More sentences

I am away from Auletta for a week :( :( :( (I'm at Syracuse, more than that later), but apparently she now stands outside the bathroom and says "I gotta pee." And who knows, maybe she does; she's still in diapers, obviously. "I gotta pee" and "I love fries" are both subject + verb sentences, so that is cool, but bodily functions and fatty foods, hmm.

In which my daughter tries to feng shui me

Except for a twinge of jealousy I had a few days ago when I found out one of Auletta's friends, who is not quite a year and a half old, is starting to learn the alphabet--Auletta used to think every letter was A, and now thinks every letter is whatever I told her the last letter was--I am more than happy with Auletta's language development now. She has busted out of the world of nouns and is starting to use verbs, such as "walk," "nurse" (soon to become obsolete), "throw," and "move." Auletta's favorite hobby now is demanding that I move to whatever location she has determined appropriate. At the playground, she has me go on the swing and slide while she watches. Also, in anticipation of being left for a week, she insists I carry her everywhere.

Despite my attempts at avoiding cute diminutives, we say "cuppy," "uppy," and "doggy." But the word acquisition continues apace, so I can't complain. Except she calls the ceiling fan "fries" for some reason. Maybe because she likes it. We were pretty convinced she was repeatedly saying "I love fries" when we were at the Greater Schwabs a week or so ago and, um, feeding her fries. She knows "apple," "cheese," and "Cheerio," too, so we're not just feeding her junk food.

But surely you are here for the pictures!







This is with my Aunt Gloria. I am posting this one just so you don't miss Auletta sticking her finger up her nose.

Five years!

I am a little late to post this, because I was celebrating my anniversary on my anniversary instead of blogging, but last Friday, July 3, was our fifth anniversary. We went to La Tourelle Resort and Spa outside of Ithaca (where our beloved John Thomas Steakhouse is also located), had various relaxing spa treatments, ate some great food, watched the fireworks at Ithaca College from our balcony, and got a night away from Auletta, who stayed with the greater Schwabs. It was a blissful 24 hours, and now that we've left Auletta overnight, I'm much less anxious about leaving her for a week later this month, and I'm thinking we should do this every year.

Then we went with the family to Lehman's baseball tournament in Perry, New York. Justin and I let Auletta ride with the rest of the family and meandered our way through the Finger Lakes, stopping for dinner at Glenora Wine Cellars.

We watched baseball over the weekend and went up to Rochester to visit my Aunt Gloria, my cousins Kim and James, and their families, and that's where this picture was taken, about as close to our fifth anniversary as you'll get.



Five years, and may there be fifty more!