in addition to wearing do-rags and playing with baby dolls, one of EBN’s favorite activities is identifying her letters.  obviously, ABN is fully responsible for this – he downloaded a number of different apps and when given access to the ipad or phone, you can find her listening to songs that make the letter sounds, or memorizing sounding out 3 letter words.  this is not advanced – this is just what happens when your dad is ABN, or so i’ve been told.

anyway, in an effort to do something a bit more…me, i suggested that we do project that involved matching sounds with words that we know – but with paper and string and tape rather than pixels.  first she looked at me quizzically but when i took out the often off-limits markers – she jumped at the opportunity to get down and dirty.

the project went a little something like this: EBN was given a large A and a large B to color in, while i drew pictures of nouns that started with either an A or a B.  B was easy – baseball, bagel, bus, broccoli.  A – not so much.  i got ant and apple but then basically drew a blank.  after wracking my brain i added arrow and art (depicted with a paintbrush and paint blotter – she had no clue) and acorn.  i also attempted to draw an alligator but that proved beyond my abilities .

she then got to work identifying the pictures and matching them with the letter that the word started with.  there was tape and yarn involved and a good time was had by all.

this morning, over breakfast, she showed off her hard work to ABN, proudly identifying the letters, and the words – just like on her ipad game.  a-a-apple.  b-b-bat.  it was all well and good until we she got to a-a-glasses!  turns out, i need a bit more practice drawing an ant.

thank goodness she’s going to preschool next year.  i think i’ve reached my limit.

1. we don’t travel light

2. color whenever possible

3. my little hoarder

4. belinda carlisle forever

5. nothing like a bowl of oatmeal on a 90+ degree day

6. checking out the trains

7. followed by moment of panic when i realized her head could get stuck

8. my little conductor (and lest you thought we forgot baby deek at home)

9. the innocence of not knowing the difference between fro-yo and ice cream

10. fantasy becomes reality

11. trains in real life

12. a little mama time

13. enjoying ice cream – the real deal.

what can i say?  it was a 2 ice cream kind of weekend.  throw in a big girl bed (she got the king in the bedroom and we squeezed into the smaller bed in the living room) AND live music at dinner (girlfriend knows how to dance), i think this weekend might go down in history for EBN.  so thankful she made me a mama.

did you feel abandoned?  totally not my intention.  the end of my week got a bit crazier than expected with last-minute prep for my lightning-speed trip to boston and before i knew it i was up in the air (literally) without officially signing off from this space.  not my intention.

to catch you up to speed, let’s break it down in numbers

3 – airports visited.  terminal 2 at SFO – you win.  logan – you suck.  and minneapolis, where i had a longer than expected layover on my return – you are one hell of walk.

21 – women who gathered to toast the bride to be (more details on the shower itself later this week).

1 – dress packed for the event – which i have to say was sorta a mini-miracle.  i’m the queen of packing lots of options and feeling unsettled.  but thanks to stitch fix i was feeling super sure of decision (yep, i ended up just going for it and wearing the red penguin dress!).

5 – hours my parents drove roundtrip so that my mom would be able to toast the bride to be and so that my dad could show off his contribution to the favors (just wait…).  also to squeeze me and (most importantly) to hand off a gift for me to bring back to EBN.

2 – times wireless failed to work on my flights home.  thank goodness for an old fashioned notepad in order to get work done (or at least, jot down some stuff).

18 – minutes that my kindle worked before dying, again.  it seems to not be holding a charge and needs to be reset often.  this development makes me sad because my kindle is my very favorite and because i had just started THIS book, while sipping a glass of wine in the airport before take off.  also, see above, i was unable to download anything new to my iPad.  so much for technology.

2 – books purchased on the last leg of my journey – 1, a gift for EBN (always gotta bring home a little something) and 1 to keep me busy because of my afformentioned technological issues

0 – friends visited on this too fast trip.  it makes me unbelievably sad to have been so close but still so far.  that and not being able to eat HERE.  i’ll have to find my way back soon.

1 – skype date with EBN and the rest of the post-shower-party guests.

