zoo!

today bebe and i went to the zoo with jonathan. our local zoo is almost literally in our backyard (it's in the park that is at the end of our street), but we'd never been before today. it was a gorgeous day and we had so much fun!

shoot, i forget what this bird is, but bebe thought it was pretty cool.

the franklin park zoo has a great gorilla enclosure. a few years ago one of the males, "little joe," escaped and roamed the streets, attacking several people before he was recaptured. they've since made some major modifications to their security.

bebe, look at the big monkey!
"ooh-ooh!"

she liked the ring-tailed lemurs too.

but she couldn't get enough of the gorillas.

while we were walking up to the lion enclosure, we heard him roaring. it was loud!!! by the time we got there, though, he had fallen asleep in the sun.

he didn't look very intimidating.

bebe was less than impressed. "i could see this at home. tiny suns his tuft all the time."

she checked out some goats at the petting zoo

and then we had some lunch.

we took a ride on the carousel, which bebe kept pointing at excitedly every time we walked past. we tried sitting her on one of the ponies that went up and down, but that didn't go over too well. she was much happier snuggled in the carrier against her mama.

after that, it was time to get home for a nap. bebe was so tired, she fell asleep instantly. i wonder if she's dreaming of lions.

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fun at the aunties'

this was the scene earlier today at kate and alden's place:


two aunties, three kids, and two dogs. alden's sister was visiting with her three-year-old daughter taya and her sixteen-month-old son timmy. bebe and i came over to play and we had a blast!

taya and bebe fell in L-U-V.

beebs lounged around,

said hi to the dogs,

said hi to timmy,

and colored.

for the very first time!

she kept reaching her arms out to taya for more hugs. taya happily obliged.

they sat together on the couch for a long time. bebe was thrilled to be hanging with the big girl, and taya was incredibly sweet and gentle with her.

auntie kate got some snuggles in before we left.

kate and alden are glowing with newlywedded bliss. we are happy they are back home and especially happy that they live so close to us!

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girl's best friend

on friday night we drove out to mems' and teed's house. there was a really bad rain storm; we pulled over and waited it out at the charlton rest stop.

waiting...

still waiting...



on saturday, ramona was finally able to appreciate the benefits of having a little kid in the family.

chilling at the mansion

my best friend and her son are in town visiting family. last night, we went to visit them at her brother's place -- he and some friends are renting a really sweet mansion in dorchester. it is beautiful.

kate and jack on the porch.

jack is one of my favorite kids on the planet.

he and beebs played some games on the enormous lawn.

bebe heard a train.

and she played a game of catch with jack's uncle sam.

action shots:

we had so much fun, and we can't wait until october when jack and kate live close to us!!!

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aliases

don't let the names confuse you. although she is sometimes known as

fussy gussy
sweaty betty
busy lizzie
snoozie kabloozie
thirsty lursty
and
dirty gertie,

she is always

and forever

our bebe marie.

at the beach: attachment and independence

yesterday bebe and i drove up to new hampshire to visit with an old high school friend of mine, who had escaped the heat of NYC to spend the week at her parents' beach house (and good timing for her, since she is six months pregnant!). it took us an hour and a half to get there, and i was amazed that bebe managed to make it through basically the entire trip without complaining about being stuck in her car seat. now that she's dropped down to one nap, i can no longer plan day trips so that she'll sleep on both legs of the journey, and i was nervous about how she'd tolerate the drive. when we went to the cape over the weekend, josh sat in the back to entertain her, but yesterday she was on her own. i packed an entire bag full of books, kept it next to me in the front seat, and handed them to her one at a time for the whole trip. she was happy as a clam, counting, making animal noises (i am trying to get her "meeeeee-OWWWWW" on video but so far no luck), and naming everything she could: ball, dog, cat, truck, apple, banana, baby, mama, daddy (one of the books was a photo album of her birth and infancy).

after we arrived, and spent some time admiring meredith's belly and visiting with her mother's dog, we walked across the street to the beach. meredith and i sat on a towel and talked while bebe played in the sand. it was low tide so there was a long expanse of beach for her to explore.

she was particularly interested in a big pool of water that had formed near where we were sitting.

i was watching her enough to be sure that she wasn't toddling straight into the ocean, but i didn't have my eye on her every second. at one point we looked up to see that she had made some friends.

and they kept coming

and coming.

they shared their toys with her, made sand castles for her to destroy, and let her splash them with the water. every so often she would stand up and run over to where i was sitting (yes, i said run, she runs now). she'd put her hand on my knee, i'd say "hi, bunny," and she'd turn around and head right back to the pool and the big kids.

it made me so happy. my goal as a parent is to raise a child who is independent and unafraid of exploring the world around her, and who is able to be so because she is secure in her attachment to me, because she knows that i will be right there waiting for her whenever she needs me. this moment was such wonderful confirmation that, at least for now, we are getting it right.

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