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1. While experiencing a bit of insomnia the other week, I turned the dial a smidge to the right of the blather of the BBC and found Music Fo’ Grown Fo’ks. Classic soul right there on my radio! If you happen to be awake on a Thursday evening/Friday morning, I urge you to check it out.

2. Driving out near Plymouth Meeting, my old Reading station, Y-102, comes in. Dig this segueway: Melt with You by Modern English into Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin.

3. Turning on the radio last night, to hear the State of the Union, and being pleasantly surprised by the sounds of a Hammond B-3 organ. Yeah, it was the wrong station, but it got me thinking that the State of the Union could use an organ just like a baseball game. They already pause after every other sentence for applause… why not throw in a few “da da da Da Da Da”‘s and shout CHARGE?

4. Listening to Madeleine Albright on Radio Times this morning… all of a sudden… static… and quickly, The Beatles. Yes, Miss Lilia knows how to change the station if she doesn’t like what she’s listening to.

One month until Lilia turns TWO. Although I am already seeing hints of the TTs (terrible twos)… is there a way to ward them off?

Miss Lilia was at a baby shower the other day, and she was the oldest and largest child there. It was startling to me. Isn’t she still a baby?? How is she growing so fast? I think she has gone through a recent growth spurt, or our drier has shrunk our clothes… her jeans are too short and too tight. I’m leaning towards the growth spurt, because my jeans still fit.

Lilia and I stopped by her daycare today. We hadn’t been there since her last day in December, before Christmas. She was swarmed by kids wanting to hug her. It made me tear up a bit! She was happy to see her teachers and friends– all day long she kept saying the name of one boy in her class (A.). When Joe asked her about her friends, she said “A. Hug!” Awwww.

Joe and Lilia tried on the Hot Sling this weekend, and they looked adorable:

Here’s a recent family portrait (taken at the baby shower I mentioned earlier):

And here’s proof that I need a new camera:

The darn thing is super slow and the girl is constantly moving on to the next thing before the camera decides to snap the picture!

Despite this entry, we really don’t eat out that much. Eating out was on my mind since we spent December without a kitchen.

The cook in this family is JOE. I’ll say, “let’s grab a chicken cheesesteak!” and he’ll say, “let’s MAKE a chicken cheesesteak!” And then he does it. And it is good.

Joe makes his own pizza dough. And spaghetti sauce. And he puts together delicious burritos. For breakfast, he makes oatmeal (the kind you soak overnight) and “breakfast drink”. On weekends, we’ll have waffles and pancakes. For New Year’s Day, we had Hoppin’ John (and it was excellent).

Now we have a great new kitchen– with a working dishwasher and a 30-inch stove. And I’m not working. I am feeling an obligation to provide a meal every once in a while! Not so easy for someone who never learned how to cook! I do try to cook sometimes, and can follow recipes, so I’m not a complete dunce in the kitchen, but I am so slow about it– it just isn’t instinctual! I do not want to raise my daughter to be afraid to cook, like her mom. And I don’t want to be afraid to cook anymore!

Right now, I am brining a chicken. An entire chicken! The first time I ever cooked an entire chicken was last week. And you know what? It wasn’t bad! I even saved the carcass to make broth! And you know what? The broth was so much better than the boxed broth we usually use. Joe used the leftover chicken to make burritos. Yummy.

I’m also going to make vegan mashed potatoes. Miss Lilia has been denied mashed potatoes due to her dairy allergy, but tonight she will have some with Smart Balance and Rice Milk. (I believe it will taste better than it sounds!)

I should have eaten a bigger lunch. This post is making me hungry!

Here is a picture of Lilia, in her “piggies” (favorite pajamas), eating one of Daddy’s Burrito creations:

Lilia is a huge fan of Curious George. We read from The Complete Adventures of Curious George several times a week (each story is quite long, but you can start practically on any page and it still makes sense). One day last year, a little George doll showed up on our door step. Along with Sunny the Fox and Bobby Bear, little George is one of her very best stuffed animal friends. She serves tea to Mom and Dad with her Curious George Tin Tea Set:

Two weeks ago, we checked out a Curious George DVD from the library, and I do believe we will have to actually purchase it. I was so happy to see that the DVD also included the complete Frog and Toad stories, which are my absolute favorites (I had both books pre-Lilia). Frog and Toad and George are “puppets”– filmed with a stop motion technique. My favorites are the Frog and Toad stories (particularly the one where Toad recites William Blake to his garden), and Lil enjoys both George and Frog and Toad. It’s a much better adaptation than the cartoon on PBS– which includes the disclaimer, “George is a monkey, so he can do things we can’t do”. (Why does everything have to have a warning?)

I was excited when I heard that George would be making an appearance at the Penn Bookstore last week! As I suspected, Lilia was a little scared of the “Big Monkey” but she still posed for this picture with Daddy and George.

I never got around to doing Christmas cards this year. December was a rough month, with a stomach bug coming through here twice, our kitchen being ripped up, the death of our sweet cat Blister, laryngitis, final projects for school, and the “loss” of my job (boo hoo). I love sending and receiving Christmas cards because it is the ONE time per year I can connect with family and friends. For those friends and family I have not seen in months (or years), I wish you all a very wonderful 2008.

If we had sent out cards, maybe we would have used one of these images!

Santa and his Elves, Franklin Square, Philadelphia, December 1, 2007

The Santa at Christmas Village, 2007 (ack, my hair is in my eyes)

Lilia Susan with the Falls of Schuylkill Santa, 2007

Lilia Susan with the Falls of Schuylkill Santa, 2006

A Santa in Reading Terminal Market, 2006
(my hair is doing the exact same thing as this year)

Merry Christmas
and
Happy 2008!