Catching Up, Part 2

Jim, Lilly and I have spent this week getting back into the swing of things. It's amazing how after only a few days away from Lilly, she's a different little person. I could tell that she spent a week with Mum and Dad. On our first morning back in DC, we got to witness a "typical breakfast," which included raisin toast and the fruit platter that she and Mum shared for breakfast (notice the huge amount of fruit on the plate, along with homemade flowers for Lilly's little table and the sunglasses, because it was a sunny morning):

Then, there were the things that Lilly brought back to Connecticut with her. For example, when she dropped something on the ground the other day, I heard a little, "oh dear" come out of her mouth! She's uttered that same exclamation on multiple occasions this week, causing me to turn around and laugh. When you ask her who says, "oh dear," she says, "Gigi!" Other expressions that she picked up while staying there include, "no, darling," and "yes, darling," both of which are extremely cute coming out of the mouth of such a little person. Only after a week with Mum would Lilly go for a walk and stop and point to some flowers saying, "wook (look) mummy, pansies!" I certainly didn't teach her that. After hearing all these expressions that she picked up, I've found myself being thankful that she spent most of her awake time with Mum rather than Dad. While Dad is an exceptional "Papa," the expressions that come out of his mouth are not always so exceptional. On one occasion last weekend, Dad and I took Lil for a walk while Mum was at a yoga workshop for the day and Jim was watching some of the NCAA tournament. When Lilly turned to us and asked where Jim was, I told her that he was home watching basketball and that we'd see him soon. Dad wanted (but restrained himself) from teaching Lilly to say, "Daddy is sitting on his a$$ watching basketball." So, you can see that I have cause for concern.

On the "exceptional Papa" side of things, Dad created a little Lilly sized broom for her to use outside. While we were there, she'd follow Tess outside and spend endless amounts of time out there sweeping with "Wiwwy's bwoom" (Lilly's broom). She kept calling us and telling us to "wook at me." Even sweeping requires constant chatter.

Our trip to London was just what Jim and I needed. We got to visit Jim's sister, Sarah, and stayed with her in her apartment right by London Bridge. On our first day there, Sarah introduced us to this place that had amazing Fish and Chips...definitely one of the highlights of the trip for us. Our trip highlights always seem to have something to do with food. Anyway, we went back there on the last day, even though it was completely out of the way, because we hadn't stopped thinking about them and knew we needed to have them again before we left. We spent some of our days in London doing touristy things and then other days we went out exploring neighborhoods in the hopes that we have the opportunity to live there (or somewhere else exciting) in the not too distant future. We loved what we saw and realized that we're definitely ready to move on and try something new. It doesn't have to be forever but we would love to live somewhere different and now is a perfect time. We'll see what happens, but our minds are open and ready for change. We had afternoon tea at The Dorchester, and we went and saw Billy Elliott, which was amazing. On our last night there, we went and had dinner with my cousin Sally, and her husband, Mango, who live in Notting Hill. We got to meet their two little ones who are absolutely adorable and we had a fantastic evening chatting and catching up. I don't even know when the last time I saw Sally was, but it was at least 10 years ago. It was a wonderful evening and great end to our trip. We hope to be back soon! We don't really have any pictures from the trip. We decided not to take our big camera and found ourselves walking and chatting instead of taking pictures. Although we did get a really good picture of duck that we thought Lilly might like. Ridiculous, I know. We don't have one of the two of us together but have one of a duck from St. James Park. Sarah took a few of us while we were out so I'll have to get them from her.

It is a really great picture of a duck.

Buckingham Palace

Jim forcing me to be in a picture!

Now back to life in CT. It was a pretty cold week here, but Lil and I managed to get out for a few walks. Since staying with Mum, Lilly wants to walk everywhere. The stroller is simply an accessory. While she was in DC, she and Mum would walk down to center of Columbia Heights every afternoon and go to the grocery store while catching a glimpse of the never-ending sights there. Lilly became obsessed with sirens and helicopters--just a few of the common sights and sounds present in Columbia Heights. Whenever a car drove by blaring loud music, Lilly would stop walking and start dancing on the sidewalk, usually to some kind of rap music. And the tough guys driving those cars or walking by with their pants around their knees, who had faces that didn't look like they were capable of smiling, would always stop and smile and wave at her. Mum and Dad were telling us about it and then Jim and I got to witness it. It's really amazing. As Dad says, Lilly seems to bring out such a hopeful side of people. She's so innocent and loves chatting to everyone...dogs included. So how can you not stop and smile at her?

Here are a few pictures from our walks this week. Lilly always wants to find a stick to break to just her size (something else that Papa would do for her), and then she uses it as a walking stick. I've been so impressed with how far she walks! Granted, it takes us close to 30 minutes instead of 10 to walk to the grocery store, but she loves it and we both enjoy the fresh air.