Joanne visits

Our friend Joanne came to visit from Reading, PA. Joanne has known Michele since she was a baby, and she is Lucie's grandmother's childhood friend. It was great to see her, and we gave her the tour of Montmartre, which always starts with those mean stairs.
By the time we were at the top of the hill, Lucie was exhausted, and she lowered the rim of her hat for a snooze.
Joanne keeps threatening to come back, and so we'll be expecting her soon again. She's also a prime member of the Lucie blog fan club, and so we know she'll be reading this soon.

Out on the town

Lucie's such a little urbane girl. This sunday, she went for lunch at a cafe (she had giraffe), and then the whole family went to see a not-so-great Vlaminck exhibit at the Luxembourg Museum.
The gardens were nicer than the exhibit. Here Lucie's in front of the Medici castle that serves as the French Senate. Nobody's quite sure what the French senate does, nor can we conclusively identify the man carrying the baby (Lucie does not recognize her father when he's wearing sunglasses).
Sometimes, Lucie gets hungry. Thankfully, Mother Nature (and mother, really) invented this portable, ever-ready, always-warm, never-runs-out snacking system. It's called: the boob, and Lucie loves it.
In the Luxembourg gardens, a nice stranger took a picture of the whole family.
Same stranger, same Lucie, different monument.
Then mom carried Lucie for a while, and we all went looking for ice cream. The line was way too long, but Lucie got to pose in front of the Hotel de Ville.

Back home, Lucie had a blast.

Tender morning

Our mornings are a bit rushed, between breastfeeding, taking out the dog, getting ready for work, etc... but Michele and Lucie get to have a few tender moments just the same.

Dinner with the parents

Lucie likes to cry in her 'transat' the very minute that her parents sit down for dinner. So her parents, ever the clever ones, have decided to try sitting her on the table, where she can have a full view of what's going on and not be bored.

There was a whole lot of drooling and smiling, but no crying . This picture also shows off Lucie's long eyelashes. (we don't like to talk about the fact that so many of her pictures show off her ears...)Isn't this guy silly?
Michele trying to teach Lucie how to blow raspberries.
The other nice thing about having her on the kitchen table is that it's easy to kiss her.
OK, enough already!
Lucie, ever the 21st century baby, has already figured out how to take pictures by holding the digital camera at arm's length.

Happy birthday Grammy!

Lucie wanted to wish her grandmother a happy birthday. At first, everything was ok, and even the lion smiled (he was probably happy to get a break from getting slobbered on).Everyone was having a blast! And the lion was rolling with laughter too.Lucie loves her grandmother very much, but she was also fascinated by the heart.
Then Lucie decided to see if the heart tasted decent...
Somehow, it was harder to fit in her mouth than she thought.
She looked for help everywhere. An expert pannel was convened.

After confering with the lion, it was decided to fold the heart. It tasted yummy!Then Lucie remembered that she had feet (while not giving up on eating the heart)
And all hell broke loose!
Let's hope grandma's birthday is as much fun next year!

Elephant eatin'

Lucie has taken to trying to eat her stuffed elephant. She doesn't yet know it's an endangered species, but she has no teeth, so we're cool with it for now.

Lucie also has to express herself. We think that she might get this need from her father. She's also figured out that her toes are still there when they're inside the feet of her pajamas. This wasn't the case a few days ago (fascinating, really, when you think about it).

Lucie likes to latch on to Michele's chin when she's hungry. She's smart enough not to do this to her dad, with all his stubble...

Reject photos

Here are some photos that didn't make the cut with Greg, but I think are cute and worth sharing.

More fun in the basket.
On the way to the park.
Too many photos with flashes.
Belly time has become great fun.
Why is everyone so far away?
Playing bat the ball with dad.

Taking in the sights

We took Lucie to the Orangerie Museum, where Monet's "Waterlilies" are hung (in fact, he designed them to some extent for that space).

Michele gave Lucie her first art history lesson.
Lucie thought it was funny as hell
Those paintings really are something...
Cézanne is boooooooooring....
Lucie in the Jardin des Tuileries - we suspect that when we carry her like that, she might think that she's flying, since she can't see who's carrying her.
Who's that funny looking guy taking pictures of me?
Lucie at the Louvre (isn't she so worldly?)

Catch a Lucie by the toe

We're glad to announce that Lucie has discovered two far-away islands: the natives call them 'feet'. Significant resources are expected to be found in these new outposts of the Lucie empire.

Lucie laughs some more

Those parents really are silly.

Barrel of Laughs

Right now, Lucie thinks her parents are hilarious. In these videos, Greg is hiding behind the table and popping out at her.

Sittin' in my basket

We're trying to post some videos, but in the meantime, here are some more photos. Lucie got put in her toy basket while we babyproofed the apartment this afternoon. And no, that's not a halo, it's just a pillow behind her head.

Daddy's just a riot.
Lucie's new nanny: Virgine, who takes care of Lucie and another young child from the neighborhood. This set up is called a 'garde partagee', or "shared sitting", and is quite common in France. In fact, there is a whole legal framework so that you can employ a nanny on the books, which is important for insurance reasons. So we share this nanny with another family, whose daughter, Angelina, comes to our apartment most days. Lucie goes to theirs about 10% of the time, because the other mother works from home.
Lucie's "My mother is beautiful" body, courtesy of Ray and Marilyn in Pittsburgh.
Holding one's head is easy stuff now.