Down Memory Lane.

I happened upon this old video of Luca, at about 18-19 months old. Ignore the mess in the background and focus on how damn cute she was, please.

Same Baby, New Tricks

A video from our vacation. Our favorite is 'the monster':

I Edited This Title.

*Note: This post used to be titled differently, until I got sick of all the random blog hits I got from questions about women and whether or not they are able to whistle.*

I had a funny experience today. I'm widely recognized in my office (ok, as widely as you can be in an office of 5) as 'The Human iPod' because, essentially, I annoy the crap out of co-workers by humming and singing everything from oldies to lullabies to current Top 40s to my favorites (Dylan, Grateful Dead, etc.). ALL DAY LONG. So, it should come as no surprise that I bust out the ocassional whistle as well.

Or, should it?

I was in my office today, amusing myself with a little bit of 'If You're Happy and You Know It', whistled as I worked. My office is at one end of the hall, and at the other end is one of my fabulous co-workers, who moved to the U.S. in the 90s from Jordan. English is his 2nd (perhaps 3rd?) language, so things like our other co-worker's catchphrases ("Goad a sleeping bear", "Bird-dog it.") sometimes have to be explained in layman's terms. One day, he even came into my office with a peach yogurt, and told me it was "Peach for the peachy." Upon further exploration of this statement, I realized he was complimenting my typically sunny demeanor (here is where my husband laughs his ass off).

So you can see why, when I walked by his office whistling merrily, his comment may have taken me off guard. For, when I heard him say to me, "You whistle like a man, Katie.", my first thought was "Well, clearly he didn't mean that."

I stopped abruptly, pivoted on one foot, and said, "I whistle like a what?". He repeated his statement, and I stood there, still and unsure what to say next. Did I ask for clarification? Smile and keep walking? Pretend to understand?

Just then, my other co-worker, another girl, piped in, "I can't whistle at all. You're really quite good."

"Yes," assured Mr. Jordan, "that is what I meant. Everytime you start to whistle I think it is insert name of other male co-worker, but then I realize it is you. Most women do not whistle so well. You whistle like a man."

Huh. I was still not sure how to take this piece of...news?...so I just started to laugh. I suppose maybe that sort of behavior earned me the peachy moniker. Mr. J then assured me that it was a compiment, a good thing indeed that a woman should whistle like a man, for most women, it seems, cannot whistle much at all.

Later, insert name of other male co-worker here came into my office and handed me a sticky note. "Google this man." he said. And google I did. It seems I was now being compared to Ron McCroby, a famous jazz whistler. Observe, and then nod your head and smile, pretenging all along that I could possibly be anywhere NEAR as happening as this cool cat ::snap, snap::



:::jazz hands:::

Weekend Cuteness

Couch Climber

I am so screwed. She's not walking yet, but she IS figuring out how to get on the couch. And, once there, how to do this:



I also caught it on video because, apparently, thumping your head on the wall is just as much fun as sitting on the back of the couch:



After climbing down from the back of the couch, Luca and her BFF Piggy spent some time hanging out. Luca is very into putting things on her head these days. She found her bunny ears and was trying to put them on her head.

Baby Ironman.

Luca is walking!!!

Ok, sorta. She is SO close to being able to get up from a seated position to a standing one on her own...and I DO mean without even holding a couch or a hand. She starts out sitting, then kneels, then props one leg up, but the balance isn't there yet. In the meantime, she's practicing walking with some assistance. My longtime friend and her daughter bought her a pink exercauser for my baby shower way back when, and I almost died when I opened it.

Those of you who know me well know that pink is, uh....not my color? But the cool thing about this particular exercauser is that the 'toy ring' and seat come off, and you're left with a walker. We took the ring off a few weeks ago because she was getting too tall for it and it wasn't keeping her attention anymore. Ok, truth be told, it never kept her attention for long anyhow. That's my ADD baby for you. Anyhow, Darrick took off the ring and seat, leaving it in walker mode, but Luca had zero interest in it. I am learning one thing about her for certain: Luca does things when Luca is damn well ready to do them.

Well, 2 nights ago, she decided she was damn well ready. And of course I had to capture it on my digital camera in video mode.

Here's the funny part: the Ironman in happening this weekend in Tempe, and this video totally makes me think of triathalons. Her triathalon events would be: The Assisted Walk, The Crazy Crawl, and the Weighted Stair Climb (Thanks, Kellie, for naming the events for her!). Enjoy the video. It's kind of on the long side, but I think she's cute enough to make watching the whole thing worth your time.

Crazy Crawler.

Hey Baby and the German Tourist, Take II

Let's try this video again:



the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4GwKJgU7KU

Wheezy.

In Luca's short life, she has had numerous nicknames. She started out as Schnitz, so named after what my husband *thought* he saw in her first ultrasound pictures. I'm starting to wonder whether we should request a refund for his Lasik surgery....

When she was a newborn, and very skinny, I called her Birdie or My Little Bird. She has since owned a variety of nicknames, including: Bear, Bear-Bear, Muffin, Muffin Head, Puppy, Kid, Lu, Lu-Lu, Lu-Lu Belle, Luca Belle, Luella, Luella Deville, Pooper, Sprout, KidSpree, Bubba, Bubbs, Bubba-Lu, and the ever-creative Baby.

Clearly, I need a hobby....

Her latest nickname, however, I can justify. Anyone who's had the pleasure of seeing Luca in a good mood in person has probably heard the wheeze to which she owes the moniker Wheezy. And if you have not...you really need to watch this video of my kid. As an added bonus, you'll also hear her say "Da" and "Da da", which is so cute it might just smother you in preciousness.