Sleeping Off a Big Memorial Day

Louise Meets Miranda July

On our way to the new playground in Union Square park we happened upon an outdoor installation of Miranda July's interactive sculptures and Ms. July herself. As a fan of her short stories and art/performance/video, I was a little star-struck.

She and her media entourage thought Louise was really cute, especially when she perched herself atop the works and mugged for the cameras.

Cousins!

Louise got the rare chance to lunch with her two best cousins last week in Boston. Addie, who's almost 3 and Lila who's just three and a half months older than Louise are the main characters we talk to on our pretend phones and talk about when we're heading north for a visit. What a lucky girl!

As you can tell these girls were a silly squirming troika of love, nearly impossible to wrangle into form.

Union Square Sandbox

Nearly Healed and Ready for Yoga

As soon as I roll out my yoga mat Louise starts flipping around and standing on her head. I think we can take that as a sign that she's feeling like her old self again.

Hot City

Swinging in the Shady Suburbs

Wounded in Action

I'm almost too ashamed to show you these pictures... The terrible/horrible/sick-inducing injury that is warned about in all the parenting handbooks happened to Louise.

By just glancing away for a minute in a room that contained both our bouncing baby girl and a scalding hot thermos mug of green tea, there was time enough for Louise to curiously tip the cup and its molten contents onto her face. Luckily, it's only a superficial burn but the hours after the accident were the saddest I've ever seen. In pain and without the words (or profanities) to describe her feelings, Louise stomped her feet in a running motion and shook her head "No! No! No!" It was awful. Needless to say, the last few days at the playground have made me feel like a bad parent. I've been explaining to passing strangers about hot tea... and how it happened in a second... and that's why she's wearing a raccoon mask of sun block and Neosporin.

The good news is that nothing keeps Louise down. In spite of the stares and finger pointing she's been playing with her usual gusto at the playground, raccoon mask and all.

Weeze's First Haircut

Perhaps my cute new do will distract the viewer from

this disgusting ketchup stain on my sweater.

Watching the Celtics at our local

Keepsake

"I said playground not haircut!"

Yup, we did it. Finally, after 15 months it was time to lop off the bangs

that went down to Louise's chin. Now she can see.

Peering Into the Future

Big Dreams

MoMA and ELmO

Louise and I went to MoMA the other day to catch a slew of incredible exhibits. First she ran around the outdoor sculpture garden touching all the "DO NOT TOUCH" sculptures then she buzzed around the galleries and became quite mesmerized by the William Kentridge films and finally she spit up her lunch on me in a gallery of subtle abstract works. Clearly Louise feels like her mom, that there is only so much visual stimulation one can digest in a day.

We finished off the day with a picture of a street corner Elmo who inhabited an entirely different realm of performance art. The kind where dollar tips go into a furry "Feed Elmo" bag.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Louise ran wild at the BBG yesterday, exploring leaves and picking grass and running full force into more than a few prickly holly bushes. It was like watching an animal raised in captivity return to the wild. As soon as I let her out of the stroller she zoomed off and set to work climbing rocks, using sticks as tools, collecting vegetation, and even made friends with the natives. Getting her back into the stroller was more of a struggle.

And I wasn't alone. Throughout the garden parents were plying their stray cubs with promises of ice cream and lemonade. This whole ice cream= reward thing has become dangerously convenient, especially since it's one of about 4 foods Louise will actually eat.

Flashback: Look at the photo of Louise at the BBG last spring. She was about 3 months old. What a squirmer!

Grand st. Playground, 9 am

Escape to New York

It feels like we've been on the go for the last couple of months. This weekend though, we stayed in New York for a Kentucky Derby party and some lovely brunches with friends. It was not our intention however, to be in NYC for the 95 degree weather (without fans!) and an attempted bombing in Times Sq. (luckily it did not detonate).

Never a dull moment.