A Slightly New Look...

If you look carefully at this page, you will see that adjustments have been made. Due to popular demand (okay, demand from Fiona's nearest relatives), I have decided to continue blogging. However, as her East Coast Tour has come to its successful conclusion, it obviously makes no sense to call this site "Fiona's East Coast Tour." The fact that the web address remains (for now, until I figure out how to redirect this page) www.fionagoeseast.blogspot.com was poor foresight on my part.

Why, you ask, are we re-naming our blog "The Pickle Patch?" Well, we call Fiona "Pickle" a lot, it's a snappy title (nice alliteration, you'll notice), and it's just vague enough to permit some non-Fiona-related news (unlikely, since Erick and I are far less interesting) or to leave room for the possible future addition of more pickles.

An important disclaimer:
Since 1) Erick is now safely back from Tanzania [yay!], and 2) I am now working part-time [shameless plug: Project Peace East Bay. Great nonprofit. Check it out at www.projectpeaceeastbay.org], there is no way that I will have the time to post as regularly as I was over the summer. But I'll do my best to keep you updated on all significant goings-on.

Fiona Gong: Heartbreaker-in-Training

We've been back in the Bay Area for 3 days now, and it's nice to be back. Fiona seems to be adjusting rather nicely, apart from a nasty case of separation anxiety directed at me. The incessant babbling (i.e. "Dada..baba...gaga...") that began on the plane has continued, which has been fun.

I do have one retrospective East Coast event to share, however. On our final day in Virginia, Fiona and I got together with two of my dearest and oldest (dating from back in junior high) friends: Tammy and Kai-lin. You have met Kai-lin and her sons before: we saw them while in New York City, where they live. This time, we all gathered at the house of Kai-lin's parents. Fiona had a wonderful time reuniting with Kai-lin's two sons, Liam (1.5 years) and JT (3.5 years). They all played together nicely.

However, JT seems to have found a special place in her heart. Perhaps it is because he wooed her with his music on the gourd-thingie.
Whatever the case, by the time we took this group photo, Fiona zeroed in on JT for a full-on makeout session. This photo is a little dark and doesn't capture the steamiest action, but I'm really not kidding.
After he'd detached his face from her lips, JT declared (not without satisfaction), "She's using me like a toy!"

As a mother, I am both proud and concerned....

The End...

I am typing this from home in Berkeley; this morning, Fiona and I arrived back in the Bay Area. It has been an epic day of travel and getting settled back in. Fiona is passed out after expending HUGE amounts of energy on the plane. I am exhausted from trying to contain her on the plane. Suffice it to say that she chose today to begin babbling incessantly.

I can't go on for much longer, so I am posting the above photo of Fiona back at Great Falls Park this past weekend. Hopefully this will tide you over until I have a chance for more substantial updating. Phew!

Butterflies....

We are down to our last few days in the D.C. area, so yesterday we did what we haven't done much of this visit, and actually took the Metro into D.C. proper. Our destination was the Natural History Museum. One of the feature exhibits at this museum is the Butterfly Pavilion. This is a huge room (in the shape of a chrysalis, natch) filled with butterfly-friendly flora and a huge variety of butterflies. The butterflies fly around free, and occasionally land on visitors.

When we entered the Butterfly Pavilion, we were greeted by a huge blast of heat and humidity, which the butterflies apparently like but which is more difficult for us humans. Fiona seemed untroubled, however -- perhaps she has finally adjusted to East Coast climes. She LOVED the butterflies, and seemingly could have looked at them forever. Apparently Butterfly Trauma is not in the cards.
While Fiona enjoyed the butterflies, she was downright ecstatic when we visited the prehistoric fossils. Ecstatic, I tell you! This was surprising; why would our baby be so excited about huge, immobile bones? Still trying to figure this one out.
In any event, it was a successful trip.

Fiona and Laurel

On Monday, Fiona had a playdate with Laurel. A year Fiona's senior, Laurel is the daughter of Susie, who has been my friend (and playmate) basically since birth.

Generally, playdates between an 8-month-old and a 19-month-old involve lots of what developmental psychologists term "parallel play" (I knew I'd put that developmental psych degree to use at some point!). This was certainly true of Fiona and Laurel, who more or less ignored each other as they banged toys together on the carpet and in the baby pool. However, at the end of our time together, the following exchange occurred. Luckily, I was on hand to capture the sequence of events. Judge for yourselves whether Laurel is a sweet little girl who has learned the art of sharing, or whether Fiona is using her Jedi mind tricks to manipulate Laurel into handing over her sippy cup. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

Return to the Zoo!

Yesterday, we took Fiona back to the zoo. (The National Zoo, not the scary goat zoo).
There were many joy convulsions during our visit. However, since Fiona had previously visited the zoo, she took some more time in serious contemplation of the animals. These included some old favorites: elephants.....
And pandas.....But her favorite activity by far was watching people. She finds other people endlessly fascinating.
Of course, people tend to find Fiona fascinating as well. Her grandfather suggested we put up a fence around her and charge admission. It's a thought.

A Little Morning Music...

Fiona's personality continued to assert itself yesterday morning, when Fiona's Nana decided to sit with her at the piano. From the other room, I heard laughter; upon inquiry, Nana said, "Fiona's bossing me around in here." See for yourself in the photos above. Fiona was insistent on turning the pages of the sheet music herself, and seemed very focused on her playing. Later, she demanded (nonverbally) to get off of Nana's lap and sit by herself on the bench. I am torn between delight at Fiona's burgeoning musical career, and a sense of dread at what this indicates she'll be like at 16!