Up! Up! Up!

Fiona’s new favorite word is “up!” She even says the ‘p’ at the end. Whenever she wants to be picked up, she says “up.”

It’s been a really busy week for us here in Fi-Land. John was in San Francisco for two days and Fiona and I were left alone to our own devices, so we went to a park where we went down the slide about 20 times. Fiona can walk up stairs now (rather than crawling) so she can get to the top of the slide by herself. She can sit down and get herself onto the slide without any help, so I thought I could just stand at the bottom and catch her. But nooooo, Fiona had other plans...she wanted me to go down the slide next to her, at the same time. So I did. A lot. Sometimes holding hands, sometimes not. I’m sure it would have made a really cute photo or video if anyone had been around to notice.

We went to a park on Friday too, to meet up with my friends Ali (mother of adorable little Madelyn), Katie (mother of Fiona’s infant twin, Abigail), and the guest of honor Janice (mother of Liam and Emma, who look just like their dad, and who moved away before Fiona was born). We had a great time. Liam is 2 1/2 years old and loves playing in the playground, and Fiona loves playing too, so it was fun to watch them explore and climb. Speaking of the playground, it was perfect for Fiona! Just the right size so she was able to walk up all the stairs, there were lots of protective bars so I didn’t have to follow her, and the bottom of the slides was close enough to the ground so I didn’t have to catch her because she was able to stand up and walk away on her own. Of course she demanded I join her, so I slid down on the slide next to her (a lot of parks have double slides). Fiona also enjoyed the see-saw and the swings. Here are some photos of what happens when two huggers meet:

Yes, it looks like Fiona is hug-attacking Liam, but in reality both kids were hugging each other. They would fall to the ground, dust off, and go at it again. Liam even gave Fiona a kiss and she smiled at him. First love? This is the first time, other than with Caz, that Fiona has hugged another child and the child didn’t run away crying. I guess she just has to stick with older men.

Speaking of things, she is now into the loud shrieking mode when she gets excited. I think sometimes windows are going to shatter. So far none have, but I can only imagine how much worse it will get when she is older. She is so immitative with her speech right now. She repeats practically everything we say. We really have to watch it now. Luckily, she is still really good about following directions and doing things when we tell her, even if it means leaving the room to retrieve something or to give something to someone else. And she is a GREAT laundry helper. We are really encouraging her so that when she realizes that she doesn’t actually have to help us, she will do it anyway because of the positive associations.

We bought Fiona new shoes this weekend because she outgrew her old shoes. They kept popping open and finally one day I checked her foot and realized the shoe was opening because it was too small for her foot! Poor baby! She only mildly complained but I attributed it to other causes. Bad Mommy moment #605.

We are trying to teach Fiona to wash her hands and brush her teeth at the sink in the bathroom as opposed to the kitchen, where she likes to play with the spray. I started while John was away. Here she is with John after her returned home:

She already knows how to dry her hands, so that was an easy step. She was running around naked because it was hot and she has a little diaper rash so we wanted to air things out a little. The socks are on because she was also running around the house in her new shoes.

That was yesterday. Fiona didn’t nap and eventually fell asleep in the car while running errands. It was long day. We all had bags under our eyes at the end of it, and took a walk around the neighborhood at 5pm just to get some fresh air.

Today, she refused to nap again. Or more correctly, she fell asleep in the car on the way home from an early morning errand and then wouldn’t go back to sleep when we got home. But today was easier because we had a plan! We threw some things into a bag, put Fiona in the car, and drove to Malibu. She slept the whole time and I saw dolphins. We turned around before we got to Santa Monica, and drove back up the coast. Fiona woke up around Zuma Beach, so we stopped for lunch at a nice place called Spruzzo. They were very friendly and attentive and the food came out really fast. I was afraid they would not be child friendly, but was pleasantly surprised that they were not only child friendly, but also dog friendly. The restaurant has a large outdoor dining area and there were many tables with dogs, some that Fiona even petted! After lunch, we continued north and stopped at a beach we spied on the way down. It was a total coup!

First, I don’t know if this beach has a name. It was small, but very sandy, with rocks and outcroppings close to shore. There were not many people despite the fact that it was a weekend and 80 degrees. There was a steep staircase to get down, but it was in good condition. There were LOTS of rocks with life on them. We saw mussels, goose barnacles, regular barnacles, limpets, turret shells, various anemones, and lots and lots of sea stars of various shapes and colors (although still mostly purple and orange). We were able to walk right up to a lot of the rocks that had the wildlife. I felt like I was reading Fiona’s tide pool book because they were all there, except not in pools. Fiona couldn’t stay out of the water and made friends with more dogs while playing with their ball. It was so fun and we were all tired after only a couple of hours.

We came home and John took Fiona out back to play while I made dinner in my brand new 12 inch stainless steel skillet.

She LOVES the bubbles! They are hidden in a bench and she knows where they are and tries to get at them.

You will have to pardon the picture quality. I am using John’s old old camera, the first digital camera I bought him, and the video function is not great. Also, the camera is really slow. I need to get the other cameras fixed soon or I may go crazy.

All in all, today was a real Southern California day. It began with seeing a dog wearing sunglasses in a 1950’s Buick, continued with dolphins and lunch, the beach, the sunny weather, flying go-carts (no idea what these are called, but that is what they look like, little go carts with wings, flying over the highway very slowly), and at the end, bubbles and dinner.

Fiona is fast asleep and I need a shower badly. I hope everyone has a good week and I am so sorry to Miriam and Reg and Grandpa Don for missing our Skype date. I can’t wait to chat next week!

Good night!