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.