and say, "No, I'm just PRETEND opening the camera case." "Pretend" is said with a small, defiant jut of the chin. And the 40 three-second videos she's about to take with the camera. Are those pretend too? Hmmm.

Weekend in Maryland

We spent a wonderful Fathers Day Weekend in Bethesda with my folks. Even saddled with a full-blown yucko cold, Rosemary was still beside herself excited to get down to see Granddad and Grandma Ancy (still no "N" on Nancy -- not sure why, since she can certainly say it). We drove down after dinner on Thursday. Rosie fell asleep on the NJ turnpike and slept until we turned off onto the side street in their neighborhood, when we heard a small voice pipe up from the backseat, "Which is their house?" When we got inside, she was still wide-eyed and full of observations, including my favorite line of the night: "We could eat those peanuts" (This about a bowl of cashews sitting all the way across the room in the dark on the kitchen counter -- how did she even see them?)

On Saturday we went to a wonderful farm market out...somewhere...in Maryland, I think. I really wasn't paying attention, but it was a great destination -- good fruit and veggies, and friendly (aka hungry) goats to feed:

Here's R making hickory nut stew with Grandma. You know, every time we go down there I remind myself to take lots of pictures, because I never do. And again, it happened again! No pics of our visit from Paco for pizza night on Friday or our trip down to Glen Echo creek on Sunday. I think my mom got some, so maybe I can add those later.

Raw Food Movement

I thought corn didn't get knee-high to an elephant's eye for a few weeks yet, but I guess it does down a bit further south. We went to DC this weekend and visited a big farm stand there - pix forthcoming. Back at home, Rosemary nabbed this ear of corn off the counter before I could steam it up for her. I never got it back.

On a related note, a few times in the past few days she has said -- with gusto, as she takes a bite or a drink of milk, "MmmmMMM! Yeah. Tha's I talking 'bout." Who taught her that?

Pier 6 Cometh!

We've been hearing about the imminent arrival of Pier 6 for awhile, but it was only recently that I first heard the terms "slide mountain" and "swing valley" and some talk about there being water features. Well, I just had NO idea. This place is cataclysmically life changing -- in a good way! It's about a 5 minute walk from our house. No, seriously.

We visited yesterday for the first time. It was a mob scene but somehow that only made it better -- I think it was because the kids were having so much fun and the parents were wandering around dazed with cuckoo grins on their faces. No one could believe this place is for real and for keeps. And free. The only thing that could have made it better was if they'd been passing out lobster rolls, which is apparently exactly what they did at the ribbon cutting the day before.

Jason and Rosemary making their way down slide mountain:

Water! Like I said, I hadn't fully understood how MUCH water there would be, hence no bathing suit. Or no modern day bathing suit. It kind of looks like she's got on an old school swimming costume.

Video of watery fun, only so-so quality.

Then as if all that weren't enough, there's a ferry from Pier 6 to Governors Island. We took the ferry over for a picnic and some art. The Children's Museum has a cool set up over there with a bunch of art stations.

Memorial Day in the Berkshires

We spent Memorial Day weekend with Jason's parents in the Berkshires. The pictures below pretty well document what we did, short of visiting the farmer's market on Saturday.

R running around under what she rather creatively called the "Rainbow Finger" -- a spout of water coming from the hose:

Contemplating the wading pool:

Hanging out in it:

Rocking Grandmama to sleep in the hammock:

Planting and tending to the herb garden:

At the BBG

Hanging out on a steamy late spring day near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's koi & turtle pond with Henry and Leo. Why do you suppose it is Botanic and not Botanical? Foxglove was all the rage, and the roses were awfully pretty too. There were some crazy flowers that looked like fireworks, I think maybe oversized members of the allium fam. And on our way in R and I spotted a fluffy little bunny!