Environment goes hand in hand with vocabulary. During our sojourn in PA, Sammy is picking up many new words. • Penguin (pronounced like “pigalle”)– she has a giant stuffed penguin at her grandparents house. • Lawnmower (“mow mow”)– she’s been enjoying playing with her Uncle’s old toy lawnmower • Piano (“pee oh”)– …

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Bk at lowercaseliberty asked me if I would do this if he tagged me. I said, sure. Eight facts about me. Here are the Rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people …

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I guess I should not be surprised at the results of this quiz, given that I am at this very moment, back in the land where I grew up…<a href=http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp?action=take&quiz_id=9827>What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Mid Atlantic Also known as a “Philadelphia accent” but …

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During our visit to Virginia last month, we finally got to meet Benjamin, the 10-month old son of our dear friends. And Sammy got to kiss her first boy, supervised, of course, by her father. *”Bisous” = kisses. Benjamin is growing up in a bilingual French-English household.

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Friends from the east are often asking me if I’ve seen the famous San Francisco fog roll in off the bay. Other than one jaunt to the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog (described here) the answer was no. Last week, however, Sammy and I went to a playground up in the El Cerrito hills and I saw the fog descend down the …

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Five years ago today, AC and I married each other under the warm Virginia sun in one of Thomas Jefferson’s gardens. Four years ago today, we set off on a 10-day bicycle tour of Western Ireland. Three years ago today, we dined at Molly’s Pub in Lancaster, PA, and then got caught in a rain storm during our walk home. Two …

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Sam’s current favorite pastime is to “read” books to herself in the morning. She’ll pull a book off of her bookshelf, put it on the couch, clamber up onto the couch, arrange herself with the book in her lap, then turn the pages while reading them in her most fluent gibberish. (Every now and then an English word will be …

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Our last couple of weekends have been quite enjoyable. The Friday after AC’s birthday, we hired the babysitter for Sam and went out for dinner just the two of us at our new favorite date night locale: Six Degrees on Solano.

The next day, AC and Sam went for a bike ride up to Arlington Park.

And I mean “up” as …

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If not, you can hear me announce her arrival on the carousel. (Anyone know how to edit sound out of a video in iMovie?) We took Sammy to the carousel at Tilden Park in Berkeley on Easter weekend. She didn’t seem to remember her first ride which was on her birthday. But 6 months later, her longterm memory is much …

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Sammy had her 18-month check up today. She loved climbing on the chairs in the waiting room. Loved the fish tank. Hated the nurse, the scale, and the examination table. At her 15-month checkup, she cried in my lap and signed for “music” while we waited for the doctor. Today, she kept saying “door? door? door?” as in …

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