10 months

Double digits! Maddie is going to be walking soon. She pushes her "lawnmower" toy with pleasure and confidence, cruises all over, and can stand independently for stretches while waving and clapping her hands. I would also say that as she becomes more alert to the world and more independent, she also becomes more stubborn and willful, less easygoing than she was a few months ago. But then again, this was also the month where she experienced her first cold and then her first ear infection, and I definitely thought the initial stages of her ear infection were just a manifestation of increasing independence, rather than a bacterial infection. Whoops! Thank God for effective antibiotics, because here we are two days after we started the drops:

Looking forward to getting back to the days when she slept through the night! In the meantime, it's all about climbing and walking, eating more table foods with her two new teeth (tofu and rice last night), the start of babbling, pointing at the ceiling fan, and laughing at peekaboo.

Lost and Found

For the first time last week, I lost my wallet. Like, completely gone, no clue where it could have gone, vanished. I definitely had it on Thursday evening, when I opened my wallet for the LIRR conductor; I handed him the ticket to click, replaced the ticket, then stowed away(?) my wallet in my purse. Dave picked me up from the station in his car; we drove home and picked up Maddie from Joy (our nanny). Then we went out to dinner, but Dave paid, so I didn't need to look for my wallet. We stopped by Stephen's house after dinner to say hi and pick up some tools, but I think I left my purse in the car. At any rate, when the LIRR conductor came by to click my ticket on Friday morning, there was no wallet in my purse. It wasn't at home, it wasn't in the car, it wasn't at the restaurant, it wasn't at Stephen's, it wasn't at the LIRR Lost and Found yet. I had no idea what had happened to it: had I left it behind on the train? Did it fall out of my purse? Did someone reach into my purse and take it? Did I leave it at the restaurant and someone picked it up? A good Samaritan surely would have emailed me by then—my work email is very easy to find by Googling my name.

Fortunately, I had my work ID and a separate credit card squirreled away elsewhere in my purse. But by the time I got to work on Friday morning, I was in full panic mode. Call the credit card companies! Order a new debit card! Order a new driver's license! And most importantly (I guess?): cancel your New York Public Library card so a thief doesn't check out books under your name and then never return them!!!

By Friday evening, I was resigned to the loss. At least most things were replaceable, and as long as no one stole my identity using the information from my driver's license, I would only be out the cost of the cash ($140), my LIRR tickets ($200), my Metrocard ($50), the cost of the wallet itself, and something of sentimental value: my credit card-sized periodic table that says "Proud to be a Chemist" on the back. Don't ask me why I'm still carrying this card from high school. The answer is: I don't know.

Then, a minor miracle! On Saturday afternoon, we received a mysterious visit from...the mailman! He handed me my wallet, saying "My supervisor told me to give this to you." Everything was still there, minus the cash, and my driver's license. I asked the mailman, "Wow, this is amazing! But do you know what happened to my driver's license?" He called the supervisor, who said that it had fallen out and that she had it, and he went back to the post office, picked it up, and brought it back to me! Apparently someone had just put the wallet in a mailbox, and it was taken to the post office, and the post office returned it to me! I didn't even know they could do that. There are still some mysteries: why didn't they just return the driver's license with the wallet, since they knew they went together? Why was everything in the wallet so...damp? And when truly did I lose the wallet?

I suppose I'll never know. Just count me grateful that someone only wanted the cash and didn't want anything else to do with me. S/he took only the cash, and left me the hundreds in public transportation cards! So the only cost was really $140, a day of stress/anxiety, and the $20 for the new driver's license. I'll take it! And be more careful with my wallet from now on...

Saying goodbye

Last Thursday, my Grandma (my dad's mom) passed away. I had rushed to Ottawa by plane on Wednesday evening, arriving at midnight, and I was so relieved that I got to say my goodbyes in person and be with her at the end. It all seemed to happen so fast: my parents were visiting in late March, and two days later she had a minor heart attack. She called an ambulance—the neighbors saw and called my dad—and went to the hospital. We all expected her to recover and be moved to a retirement home for cardiac rehab. In fact, my visit was planned for two weeks later so that I could perhaps help with the move from the hospital to rehab. But instead, her condition deteriorated. She never the left the hospital again. It's still a shock to me, though I suppose she was 89 years old. But she had been in pretty decent health—or so we had thought, not knowing about the extent of her heart disease—and still living independently with my grandfather in their own home. Now she is gone, and my Ye-Ye is living alone in a retirement home with a memory unit.

