With Grandma Janet and Grandpa Ed, Eole proved to be her daddy’s girl by showing a love for the dog that only he can match. Chickens and cows were OK, but “Puppy” merited the loudest and longest squeals (comforting to know she wasn’t permanently scarred by the London dog experience after all). She also enjoyed gumming all the pea pods and picking strawberries. Eole was thrilled to finally meet her Uncle Stew. As many of you may know, Stew is so highly regarded in our family that we considered naming our baby Stewartina. But then we thought she might follow in his footsteps and settle for the inferior Ivy school: Harvard. It was so fun to play with all the cousins. Eole especially loved being fussed over by Elizabeth, Russell, and she even got some curious glances from James.

Zion and Moab

We had a wonderful time with Nana Anne and Papa Dave down in Zion’s National Park and Moab. Eole proved once again that she is more Dan’s family than mine with her refined and adventurous taste in food. She fell in love with pickles at Zion’s, and was furious, absolutely furious, when we had to leave the flaccid remains of pickle behind. At Moab Nana Anne fed her small crumbs of ginger pancake. But this was not enough for our dainty little girl as she reached her baby hand out and grabbed a large fistful of pancake to stuff in her mouth. She loved being outdoors and squealed with delight at any morbidly obese squirrels who waddled after us. And of course, she particularly relished tasting the Southern Utah red dirt.

lewis and clark

Never mind that it has been a few months since my last post. I figured you would all rather see us than read about us, and we had a lovely time seeing many of you on our Utah trip. So much has happened for Eole in the meantime, and I’m glad many of you got to witness it. I felt like Eole really leaped forward (and not just with that worm crawl) in her progress while in Utah. Here are some highlights: As far as her motor skills, little Oca mastered what it has taken mommy 30 years to master: yoga plank position and down-ward dog. This was a really big step in what I hope (only sorta because I don’t own any baby gates yet) will be real crawling. Papa Dave taught Eole how to waive within a day of our arrival. Eole also daily demonstrated her pincher (pointer finger and thumb grasp) abilities. We saw so much of these little exploratory digits going out for adventures that Nana Anne named them Lewis and Clark.

the horseman known as Zorro

Do you know what I like about my husband? Many things. Here is one in particular: the really strange way out there never heard of before movies that he loves and makes me watch. I'll admit, I fall asleep mid-way through most. But he recently introduced me to a gem, Zorro: The Gay Blade. If you have never heard of this before, don't feel bad as it took Netflix three months to ship it to us. This is the fantastic tale of Don Diego's twin sons taking up their deceased father's mask of Zorro. One son sticks with the traditional black costume while the other- how shall we say- more flamboyant son goes with plum, avocado and gold colored costumes replete with feathers and beads. "Two pence, four pence, six pence, a peso. All for Zorro stand up and say so!"

World Traveler

Apologies for our lack of blogging in the past month! As many of you know, we went to England with Grandma Janet and Grandpa Ed in April. We would never bore you with all the delightful details, but want to share some highlights from our trip:

Eole and Daddy loved standing on the Prime Meridian line at Greenwich. Mommy took Daddy and Eole to one of her favorite places: the Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park. However, Mommy and Daddy took precautions to hold on tight to Eole's stroller and to NOT talk about all the grand things she would become when she grows up so that she wouldn't run away with the fairies to Never, Never Land. Mommy and Daddy loved all the tasty pub food, even though some of it even resembled Eole's mushy peas. Speaking of peas, we took a break from the commotion of the city to rest on the grass of Kensington Gardens. Eole was enjoying some mushy peas when a curious golden retriever came trotting up and licked the pea mush off her face. While Eole thought this whole affair terrifying, Mommy and Daddy had a good laugh. Mommy took Eole and Daddy to Hamleys, the greatest toy store on earth. Daddy may have even
had more fun in the toy store than Eole. And finally, we mustn't leave out the episode where our baby girl showed a new skill. We were riding on the busy tube line at rush hour with Eole sitting on Daddy's lap. Daddy was busy talking with Mommy, and so neither one noticed when Eole reached her little fingers into the pocket of a man standing nearby. The man, believing that he was being pick-pocketed (as indeed he was) whirled around to confront his tiny nemesis and we all started
laughing when we saw the guilty Eole with a fist full of papers from the man's pocket. All in all, we had a delightful time.

not abandoned...

I realize that the last few pictures and video clips have all featured Eole on the playmat. In case you think I carelessly abandon my baby to live out her days on the mat, I have posted the below clip to prove you wrong: I also abandon my baby to her bouncy seat. I figure since we've been slow at learning to crawl, maybe we should just go ahead and get a head start on walking, right? So bouncy seat it is. She has recently discovered the beloved turtle on the bouncy seat. Let the below clip be a warning to all you bald turtles, or bald turtle-looking folks. You might want to stay clear of our baby girl for a while.

scooting along

I received some concerned emails and messages about Eole's delayed motor skills, so I am happy to report that we are finally begining to chug along. While we are still not really great at rolling from our tummy to our back, we have, in one short week, become a pro, or at least a semi-pro, at rolling from our back to our tummy. And while we aren't attempting to crawl on our hands and knees, we are very good at scooting around on our back. In fact, a couple of times now I have put Eole on her playmat and only mintues later, I find that she has scooted off the mat and under one of our rocking chairs (see clip below). I'm not sure what fascinates her about this secret world of "underchair." Is it the fact that Mommy and Daddy are forbidden access? Is she now considering a career working under car chassis?