A girl's gotta have a fabulous purse...

Here's Gen and her purse. You see, the advent of walking has brought about a new love -- carrying things while walking! Genny does laps around the house carrying various items: empty water bottles, babies, my makeup bag, and most often, her pink purse.

She's like Sophia on the Golden Girls, I tell you!

Aunt Kate

Friends, I just wanted to share this. This is a picture of my Aunt Katie (my grandfather's sister), holding Genevieve when she was 2 months old. Katie passed away tonight, and I just wanted to mark her passing somehow.

Katie had her sense of humor intact to the very end. She used to joke that if I had any trouble teaching Trigonometry, just to call her and she'd be glad to help. Now, I never knew if Katie knew what Trigonometry was, but we always had a good laugh about it. I think she just liked the sound of it, but I always knew that Katie took the time to care about what I was doing.

Katie was a symbol of strength and hope to me. She faced what many of my generation can only imagine, losing her husband on the beaches of Normandy 6 weeks before the birth of their only child, Karen. She was a reminder of the cost of freedom.

She lived into her 80's with dignity, enjoying her friends and her life. She was a lot of fun. I was lucky to know her.

Still walking

Wow, she's made a lot of progress in walking in a short time!

Mini-me

Cookies

In this picture, Gen just got up from her nap and is having some cookies and juice.

I remember when I was really little, sometimes I would wake up from my nap and Mom would have made homemade cookies. That's the best way to wake up from a nap, by the way! I think the adult equivalent is waking up to coffee brewing and breakfast cooking.

So yesterday I had some time during naptime, and I decided to continue on the tradition and make homemade cookies for Gen to wake up to.

For the love of a wagon

My dad got Gen a red wagon for Christmas, and she loves it. She really likes to be pulled around in it. She climbs in and points to the handle and hollers "Mama" and she is happy to be pulled anywhere, as long as you will pull. Cautious little girl that she is, she holds on to the sides tight with both hands as long as it's in motion......

She has also discovered that red wagon is a good place to play if there's no one to pull. Here she has put her babies in and climbed on in.

In this one, she put it at the front door and decided to feed the babies.
And here she is sitting in it, watching Sesame Street.

Nap Strike

Well, ladies and gentlemen, Genevieve has declared a nap strike. I've asked her what she is striking for, and the only response I got was "ba." Now, this could mean she is striking for bananas, babies, a ball, a diaper (not sure why this is ba, but back to the story...) or the dog. If anyone can translate, negotiate peace and re-establish naptime at our house, please let us know.