Well I can't believe it. My Antonia is 2! We have had a busy birthday weekend celebrating. Antonia was about as spoiled rotten as the first child/grandchild can be! As well she should be! We had fun baking for her birthday party and putting together party favors on Saturday, then opened presents and skyped with various (robot) family members Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon was the birthday party, and after the craziness of last year, we decided not to have it in our house. Instead, we used the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library, basically a big room full of toys and slides and trampolines. It was very kid friendly.
Antonia is counting a little and singing the alphabet song--she usually jumps in at two three quatre! and G! P! S! X! me! right when she should. She knows her colors and gets better saying them every day. Just this morning we went from "Goree" to "Gree"She can repeat most words now, and knows to respond to her Papa in French and her Mama in English. She'll say "uh oh bêtise, Papa" when the dog does something bad. She will go to the potty as long as she's not wearing any pants so most of the days when she's at home she's diaperless: free and wild! She has an enormous amount of energy and is VERY stubborn about how she wants (me) to do most things. She's also very cuddly and often comes to us for a hug and asks us to rub her back, her neck and kiss her "piggy toes."
She still loves Elmo and Sesame Street, Yo Gabba Gabba, dogs (woofies), cats (meow/minous), bears, roaring like a lion, birds, DANCING like a maniac. She does NOT like swimming we found out at her first swim class on Saturday. That will not do, so we're working on it.
Meanwhile in the land of PhDhood, I have turned in the revisions to the first chapter of my dissertation, applied to two fellowships for next year and submitted my first potential abstract for publication.
Here are some pictures from Antonia's past two birthdays, as well as from this weekend!
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| All cozy in my big belly the night before she was born |
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| Antonia Anaïs Jonsson Tirfoin aka BABIS born "comme une lettre à la poste" January 14, 2011 |
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| Age 1, already fascinated with whipped cream |
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| I was very excited to find this cake pan and even more excited that the cake I baked had the recognizable Sesame Street characters' features |
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| We gave her a balance bike that she'll hopefully learn to use this summer |
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| Party favors: Antonia's favorite things: Monkey tattoos, playdoh, and snap bracelets |
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| She wanted the Elmo piece, surprise, surprise. This is a simple yoghurt cake with a lemon glaze. |
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| Putting our feet up after a long afternoon baking |
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| Family birthday presents early in the morning. The big package is a Singing Elmo. Lord help us. |
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| Blueberry yoghurt cake with lingon and vanilla whipped cream in the middle! |
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| We have such cool friends! Amanda and Reggie |
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| Mathilda aka Teetee |
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| Verona aka ONA |
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| Verona's cousin Gracie |
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| The Nichols and spawn |
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| Emilia and Dalton |
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| Arthur |
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| Bill and Winslow |
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| Peter and Brooksie |
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| Kelly and Thurston |
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| Monika, Matt, and Aleksander |
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| Memphis |
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| Nichols sisters Amy and Libba |
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| Dylan |
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| It is pretty much the best thing in the universe to have all my friends in one place! |
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| Val and Daniel |
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| Lawrenceville mamas (originally) |
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| Antonia and Imogen |
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| Obligatory Mama-daughter portrait |
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| Matt and Aleksander |
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| Janeen and Teagan |
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| We may never get a good shot of the three of us... |
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| Pittsburgh this weekend |
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| Well I may not win any cake decorating contests, but they sure were tasty! |
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| Patty and Imogen |
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| Nor will I win any birthday party decorating awards. |
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| Double trouble |
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| Waiting for CAKE! |
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| Elmo cake! |
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| Post party wind down. The two-year-old conked out in bed, Guillaume decides he needs to fix something behind the stove. I decide to have a glass of champers. Cheers! |
