dancerjodi

Mina is such a happy, easy-going baby. Her personality coming through this young? Folks have always commented on how social/easy/smiling she is - moreso than they would expect from a baby (who should be crying most of the time right? or something? so they say).

This weekend we went up to NH to visit with my parents, and my sister and her boys were also there (Gene and Stene were at a wedding, so we missed seeing them and Mace face). JD is all grown up; he is going to be 15 this summer! He was working for my dad, doing demolition in their vacant second floor apartment so that dad can make it more habitable (remember or "Nashua Cribs" episode?). Colin is what, 3 now and Braylon is 2. They are having so much fun with their new baby cousins Mason and Mina. At one point Colin remarked excitedly, "Baby Mina, you are so pretty with your face!". Aw, so cute. I don't want our girl to find value in people's comments about her being pretty, but it is so hard not to remark so when she smiles at you.

There are only a few kids in the infant room at the childcare center she attends. She is by far the baby-baby. She's also the only girl in there. Twin brothers Don and Donnell are walking/crawling all over and causing all sorts of trouble but have fun with her. Aiden is a new little boy - I haven't seen him yet but Brian tells me that he's a handful in the morning when his Mom is trying to drop him off. Nathaniel rounds out the room. He's similar age-wise to Don and Donnell (and I think Aiden), but he's quite grumpy and antisocial. When I picked up Mina yesterday they told me excitedly that her charm had broken through his grumpy and antisocial facade. When the kids have tummy time on the mat, he does not want to be near the other boys but is content to allow Miss Mina to be near him. He reacts VERY strongly to the other kids being near him, but is tolearable/curious about Mina. On nice days, they take the infants outside if the staffing permits them to do it reasonably. They need to be able to keep an eye on the mobile ones, and Mina and Nathaniel hang out in a stroller or bouncy seat. I guess yesterday they sat the two of them next to each other, and found Mina had grabbed Nathaniel's hand and he was allowing it! They took a photo of the two of them sitting together and a closeup photo of their cute, holding baby hands. Our girl seems to have picked out a boyfriend for herself, and an older man at that. Brian says he fears that our daughter will follow her Mom's footsteps in liking grumpy/antisocial/problem boys. I think that it's just her smile, her love and her easygoing nature isn't threatening to poor Nathaniel. I'm intimidated by those twin boys and their energy sometimes!

I know I was a chatty baby when I was a kid (as Mina is seeming to be) but I think I was more cranky/awkward and less social/snuggly (with my parents at least) as Mina is, if I recall what my parents said. My sister was the quiet snuggler, but I always had something to do or somewhere to get to. Who knows what Brian's personality would have manifested as, were he given a more supportive environment at home (and wasn't so isolated). She's just under 5 months old and really is just her own person. Crazy!

We are so in love.

What a great article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-bloom/how-to-talk-to-little-gir_b_882510.html?ref=fb&src=sp .

I didn't have a very girly childhood. Mom sewed and was home as a stay at home mom doing the traditional things, but I didn't think of them as "women's work" - they were just things that someone had to do to keep the family going (Dad did those things too when he was home and had time). My sister and I have never been girly girls.

On the one hand I've wished my Mom was more conscious about shopping and body type, because it would have saved a lot of heartache and frustration when shopping for pants as a tween and teen (with these hips there are just some styles that won't work, no matter what the size or how stylish they are). It would have been a bit more smooth to have been taught about differing body types and given some pointers to find clothes that look and feel good (rather than just 'here's some money kid - go in there and find some jeans and I'll wait out here). But I'm glad that there wasn't the overall emphasis on appearances on the whole, because we grew up not focusing on that.

I LOVED books when I was a kid and could have talked about them all night. :) Books and cars and construction equiptment, but I digress . . .

This is coming out on Blu Ray at some point, and is a movie I will buy. This had such a hold on me, I think because I was around the age of the actors at the time (and, the age of the characters).

If you don't follow Wil Wheaton's Blog, this post about Stand By Me from today may make you want to: http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/

Massive fire in Hampton:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/post_44.html

This block held the gift shop that was my favorite since I was a kid, you know, the one on the corner with the room in the back that housed the hermit crabs?

Brian and I spent a night at the Surf Hotel once. We had a beach-facing room with a little balcony, and planned to stay there again. It was the one time that I've stayed on the beach as an adult.

They never rebuilt after the fire that took the Old Salt Restaurant and that block was not nearly as large (the Old Salt sign still remains on the lightpost on that corner, an empty lot that's used for parking). I wonder what will happen to this more prominent stretch of the boardwalk. Things are declining as time goes on and each year the beach gets more and more depressing. I still love to go, but each year I get a bit more worried about the future of the area. I don't want it to end up 99% condo like Salisbury beach did.

So sad. Sad to the degree of the Old Man falling off the mountain sad.

I can't tell you how many times we sat in Tina's living room, watching The Breakfast Club and drinking from her parent's cabinet (off the bus after school, before I walked home for dinner). Or how much I loved the song "Pretty in Pink" (and did something similar for my own Senior Prom dress). Was Say Anything his too? That was my first date with Joe Brown, at the old Natick Flick opposite Shopper's World (or was it *at* Shopper's world?). It all kind of blurs together. At least we have our DVDs . . .

This link http://babble.com/content/articles/columns/the-babble-list/sesame-street/index5.aspx has been going around, showing the top 50 Sesame Street skits. Mr. Hooper died after I stopped watching it, so I never saw the 'Mr. Hooper isn't coming back' one before. Oh my god, I'm sitting her crying like a baby.

I wanted to share the link, in case some of you had missed it.

From today's Globe:
http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/2005/06/19/boardwalks_and_tacky_t_shirts_arcades_and_fried_dough/

Honky Tonk? I'd argue its a slice of Americana that I'd be sad to see go. I grew up spending summers at Hampton Beach since my great-grandfather lived in the nearby Hampton Falls and we had use of his cottage after he died. It was the best of both worlds - a cottage with 4 acres of forest to explore and a beach nearby. Countless hours have been spent in the water, searching for shells, eating rock candy or Blinks Fried Dough, or toasting on the beach. I can't tell you how many puka shell anklets I've owned, how many times I've visited the hermit crabs at my favorite gift store (Mrs. Mitchell's), how much ski ball or pirate mini golf has been played, and how many all-age metal shows I saw at nearby Salisbury. Then there was eating lobster every night at home like it wasn't a big deal (after having 'races' with them - each kid picking out a lobster as their own before they got dropped into the pot and eaten). I also spent my share of time parading up and down the boardwalk as an adolescent looking for boys, finding them, and attending parties nearby and getting quite drunk.

I'm dying to get out there again soon. Soon my friend, soon! The sandcastles for the annual contest will be out this coming week. Fireworks start next week - on my birthday (heh). :)