A classic photo hanging in the study of my grandparents' house:

Grandma always made us wear these bucket hats when we went out in the sun, and we always thought they were dumb. Haha!

There are a lot of things I can say about Grandma. First of all, I'm named after her! So I always felt a special connection. I also always thought that if I had a daughter, I'd name her after my mom. But...well, Mom, you got the middle name! Grandma was a poet and painter. She loved nature and sunsets and the sea and flowers, and she nurtured our appreciation for all of those things. She used to send me her poems in my birthday card. That's how I first learned that poems are a gift! And now I study Greek poetry for a living. Here's a poem she wrote that is hanging in their living room:

Her funeral and memorial service will be the first weekend in May. I think I'll continue posting here about my thoughts and memories of Grandma. I miss you already, Grandma, and I love you!

Happy Easter!

Today was Maddie's first Easter! We eschewed egg hunts and costume bunnies this year. But I did dress her up in a hand-me-down dress (Naomi wore it to Stephen and Grace's wedding!) and borrowed headband, and we made a fine appearance in church. I think she amused by the little crinoline in the dress:

The consoling power of a hug:

Christos anesti!

9 months

Belated post of Maddie's 9 month photos! It's getting harder and harder to take pictures of her, now that she's crawling and curious and unwilling to sit still. She's much more aware and capable: for example, I put her "9" sticker on a pillow behind her, like I have in previous months, but she immediately spied it and tore it off and crumpled it up. So...no number sticker in this month's pictures! Haha. Big developments this past month: her appetite for solids has increased, she crawls efficiently, she can pull herself up on the furniture and cruise, and she can even stand for 10 seconds by herself! We just might have an early walker on our hands! She can clap her hands, though waving hi/bye is still very hit or miss. She enjoys exercising her lungs, but still no dental or labial consonants.

Tribute to M.

We met up with my cousin Ruth a few weeks ago in the D.C. area. In addition to her many talents as a journalist and producer, she is also an artist! And just look at this gift she made for us:

A beautiful line drawing with wash of our little girl! Maybe you'll recognize the photo Ruth was working from:

I'm so touched at the way Ruth captured Maddie at seven months – and she already looks different today. This special portrait is now proudly displayed on our shelf in the living room. Come on over so you can admire it for yourself! Thank you, Ruth!!

34

For someone who ostensibly does not make a big deal about birthdays, I had quite the extended birthday celebration this year! On my actual birthday, Dave made me a delicious paella (his specialty), and I got to blow out a candle on a little cake.

We took a little family portrait afterwards:

A few days later, we were in NJ to celebrate a very special occasion: Julie and Shoobo's engagement and Shoobo's birthday!! The party was swank, the guests feeling festive, and the food was amazing! And much to my surprise, Julie and Shoobo made my birthday part of their celebration! I had my own ice cream cake (mmm, crunchies), complete with handmade sign and my own photo banner! Such sweet and thoughtful friends—on a day that was about celebrating them, they shared the spotlight with me. I was so surprised, I truly could not figure out what was going on. Hahaha!

Dave says M. looks like a miner with a headlight on here. 

My big birthday experience was today. Dave took me to a concert to hear the Eroica Trio at the Tilles Center out here in Long Island. It was a lovely concert, spanning Renaissance to contemporary music, played with flair and fun. It was a little disconcerting to look at the audience; in all of my classical music experiences, I had never been around such a uniformly geriatric crowd. Yikes, classical music, don't go the way of classics!

It was our first real date out since Maddie was born. We even got to go out to dinner – I ordered a whole grilled fish, to remind myself of my days in Greece. Can't wait til Maddie is old enough to enjoy these things with us!

It's almost hard to remember what our lives were like when I turned 33. Maddie was still just "Lumpy" to us; we were anticipating so much change, but unsure of what it would actually look like. This year, I'm so thankful for our happy, healthy, and splendid baby, for Dave, for our families, and for every precious day we have together!