two-year-old-you

oh, the way we began:

i have a vivid memory of sitting in a rocker in our living room looking down at you, sobbing uncontrollably, just thinking of how i would do anything, absolutely anything to keep all the pain and hurt and dissapointment in the world away from you. and then i realized that was impossible, that there would be plenty of pain at times. that you would get sick sometimes, and we would wake in the middle of the night to hear your whimpers. that one day we'd find ourselves in the Emergency Department ruling out acute head injury from a simple fall off a step stool. that, before your first birthday, all those little 'insignificant findings' at birth would lead to an MRI and surgery in the course of a few months. and i realized that with all that and more, we would still be lucky.

oh, the person you are:

sure, there's the walking and the talking, but that's average stuff. for you, it's all the moments in between: the pause and shoulder shrug when we ask 'where is your other shoe', the quiet 'sorry' when you 'accidentally' bowl lucie over. the way you 'ooh' and 'ahh' at a piece of cheese, or a ladybug, or your special cold drink (ice water). the way you sing with your hands, miming the itsy bitsy spider, the wheels on the bus, twinkle twinkle, and whatever song involves nodding your head and bouncing your index fingers. i wish i knew.

oh, the places you'll go

cleveland robert perrinez, you have always been and you remain the sweetest, most thoughtful, careful, generous, loving boy i know. you look when you listen, and you place your hands gently on my face when we talk close. and you give real, loving kisses and bear hugs.

thank you. thank you for the priviledge of letting me stand beside you on your 'big trip' through the world. thank you for letting me listen to your makebelieve whispers, and kiss your bo-bos. thank you for the opportunity to look at your face and see all the wonder of the world reflected in it. thank you for giving me a second chance to dream every dream, big and small, and to watch as you make them all come true.

to louisiana and back

at the beginning of the month, we went on a trip to louisiana to visit my extended family. for this trip, 'team perrinez' (as we affectionately call our vacationing posse) including me and phil, both babies, as well as my dad and phil's mother. we spent most of our 6 days in baton rouge, where we visited with my paternal grandfather, along with my father's sister and her family. then we headed to new orleans (where my mother's family lives) to enjoy the all the g-rated wonders of the crescent city and french quarter (where we stayed). here's a short pictoral narrative of our adventure:

my grandpa's first encounter with his newest great-grandchild:

getting acquainted (my cousin kimberly at far right):

the entire gang in st. martinville (an historic town from where my grandfather's family hails):

lucie on the move:

phil and cleveland at the aquarium:

Bourbon Street, Sunday morning, 10am:

generations 1, 2, and 4...

a picture post - loooong overdue

The last few months chronicled in photos: Here are the kids after the marathon. you'd think THEY were the ones doing the running:

Photos from Lucie's Baptism. The nuclear family
With the grandmothers, meme and grammy:
and the extended (the not complete) family:

So I gave Cleveland the tiniest bit of a candy bar while we were in the car. What was I thinking? I have no idea. What followed never occured to me until I looked in the rear view mirror to see this:

Lucie eating solids. She really is this possessed over sweet potato:

Ok, cute baby pics, beach pics, bath pics. Enjoy!