Summer!!!

"Parkkkkkk"

If you have talked to Lucca in the past month, somewhere in the conversation she probably told you she wants to go to the PARKKKKKKKKKKKK. She wakes up and says "park(kkkkk)", she gets dressed and says "parkk", lunch and then parkkk...you get the idea. I really need to get a video of the way she emphasizes the "K" sound in this word. She would make our German and Russian ancestors very proud. I've started to drive out of the neighborhood a different way than usual, so we avoid seeing the park when we aren't headed there. She knows her park. And loves her park.

We spend many moments here. It's nothing fancy, but it's a sweet old neighborhood park with wooden climbing structures and metal slides. It's Lucca's park and she knows the entire thing, inside and out. She knows where she can play, where she can't play, how to climb the baby slide, how to ask for help to climb the big slide. We count the fish, she points to all the different colored fish, she points to the pelican that sits above the swings and says "tweet-tweet". We play basketball and soccer, dig in the sand and count rocks. We roll down the hills, stopping to pick flowers and toss blades of grass. These days are SWEET.

The best ball ever

Future athlete

Where's Lucca?

Collecting leaves

A little one-on-one basketball

The fish

Lucca's new favorite spot

Lucca's Backyard

Father's Day 2010

Dear Lucca,

You have one of the best daddy's on the planet. If he loved you any more, his heart would explode out of his chest. He is probably your favorite person, and I can see why. He's mine too. I think you knew it was Father's Day, because you treated your daddy even more special than you usually do, and gave him lots of sweet baby kisses all day long...

Saw this, read this, loved this...

Stealing this little gem from Dad-isms blog ...

Pretend you went shopping for a new car one day and found the model you liked, no loved, but decided not to go into debt for it and instead, pretend you saved for nine months.

At the start of the tenth month, pretend you went and bought it - your dream car!

Now pretend twelve weeks later, I (a stranger you hadn’t even ate lunch with) asked if I could drive your new car for a few hours every day, promising to take good care of it and returning it to you before you got off of work. Would you let me do it or would you think I was crazy for asking?

Now pretend that car is your child.

…………………………………………………………………..

Your children would rather have your time than your second income

Thanks for the perspective, Dad-ism. I'd have to agree.

Saturday mornings

All-Time Low...

That's it, I must change my ways. Lucca just looked up at MILEY CYRUS on Regis & Kelly and said "Mama!"... twice. That's embarrassing and horrifying beyond belief. The TV is now off, and I am crying in a corner.

your daily Lucca fill...

sassafras

she likes giving herself kisses

long legs

"HI!!!"

15 months!

Lucca is 15 months old today! It's hard to imagine a love greater than the love you feel on the day of your child's birth...but someway, somehow, our hearts just keep getting bigger and bigger for this little lady. She is sweet, she is funny, she is smart, she is beautiful...

And she can run 10 times faster than any other tot at the park.

Lucca, you are full of life. You make the world smile. You still wave at every person who walks by and say bye-bye after they go. Trucks and buses are so cool right now. You don't like peanut butter, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, chicken, corn, and about a million other foods, but you love peas and avocados, cereal and bread.

You like wearing dresses and saying "Pretty" in the mirror after you get dressed. You love finding your belly button (and ours), dancing to music, stacking blocks, ripping pages out of books, rolling around in the grass, kicking your ball and swinging.

We often go to sleep at night with gigantic smiles on our faces as we recap the day we had with Lucca. I show videos and pictures I captured of her that day and we talk about new things she said or did. Her daddy's words every night..."she's just so sweet" and mine "my baby, i love that girl"

Cheers to 15 months, and to this love that just won't stop growing.

(Lucca's dress handmade by my mom, email me if interested)

Coffee Talk

Gymnastics/"Ass"

One of the best gifts we've received for Lucca has been our membership to The Little Gym from Mimi & Papa! We go every week, it's actually the highlight of our week, and Lucca just loves it. Also, what's better than Lucca calling gymnastics "ass" and running around the house saying "Ass, ass, ass" as soon as I tell her it's gymnastics time? That's my favorite part.

She's been getting better and better at all her little gym skills. She's mastered walking on the beam, hanging on the bars and doing somersaults on the mat, but today we reached a new high... Just shy of 15 months old, she did a forward roll ON THE BALANCE BEAM. So cute! She just put her little hands right down on the beam and tucked her head to "smell her belly" and rolled right on over. WHAT A BIG GIRL!!! I was so proud. Just one more thing to remind me that she's not a baby anymore. Darn.

swim day

We've been having the most amazing weather lately! I LOVE IT. Usually during this time of year in San Francisco, I wish I lived somewhere warmer, but this past week has been nothing but gorgeous, sunny days. Perhaps I should be more specific...Sausalito has been beautiful...the city is probably still chilly! Finally, our move to Marin is paying off and I've rediscovered my summer wardrobe.

We deemed this past weekend our best weekend yet with little Lucca. She just gets more and more FUN. We were busy non-stop...going to the park, kids museum, playground, fountains, long walks, eating ice cream and ... playing in the pool! Life keeps getting sweeter and sweeter as the days go by. 14-month-olds rules!

To many more SUNNY play days......

Modeling her new Converse