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the day before today

Christmas came, long awaited, and we handled it well.

I took very few pictures:

The festivities were pretty well-paced, which meant time to play with toys and cousins in between the opening of presents, and pink pancakes for breakfast, and 3 kinds of meat for dinner. Also, brussels sprouts deep-fried at a temperature several degrees to hot. But still, using the hot oil after the turkey is out opens up a world of holiday-eating possibilities. So, next year.

When I tucked her in last night, Lucy said:

"I think we should celebrate a little bit tomorrow, because the day before tomorrow is Christmas."

So true.

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a misty zoolights

We did Zoolights again this year, got there early before the official zoo closed so we could get ahead of the crowds.

I have discovered in the last month how fun public places are when they are nearly deserted, makes you feel like landed gentry or something.

The girls were amped as always when they see each other, and Oscar was a low-key wagon rider the whole time, even once when the rest of us had ducked under the dry eaves of the lion discovery center and Uncle Lance didn't pull the wagon quite out of the rain.

twenty months

Oh my goodness, Oscar man. Those cheeks just keep getting cuter and cuter. They turn red when you smear your face with strawberries, or hot capicollo, or spaghetti sauce; when you just wake up from a nap; when you are running and playing with Lucy just as happy as you can.

It was hot on the airplanes to Virginia and you would only sleep snuggled up in my sling so by the time we got to Richmond your cheeks were rosy to kingdom come, a heat rash in spite of the below-freezing weather. But Gramme and Grandpa couldn't get enough!

You've started babbling a lot more this month, trying out new sounds like "da da" and "lu lu" and maybe something like "la" for light" and "mo" for more. But you are still more comfortable with silent gestures, and the best right now is the way you nod when we ask the right questions. It's a nod where your head is fully engaged, your neck bends horizontally away from your body then your whole head shakes at once, not too quickly, but with vigor--it's a very appreciative gesture, like you've been waiting years for someone to understand you and you are so glad someone finally has.

Lucy gets this nod a lot.

You and Lulu are thick as thieves lately. You think all her inventions are remarkable; I hide things that you want in places you can't reach and she retrieves them for you when I'm not looking. Your biggest arguments are over me--specifically, my body, and where the invisible dividing line when you are both on my lap.

You like to give people kisses when they aren't expecting it. Sometimes they come in a cascading bunch of puckers, and the sweetness kills. Sometimes you reach out your arm in a sidehook to draw Lucy close and plant a big one right on her head. Sometimes you hit one of us just so you can kiss it better. We're working on that.

 Papa took you to your first barber shop this week so already the long-haired boy in the picture above is gone, but the smile and the cheeks and the ever-knowing brow remain.

Happy 20 months, love!

Love,
Your Mama

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Photo credit: Oscar

you can't teach silly

One of our old college friends came to visit a week ago, and after spending some time with Lucy, he asked:

"Is she always this silly?"

I knew the answer of course, but I stumbled across this old photo from about 3 years ago today which so elegantly makes the point:

Is Lucy silly? Always is, always has been.

an early Christmas present to Grandpa

Shaggy's dad used to play a game called Bulldozer with him when he was little, and a couple of visits ago John introduced the game to Lucy.

This week we let Oscar get into the action:


Bulldozer from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

random moments from Virginia

One of my favorite memories from our brief time living in Colorado Springs after college was the zoo at Christmastime, when we went to see the lights and we got to feed giraffes out of our hands, standing on a raised platform so their faces were just inches away from ours. I had never realized giraffes were so majestic and prehistoric looking, with big brown eyes and prehensile purple tongues. It made an impression. So, when we got a chance to go to a small zoo in Richmond after Thanksgiving, I was so excited to see the same setup. Lucy already knew giraffes had purple tongues from her Netflix self-education, but she thought it was cool anyway.

Faun Spotting at Maymont Park

We went with some of the family to a large natural park in Richmond, and in between tree climbing an creek jumping Lucy's foot went into a creek, soaking her shoe and tights. The temperature was in the low 30s, so we removed the offending footwear and used cousin Emma's furry hooded sweatshirt as makeshift pants instead. Lucy was remarkably good spirited about the whole thing, and took turns getting piggy back rides from our rather large contingent, and when we ended up in a field with the ladies crowded around her she looked like some sort of faun princess from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Oscar has become more interested in books with age, but he has never had such an attention span as when Aunt Wendell, baby whisperer, read him one of Jordan's old favorites, Going on a Bear Hunt, complete with hand motions.  He was enthralled.

reformed

Remember not long ago when there was a lot of frustrated grunting in our house due to misplaced tape? Well, every since playing with duct tape and Aunt Wendell in Virginia, Oscar is like a new man:

Stickers, tape, give it over, and let him put it on paper, a chair, or somebody's face. Yesterday Shaggy's wake-up call was layered strips of bright blue duct tape all over his forehead. Oscar could not have been more delighted.

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the Buddha's hand lemon, and the sign on Austin's back says "probably"