When you have your first child everyone takes pains to tell you how fast it will fly by. "Enjoy every second!" they implore you. And you do. All focus is on that little life. I don't feel like I missed a moment, so you well-meaning harpies can all take a breath.
The advice, it seems to me, would be best served with the arrival of baby number two. Charlotte turns 8-months-today and for the life of me I don't know where the time went. I swear it was last week I was carefully maneuvering her dainty little form into newborn onesies. Now she is this robust, smiling, peals-of-laughter little cherub with two teeth and a burning desire to crawl.
She eats her own cheerios, one-at-at-time, stuffing the little "O"s between her lips and her protruding choppers, she howls (and i mean hooooowls) when her jar or prunes and oatmeal is not served at precisely the right moment come sun up and she is working very very hard to pull herself to a standing position from the floor. Just this week she began to clap, as if she knew she had a big 8-month milestone to celebrate.
It may be going by wicked fast Miss Charlotte, but we're loving every minute.
We go to the zoo a lot. Judging by how many people we see at the zoo, perhaps not that much, but we pay a visit an average of every two weeks. Any why not? As Washington goes, it's an amazing, cheap (nearly free with a FONZ membership) adventure that never fails to please Harry. Charlotte is even starting to get into the groove.
As a rule we go before the crowds arrive in earnest (that's between 9 a.m. and noon), bring our own lunch and let Harry be our guide. He shouts out the animals he wants to see "pandas!" "Peacock!" "Tucan!" are recent favorites...(he also loves the "dillo" but spotting that tricky armadillo is not easy)...and we scuttle off to the appropriate spot.
Want to avoid the crowds? Head up the bird house. Sure, birds can be a little yawn, but not to a toddler. Harry got pooped on by a sparrow our last visit. Can you buy that kind of memory? ahem. I made sure to snap a picture before reaching for the wet wipes but I will spare you the imagery.
The Asia trail also has great sights (a big-ass bear who rubs his bum against the glass was our latest prize), and the small mammal house, which is by far the best spot for little kids at the zoo if you ask me...everything is at eye level and the animals (many monkeys, meerkats and my favorite..the tree shrew) give a great show. The Washington Post's kid section ran a story on these sometimes overlooked treasures today.
If you live local, buy a FONZ membership ($60 for the year) and parking (which is otherwise $15 a visit) is free. They also send you a monthly zoo magazine, give you a little stuffed panda and every time you come...you get a bag of Zookies. I'm all about the Zookies. Just don't tell Harry. Seems to him the bag gets empty awful fast.
In preparation for Paul's birthday (he's repeating 39 this year, for the third time), Harry and I engaged in one of our favorite pursuits....cupcake baking. This was a particularly easy and loopy batch, given it used, a box mix, in part, and a dash of Grand Marnier. Harry needed a nap shortly after licking the bowl. But he was an excellent helper until then, offering (insisting) to beat the eggs with the electric mixer.
It was one of those moments a parent really has to consider...do I let him try it, and inevitably spray the kitchen with egg yolk traveling at 100 mph? Or do I tell him he can't help? I went (gulp) with letting him try. And to my great astonishment, he held that rattling, heavy mixer in the bowl for the prescribed 5-minutes. The eggs foamed. Harry beamed, and the wall (and I) remained egg-free. We also made some wicked good cupcakes. The recipe (by Barbara Thiesen, one of my writers) is running in Mad Mariner next week, along with a piece on potlucks for cruisers. I'm reprinting it here (given how many raves it got, if you're looking for a quick dish...this might be the one. I'll link to the story when it's published. Enjoy!
Molten Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 cup chocolate chips (you can use semisweet, milk or ½ cup of each)
½ cup butter (do not substitute margarine)
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 (14 to 16 oz.) package fudge brownie mix
2 Tbsp. Kahlua (you can also substitute chocolate milk, orange juice, cherry juice, Grand Marnier or other fruit liqueurs)
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar (bring along to potluck in a sealed container)
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray 12 nonstick muffin cups with nonstick baking spray containing flour and set aside.
2.Melt chocolate chips and butter either in a microwave (high power for 1 minute, stirring twice) or using a double boiler until chocolate and butter are melted and mixture is smooth. Cool for five minutes.
3.In large bowl, combine eggs and egg yolks and beat at high speed for five minutes until foamy, light in color, and doubled in size. This can also be done by hand, if you don’t have an electric mixer on board.
4.Slowly add the dry brownie mix to the beaten egg mixture. Stir until well blended. Fold in your melted chocolate/egg mixture and your Kahlua or other liquid. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
5.Bake at 400° F for 10 to 12 minutes or just until edges are set. The centers of the cupcakes will be soft. Cool on wire rack for a couple of minutes. Then run a knife around edge of each cupcake to loosen. Cover and take to potluck. Keep warm, if possible. When ready to serve, invert each cupcake on to a serving platter and sprinkle powdered sugar (that you’ve brought in a small covered container) on top of each cupcake.
Harry recently had a special play date with our friend Sabrina. Their love of books (and hotdogs), made for instantaneous bonding. We scolded the pigeon for trying to drive the bus, we yelled at the lunch wieners for being too hot: "hot, hotdog!" the two of them howled in unison, over and over and over, and we tried on some very Rodeo Drive sunglasses that my mother-in-law deposited in my Christmas stocking. Is that J-Lo? 'Please, no photos!"
When Charlie was born I predicted she'd need a haircut before her brother. I was almost right. Just one week after Harry's locks were shorn, I got to take little sister to the salon -- A Place to Be -- where the proprietress was kind enough to do a 2-minute trim, free of charge (all those pedicures finally paid-off). It's not that she needed a full-on haircut, but after she shed her "undercoat" she looked a little unkempt and as you may know, a lady has to look her best at all times. Next time Charlie, I'll take you for a mani-pedi.
Charlotte took her first dip in the pool this weekend, a great opportunity to model this season's swimwear (she has more suits than I do, largely courtesy my friend Jen Van Goethem, who periodically stuffs one into our mailbox. Either the mailman is a pedophile, I muse, or Jen has stopped by again).
Harry seems to consider his sister a suitable pool-mate, agreeably splashing her in the face and fetching her little red ball when it floats out of her grasp. Mostly he's consumed with dumping the water out of the pool. Our backyard is now a wee bit boggy.
Today marks the first in a series of stories on Mad Mariner about the economy. Just in case you haven't read enough about debacle, I give you my story about the maritime industry in peril.
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