hunka hunka burnin' love

Lucie likes to dance... and doesn't mind Elvis either.

Off with your heads...

Lucie wore this crown she'd made in school all day on Sunday. She told everyone who asked her about it that she was a "méchante reine" or wicked queen. At least for one day she wasn't a princess.

Big

Two and a half more weeks until my due date and I'm feeling enormous.
I can't see my feet.

Some pics - sorry it's been a while

On a recent day without rain, Lucie waited for her turn at the swings in the park.
She played in the sandbox.
She thought while eating a cookie.
Because we can no longer carry her over long distances, Lucie now rides most places on her scooter, so that we can walk along her a a normal adult pace.
Lucie and cousin Fanny playing together back in December.
Lucie "painting".
Due date in 3 weeks.

Lucie phrases

Lucie's been saying quite a few funny things lately, mostly in French, so we thought we'd make a list.

"Je n'ai rien dans mes mains!" - "I've got nothing in my hands", screamed loudly, usually while crying because we've decided that she's too little to carry something fragile.

"Pauvre Lucie, elle est toute seule" - "Poor Lucie, she's all alone", in a suitably pitiful voice, while "exiled" in her bedroom, one hour after bedtime.

"Je l'ai vu avec mes yeux" - "I saw it with my eyes", as opposed to seeing it with her feet, one supposes

"J'ai froid à mes petits pieds" - "My little feet are cold", when she wants someone to help with her slippers

"Pourquoi mon pouce est tout seul, Maman?" - "Why is my thumb alone, Mommy?", or the existential questions of a 3 year old...

"Tu penses que Mickey Mouse habite là aussi?" - "Do you think that Mickey Mouse lives here also?", as we walked in front of the Sacre Coeur...

"Is George going knock-knock-knock?" while pointing at Michele's belly

"Je veux te dire un secret... y'a pas de loup dans la maison de Lucie" - "I want to tell you a secret .... there's no wolf in Lucie's house" this one actually gets said both in French and English, depending on mood, time of day, or, perhaps, wind direction, with the second half whispered for effect.

"J'ai des grosses larmes qui coulent" - "I've got big tears running down" thanks, we hadn't noticed...

Lucie: "c'est quoi ça?"
Papa: "c'est un entonnoir"
Lucie: "mais enfin Papa, il est pas noir! il est rouge!"

This one is impossible to translate, but just know that "noir" is black and "rouge" is red, that an "entonnoir" is a funnel, and that our funnel is, indeed, red.

"I'm too scary" - "Je suis trop effrayante" - or why grammar matters...

"Mommy, I'm a little bit freezing" - which bit would that be?

New Years

Friends invited us over to their house for dinner on New Years.
At midnight, Lucie decided that we all had to dance and wear party hats to ring in the new year.
Then around 1am, she crashed. It was a long night for a 3 year old.

Christmas Day

We had a very mellow Christmas day at home this year. In lieu of traveling somewhere warm and exotic, we stayed in snowy Paris and all got sick.
The night before Christmas, Lucie put out milk and cookies for Santa. We also all left our slippers under the Christmas tree to help Santa know where to leave our gifts.
Christmas morning, Lucie was thrilled to report that the cookies and milk were gone and that Santa had left her his hat.
Opening presents... The large green box is a Playmobile doll house.

Oh Lucie

The week before Christmas, Lucie came home from school with a black eye. I asked her how she had gotten it and she told me that her friend had scratched her. Oh no, that's awful I thought and then I stopped. Lucie what did you do that your friend scratched you? Lucie told me with a big smile that she'd punched her friend in the head. Ouch! Of course, the two girls are still best friends.

Santa Fails

Lucie is really into the idea of Santa coming to her house while she's sleeping and leaving her presents under the tree. But as you can see, she's not so into actaully sitting on his lap.
The little Christmas market near our apartment had free face painting and photos with Santa, which is why Lucie has a little cat face painted on her too.

More Toussaint

On Halloween, Michele made and lit up a Jack-o-lantern. My French cousins were nonplussed but politely interested...

However, a bunch of cousins had decided to dress up, so Lucie and Camille were not the only ones.
Even Patrick joined in the fun, donning Lucie's butterfly wings for the occasion. Isn't he ravishing?
That same evening, we built a giant fire. This is not part of any tradition, it was just necessary to burn some branches.
It was a very beautiful, if somewhat dangerous, fire...
A good chunk of my family was there that weekend, and it was nice to see them.

We took walks in the woods, here are my grand-mother Nathalie and her great-grand-son (my nephew) Gaston.


Lucie and her great-grandmother Nathalie sharing a story by the chimney.

During MopedTour 2004(tm), Michele and I had visited the beautiful abbey of Fontenay, near Montbard. We decided to return with Lucie for a quick visit on a beautiful fall morning.

Lucie really liked the inside of the church, and especially the statues of "Blanche Neige" (Snow White) that we found there...




Another day, another 12th century cloister... but she doesn't seem to mind.
The abbey is private property but open to the public, and the grounds are very well kept.
On the way back to Paris, we stopped in Provins, which is a UNESCO world heritage site and a beautiful old city 1 hour outside Paris.