The Curious Georges: April 2007

ABC's, 1-2-3 & BBQ?

Yesterday Nicole came home from pre-school asking for BBQ. Yes, that's right. This is what toddlers learn in Texas ... to demand BBQ. She repeated the request over and over and even though I told her that we were fresh out of BBQ, she was adamant. She tried out all different tactics. When repetition didn't work, she tried "Please!" which, even though it's "the magic word," could not make BBQ materialize at the George household. Then she resorted to all-out wailing ... still no BBQ! Finally, she was thwarted and gave up (for a while). When she went down for bed, she started up the BBQ tantrum again. When she finally fell asleep, most likely it was while "visions of BBQ danced in her head."

The boys are officially walking now. As the older twin by a minute, Dane had to walk first ... he was competently toddling around a couple weeks ago. Logan is a little more tentative, but he's just about there. We will take a video of the little ambulaters and attempt to download it to youtube.

Rub-a-dub-dub, three Georges in a tub

Nicole gets into mommy's lipstick

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Trendy Tadpoles

You've probably noticed by now that our kids like to wear t-shirts with "hip" sayings on them. Logan has his "AB/CD" t-shirt; Dane has his 70's-inspired "Ladies Man" and Nicole sports her "Everyone Loves a Brown-Eyed Girl" tee. I found a site that has some really cute t-shirts for kids: http://www.trendytadpole.com What I like best about this online store is that the site is clean and not a pain to navigate. As a busy mom, we don't have time to wade through a bunch of different links and too many products make my head spin. They have t-shirts for the politically correct tot (anti-fur) and Baby Rockers (AB/CD ... For those about to read, we salute you!). For your little yogi, they have zen-like designs and there's even a t-shirt for "Entourage" fans ("Hug it Out"). Anyway, check out their site. Your little trend-monster will thank you.

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Bluebonnet Season!

It has rained a lot since we moved to Austin. The advantage of all this rain is that everything is so lush and green right now. Spring flowers are also blooming, including the bluebonnet, which is the state flower of Texas. One historian says that the "bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England and the tulip to Holland." People here like to take pictures of their kids frolicking in the bluebonnets and who are we to argue with local tradition?

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One Wedding & A Funeral

Nicole and I travelled to Southern California over the weekend for my grandma's memorial service and my friend Angela's wedding. Barton stayed home with Dane & Logan for a boys' weekend ... lots of swigging beer, all-night poker sessions and picking up chicks (the furry kind since it was Easter). Logie and Dane had their first Easter egg hunt (in the house due to the 38 degree weather). They didn't quite get that you're not supposed to eat the eggs with the shells on.

Nicole was surprisingly well-behaved over the five days we were gone. All I can say is that those portable DVD players are a godsend. Uncle Chris even introduced her to "Free to Be You & Me," which was a favorite of ours when we were kids. If you're not familiar with this feminism-inspired 70's album for kids, you've got to check it out. Football legend Rosie Grier sings "It's allright to cry" and Michael Jackson (pre-freak days) sings a song about self-acceptance ... hmmm, guess he didn't really take that one to heart. The songs are intertwined with folksy narration by Marlo Thomas and Mel Brooks as babies. Priceless! Chris also introduced Nicole to Lidsville, an incredibly out-there show by Sid & Marty Krofft, the guys who created H.R. Pfnstuf and The Bugaloos. Kind of a creepy show, but Nicole seemed to like it.

On Friday, we had a burial at sea for my Grandma Irma, who recently passed away. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's for quite a while, but it's still really hard to see her go. She was born on leap year in 1920 and died on March 1st, which is kind of her birthday since February 29th only comes around every four years. We scattered her ashes at sea and followed with 11 roses. There was supposed to be a dozen, but Nicole held on to hers as a memory of her great grandma. Since my grandma's mind was already gone when Nicole was born, she never was aware that Nicole was her great granddaughter, which will always make me very sad.

Photos of visiting Grandma in the nursing home when Nicole was 8 months old.

Three generations of hands:

On Saturday, we went to my friend Angela's wedding in Palm Desert. Angela is my oldest friend. Our mom's were friends since they were three years old and they were pregnant with us at the same time (although I'm two months older, which I would never let Ange forget). We always say that we are "friends from the womb." She was like a sister to Chris and me and we have plenty of pictures of the three of us in the bath to prove it.

Ange met Ken through her students in Palm Desert and they were engaged on a road trip last spring. We were just thrilled to hear about the engagement. Angela lost her first husband to cancer when he was just 36, which was incredibly sad. It's so nice to see her happy and to see her and Ken's family joined. He has a son, Alex, from a prior marriage and Ange has a daughter named Lily. Lily gave her away at the wedding.

Nicole was a dancing machine at the wedding and had a lot of fun hanging out with the big girls.