When You're the Queen...
...you can eat Popsicles topless.
at Nonna and Papa's house in May.
Bath Time with Pee Wee
Busy, busy, busy...It's been forever since I've posted new pics of Ms. Marlo, who can now finally say her own name ("Marmel") and, much to our astonishment, will be 2 in September. Here are a few pics from last night's bubbly bath. I've been posting most pictures of the girl on my photo gallery at Me.com these days, since I've got this nifty SD card from Eye-Fi that wirelessly uploads pics as soon as I take them (ain't technology grand?).
Speaking of which, I'm on Twitter at twitter.com/layerssf, if you care to follow me.
Hi Pee Wee!
Someone's too cool to smile for photos sometimes.
Look at all that hair!
Happy Spring to all!
Marlo's First Haircut
Rather than letting Marlo's hair grow until she looks like a miniature rock star like some celebrity moms do, I decided I needed to take her to a professional to have her hair evened out in the back and her bangs trimmed.
So before we went to lunch at Spenger's with Lew's parents on Saturday, Marlo went for a Valentine's Day first haircut at Cool Tops. As you can see, she was pretty serious about the whole thing...not quite sure what to make of it all. She liked sitting in the little car and wearing the cape, which she called a "bib."
She was very excited that Nonna, Papa, and Sophie the dog were waiting for her outside afterward.
another birthday...
Oy, 37??? How is it possible? Thanks to all who called, sent cards, emailed, and wished me happy birthday on Facebook! I've been underwater at work since early January, and like a dummy forgot to bring my good camera to our family celebrations with my side of the family and Lew's side, so...all my intentions to post holiday pictures have fallen by the wayside.
I did finally take the time to transfer a bunch of amazing photos that my cousin Jesse took on Dec. 23 at our holiday gathering in Soquel, CA. Jesse Holland, my aunt's older daughter (still a pup at only 26...lucky thing!) is a really talented photographer. She brought her camera and some of her portable lights etc. so we could take some family photos...most importantly, a shot of 4 generations of Ayers first-born daughters: my grandma, my mom, me, and Marlo. And, like the smart multitaskers we are, we got jesse to take family photos in a variety of combinations. i love all of the results, but my favorites are posted here: Marlo and me, our family of three, and Marlo and my
grandparents--how lucky she is to have two wonderful great-grandparents!
Oh, and Marlo the next morning in her polkadotty PJs, hanging out with Cracker the tortoise, a very gentle pet belonging to my aunt Claudia's husband Lee's daughter, Ilea.
Christmas in Woodland with the Price family might as well have been called The Marlo Show. All the adults were transfixed by her antics...and she didn't know what to do on Christmas morning....so many toys, so little time!
Since then, she's changed by leaps and bounds...learning at least 20 new words a day, starting to talk in sentence fragments, and remembering people--and Lew's parents' dog Sophie--by name. She recently started saying her own name with much prompting, though it sounds more like Marmel than Marlo...funny, actually because our friends' daughter Ella, who will be 3 this month called her Baby Marmel for a long time.
Halloween 2008
Sorry for the delayed reaction, but it's been a busy couple of weeks since Halloween, Marlo's first outing in costume. She dressed as a monkey. During the day, Kiki took her and Nadege, a pumpkin, to the Montclair Halloween celebration.
Then, that evening, we met the Phillips family on Solano Ave. in Berkeley/Albany where we picked up a Zachary's pizza and headed back to their house. Garrett, aka little g, was disguised as Elmo, and being the mellow fellow that he is, he was happy to hang out and eat goldfish crackers with his dad, Gary, while Marlo wore Lew out running up and down the sidewalk in front of the pizza place.
By the time we got back to the Phillipses' house, the grownups wanted to get happy hour started, while Marlo and Garrett entertained themselves before bedtime. Little g has the best toys, like these fun bongos! Those might have to go on M's wish list to Santa!
After the babies went to bed, the grownups hung out and had dinner. A few hours and a few glasses of wine later, we realized we should make it a sleepover, which was a good tghing because Gary and Lew stayed up until 1 a.m. sipping whiskey and remembering their glory days... at least that's my guess. I went to sleep.
The next day, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with Gary, Kris, and Garrett and went home for a day of...watching football. Marlo knows exactly how to celebrate when her dad's team scores a touchdown, thanks to her grandpa, Papa Lew. And, yes, it was about 3 in the afternoon and she was still wearing her PJs. She knows how to enjoy a Saturday!
Maui wowie
Just returned from a nice long (but still not long enough) 7-day vacation in Maui with Lew's parents and sister, Megan. Marlo loved the beach, especially playing in the surf with her dad and digging in the supersoft sand at the beach across the street from our condo in Kihei.
We also checked out the Maui Ocean Center, an aquarium showcasing the amazing sealife of Hawaii. Marlo liked that too, but she was a little disappointed when she discovered you can't actually touch the fish, although Aunt Megan let her touch a sea star in the tidepool exhibit, which we later discovered was against the rules--oops!
It was tricky getting M used to the three-hour time difference, and she had a hard time sleeping in the rented crib, but otherwise it was wonderful.
We were also so happy to hear from Ed and Andrea that their daughter, Madalyn Alton Purdy was born. Welcome, Maddie...and congrats to Uncle Ed and Auntie Andrea. Marlo can't wait to teach Maddie all the tricks for getting into things and having adventures.
1 year old!
Happy birthday, Marlo Ayers Price. You're our darling, goofy, sweet, smart, lovable girl. And you're 1 year old today, which means we all survived your first year and we're so much the better for having you in our lives.
Zoo Visit
Exotic animals are neat and all, but when you're 11 months old, it's the carousel that holds the most appeal--squeal appeal, you might say, because pretty much all Marlo does with each rotation of the carousel is to squeal with delight. Real-live giraffes can't really hold a candle to that, I'm afraid.
Marlo also tried out a new hairstyle today--thanks to wearing a hat at the zoo and napping in the car for a couple of hours. She knows she's pretty punk rock...check out her
shoes!