1 – narrowly avoided barfing episode on the red-eye.  every now and then, on flights i get this weird dizzy/lightheaded/goingtopukeatanysecond/drenchedinsweat sensation. it comes on fast and there’s sorta nothing to do but pray it passes – quickly.  in my distant past i’ve actually passed out a couple of times (once on a train…that was…weird) but this time i put my head between my legs and eventually i was okay (although soaking wet).  so…

0 – hours slept on the red eye

2 – dunkin donuts coffees consumed #sogood

14 – hours spent in the air

22 – hours spent on the ground

6 – women who started off as DBN and ABN’s mother’s friends…who have become our family

1 – excellent vodka tonic (apparently, costco sells 1 uber-good vodka and 1 uber-good olive oil.  both are under the kirkland label but made by the fancy schmancy people who make fancy schmancy brands.  you gotta know the label in order to buy the right vodka/oil – because there are many kirkland varieties. but now that i am in the know…life changed.

1 – awesome and jam-packed trip.

can’t wait to get home to see my two favorites.
xo, LBN

this past thursday, EBN and i (oh, and DEEK, let us not forget the ever present, DEEK) put on our cutest duds and took the train into “the big city.”  we’d been trying to find a time to meet ABN for lunch for weeks but due to busy work calendars, unpredictable weather, and a nap schedule that is not to be messed with – we kept putting it off.  but at the every last-minute, i deemed thursday the day and i’m so glad i did.  not only were our schedules wide open but it also turned out to be take your kiddo to work day!  clearly it was meant to be.

the train continues to be the highlight (for her, not for me).  she was sure to talk for the entire ride – saying hi to every stranger, more than once, lest anyone feel left out or ignored.  she then climbed all 37 stairs from BART to the street before i quickly whisked her inside ABN’s building before she got a chance to play peace-maker with the two men fighting on the corner.

there was some brief coloring and extended chair spinning and then we ventured downstairs to the food trucks which resulted in someone having a furrowed brow:

turns out “the big city” might just be a tad overwhelming. she much preferred running circles around the lunch table back up in the office, high-fiving ABN’s male coworkers (she’s already SUCH a flirt) and most of all, spending quality time with her daddy.

not sure if we’re invited back (we tend to make a bit of a scene) but i know the little one is already plotting her return.

if you ask EBN what we did on saturday night she’ll tell you she went down a long escalator and took the train into the big city for dinner.  if you ask me, we drove to the nearest station and rode bart two stops to the glen park station (not so much the city but still a big difference from pacifica) where we had a mediocre and expensive dinner.  but that part really isn’t important.

the little one absolutely loves riding public transportation.  she giggles her way up and down the escalator, talks to every passenger (whether they want to talk or not) and counts down from the time the doors ding to when the train actually starts moving (3, 2, 1, BINGO!).  she discovered her pockets. and ordered caesar salad, french fries and apple juice for dinner (sounds good to me!).

we ran into an old friend from our sf playgroup – it’s amazing how quickly time passes.  it was fun for the grownups to reconnect and compare notes – i can’t believe how big our girls have grown.  i so clearly remember our first get together – sitting on the back patio of a coffee shop (the same one that i now often find myself working from), drinking tea and wearing our babies.  EBN was the only one without a hat on sunny but cool san francisco day.  now the kiddos are getting ready for preschool in the fall.

so i ordered a second margarita.

by the time this post goes live, ABN will have arrived back in pacifica, right where he belongs.  this trip was the longest time that he’s been gone since EBN made her debut almost 29 months ago and let me just say – he was deeply missed.  not only is it just a lot of work, you know, being on your own with a kiddo, but she asked roughly every 90 minutes, “where’s daddy?” and that some how made it a bit rougher.  i’m a lucky mama to get so much support from ABN and we’re a better family when we do it all together.  for sure.

that being said – us two did pretty well for ourselves, as evidenced above.  i’m pretty sure that some worried we wouldn’t get out of our pjs or take in the fresh air.  and while we did indulge in a movie on the couch on  cloudy sunday afternoon AND a saturday full of duck dynasty courtesy of BUDDY (we had a slumber party!) we also took a hike, a beach walk, had a ladies lunch AND bounced.  or at least, watched others bounce. oh, and of course, one of us took a turn as “a fairy-princess-flower-girl.” she really wanted to throw dinosaur in too…next time.