FIRST LOVE

Let us all witness my daughters first true love......(notice the 'romantic' sepia-tone image).

Meet, Eduardo. A handsome Latin-American devil from the small town of 'Babio Einsteino Del Play-matteo'. My daughter has been captivated by his roguish primary-colored visage ever since her eyesight extended out past twelve inches. No matter what other blinking and singing plastic baby-soother was nearby, she would just stare intently and smile charmingly at Eduardo - kicking and drooling like most young girls in do in the first stages of love. He is so beloved that he travels with us now, attached to her car seat as a constant companion. I often look back at her when driving to find her staring at him as if to say, "Eduardo my love, I think mommy has stopped waaaaaay to long at this stoplight - what do you think - should I initiate a cry and let her know to get this thing moving already?" I am looking so forward to telling her prom date all about her very first crush and how proud we were as parents to know that she is diverse and open to all cultures - gotta love a man with an accent - right ladies?!

Eduardo Polkamantoya - Self Portrait 2009

OFF TO PLAY BRIDGE WITH THE LADIES

Oh man, is this picture cute or what? I would have loved it if her delicious double chin and osteoporosis-like slump were not hiding the fantastic little t-shirt design I made her but it was worth the trade-off for that expression. My friend Lauren said it best in an email I sent her where this image was attached, "With her skirt hiked up that high, she does kind of have a 'retired old lady playing shuffleboard in Florida' look about her, but regardless, that smile is so hard to resist." (I've got funny friends too - its like a club.)

THE OTHER BABY IN OUR FAMILY

We have a cat named Ari or, more formally, Ari Flufenstein (he's Jewish....we, however, are not). Before we had Rya, I had been known to pepper my conversations with wild stories about my crazy cat. He has more personality than most dogs I know and definitely most cats I've come across. As evidence of this, we caught him in the action here airing out his private bits on top of the humidifier like Marilyn Monroe on a breezy street grate. Needless to say, its been quite an adjustment for him not being the center of attention with the new 'animal' in the house. I am sure his internal dialogue is filled with such jealousy-laced statements as, "Will this THING ever SHUT UP?" or "Why is the new cat allowed to get on the table and I am not." and "Oh NO YOU DIDN'T just walk past me when I am lying on my back, all cute like with my belly exposed to be petted."

As most astute cats do, he has dedicated the first 3 years of his life to finding out the small things that REALLY piss us off and repeating those activities as some sort of retribution for the unknown wrongdoings that we have subjected him too that day (like running full speed across our heads at 4 in the morning as a nice subtle wake up call to feed him a late night snack). Rya has added a whole new dimension to this past time for him. He has now discovered that when she sleeps we really LOVE it when he gets as close to her as he can and meow/cries at the top of his tiny kitty lungs to get our attention. That might not sound too bad, some would say that it could even be coincidental actually - but I have evidence to the contrary.

The second month into our baby adventure, I had wrangled the beast into submission and placed her in her crib. We were still holding a 24 hour vigil by her bedside at this time (carried over from her breathing issues in the hospital and fueled by the neuroses of new parenthood) and I was laying on the floor of her room. After a fruitless 15 minute tirade of running feverishly through the house meowing and knocking into everything in his path - Ari decided to take a more 'personal' approach to getting my attention. He saunters into Rya's room, swishing his giant fluffy tail in my face to make sure his presence is known, walks directly up to the crib, props his paws up to peer in at her and proceeds to turn and look at me while he reaches his paw in and bats softly at her FACE. Seriously, I am not lying - this is too rich for even ME to make up! All I could do is laugh and dream up ways of sauteing him for dinner or fantasize about trading him in for a non-shedding, relaxed animal like an armadillo.

Little does he know that the days of his 'reign' over her are short and that, in time, she will do something akin to what I did to our cat Miggs when I was young - take him in the closet and proceed to dress him in a full tea party ensemble including a dress, 4 booties and a bonnet. His day will come, oh yes, and I cannot wait.

ATTENTION GEORGE LUCAS

I know it sounds crazy but my kid is a genius!!!! At three months old she is already doing impressions. There are only a few but they are diverse in range. There is the 'seal' (done when crying and sucking on her pasi), the 'construction worker' (a series of non-poop related grunts and harrumphs executed with a furrowed brow and a determined look on her face), the trucker (a string of earth shattering farts and grand burps that would rival that of a grown man) and my favorite - the 'wookie'. Its a Chewbacca like bray that she uses as a greeting to me and, when returned by my butchered attempts at mimicking her, Rya's main form of communication with us. And here my worst fear was that my kid would not be FUNNY (seriously, I laid awake at nights worrying that she would be a dead serious kid and think everything her father and I did was 'stupid'). We caught her in action on this video.

MY KID....THE FLOOZY

So, Rya was accompanying me on the counter in her bouncy seat while I was demonstrating the multi-step process on how to clean/sterilize her bottles (in great hopes that one day soon she would actually DO it for me) when I turn around and see her performing THIS little act (see photo). Cute as a baby - NOT so cute when she is 18 and on spring break in Cancun. God help us.