Whirlygig

Camille is a creature shunted hither and yon by her many whimsies which vary only in the severity of their girlishness. Since I am a fairly down to earth, blue-jeans-wearing, ponytail type of woman, I have been surprised to see how strong is the sway of all things pink, ruffly, and twirly on my daughter. Lately and predictably she is obsessed with all things ballerine. She chanced to see some Youtube clips of the Nutcracker and since then she asks me regularly to play the music so she can do her own little dance. It's from the tornado, karate-chop school of ballet, but what she lacks in fluidity, I think she makes up for in style. Below are a couple of examples, in the first she's online with her Papy and Mammie, Remi's parents.

My parents brought this dress for Camille, it's one I used to wear. I guess my mom had trouble getting me to take it off as a girl, so enamored was I with it's ruffliness. That story gives me hope for Camille, it's just a phase (it's just a phase it's just a phase it's just a phase.)

Play-doh time, baby gets a bow too.

 Another ballerina skirt, but not as pink as the other one, so not her favorite.

 

 P-R-I-S-S-Y

 

This was the day Remi got back from a long trip to San Diego.

 We still can't seem to get any good weather up here. We've had a handful of nice days in March, but mostly when we have a sunny day it's still very cold. And more often we've had rain and lots of wind.

 A very rare family nap.


The following are just some silly iPhone pictures, she's looking at herself while making these faces. We're hanging out in the vintage phone booths on the second floor of the Central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, which is happily just up the road from us. The walls are blue leather.

 As I've mentioned before, Camille helps me cook pretty much every day.

Ok, so sometimes she's not actually helping.

 Every Saturday before her French playgroup, Camille polishes off a chocolate croissant the size of her head at Joyce's (our neighborhood bakery, arguably the best thing about living here). She gets a good, double handed grip and dives right in. Of course she usually ends up with as much on her face as in her tummy.

 Remi teaches a class on Thursday nights and doesn't get home until Camille is asleep, so this is one way they get to hang out a little together before bedtime. 

 

All the kids at the playground want this look.

 Here's Camille and the adorable Caroline, her best friend.

As is evident in this video, Caroline has some smooth moves of her own.

 


  With Caroline at the zoo.


We went to the Natural History Museum one Saturday.

This picture I took in the Halls of Minerals and Gems, one of the coolest and usually least crowded parts of the museum. It's a toddler paradise with tons of stairs and ramps and pretty rocks to look at.

 I can't get enough of those dioramas, I could look and look all day. Camille moves at a less appreciative clip in the museum, unfortunately, and we're usually breaking our necks just to keep up.

 She was pooped on the way home.

Mimi and Pops' visit

In what will I'm sure end up being the highlight of our month, my parents came to visit us for a week. Remi and I got a long-awaited night on the town, and Camille got all the spoiling and loving she could handle. I'll tell you what I didn't get though: enough pictures!

On the street with Pops. 

Here we're all sitting at our neighborhood creamery on one of the warmer days. There was just a tease of spring in the air, enough to make you think "ice cream!" Unfortunately, all of Prospect Heights had the same idea and turned out at 4pm (prime ice-cream hour) for a scoop. It was nonetheless an awesome summer preview.

Seriously! This look will get a smile from the toughest Brooklyner.

We had a few tea parties.

On Wednesday we took advantage of my parents car and went to the Bronx Zoo. Many of the animals were not on display because of the cold, but we saw enough to keep us talking about it for months. We went with my friend Anna and her son Hank who is just a few months older than Camille and her new baby June. 

It was so great to have two extra sets of eyes to watch the kids, and two extra sets of legs to chase them down!

 I think Mimi and Pops enjoyed the zoo as much as we did.

Up close with the turtle.

 

 Look at this converse couple! I should be getting some endorsement dollars for this pic, it's so stinking cute. Hank is Camille's only guy friend and she just loves him. The feeling is pretty mutual, I was too busy laughing to get it on film, but Hank went in for the mouth kiss more than once. Camille still gives a very shy smile when asked about that.

I'll leave you with Camille's latest masterpiece. She did this all by herself, and only showed me when she was done. Nevermind the poor guy's got two noses, three eyes and about twenty ears, c'est pas mal, n'est-ce pas?