Thursday, October 21, 2010

In which Isobel is fêted.

That's right, folks, wee Isobel has completed her third year of life. Can you believe it? It's strange to me that she is no longer an infant, no longer a toddler, but a preschooler now. Luckily, she's the size of your average 18-month-old, so I can still scoop her up and pretend she's my little tiny baby. A lot of older children have the same urge. She gets picked up a lot, and then she says, indignantly, "Hey! I'm not a baby!"
Come to think of it, I can understand how she feels. I've always been fairly tall, but as a tween I was extremely scrawny. I had a few friends who were bigger who liked to exert their physical strength by putting me in frequent headlocks, throwing me over their shoulders, etc. Isn't that weird? I mean, these are girls we're talking about, not big tough jock boys. Maybe the way they treated me was an extension of their frustration with their own changing bodies. Anyway, it was humiliating at the time, but kinda funny in hindsight.
Moving on, here are a few photos from Isobel's birthday party: the cake, the tiger (face paint by Grandma), the friends.













It was a good time! Isobel has a great group of friends who all play together really well, and they didn't make me sorry for not planning any games. We did have a piñata (at Isobel's request) and some fantastic food, provided by Brooke's dad.
In other news, we had my friend Wendy here visiting for a week. Highlights included sushi and the North Carolina Art Museum. Regardez!






















(Isobel liked rice at the sushi joint, but she wasn't particularly impressed with the museum.)
And, just to balance out this Isobel-heavy post, here is a photo of Jude's party face on during Isobel's birthday snacktime shindig at school:
Speaking of babies, I HAVE A NEW NIECE!! Her name is Amélie, and she is beautiful. Photos will be posted here sometimes soon.
One more thing that you probably already know, thanks to my shameless self-promotion on facebook and gmail: I'm now a reviewer for The Blue Bookcase! I love this book blog. So far I've reviewed Tender at the Bone and shared my Top 10 Literary Crushes, but you should really just read the whole blog because all of the writers are cool and smart.
T.T.F.N.

4 comments:

the sleepy time gal said...

i have lots to say. COOL new look for your blog! i love how light and airy it is!!! i LOVE the party photos. i wish you could throw a costume party here!

and how COOL about the book reviewing. i just checked it out and will be back.

Megan said...

Happy birthday Isobel! You really went all out for her party and I'm sure she was a dream for her. Love the cake, it is so intricate!

MedSchoolWife said...

Hello, hello! I found your blog, haha! I love the shameless promotion :)

Random comments, but (1) Jude is actually one of the names that Brad and I agree on for a child, and (2) is either of your niece's parents French? I love the name Amelie and other French names, but I'm scared to name any of our kids that, because (a) people will always mispronounce it and (b) I'm not French, though I speak French, and I don't want to be a poser. Dilemma.

Christina said...

Jude is a GREAT name, if I do say so myself! I mean, I haven't regretted it so far.
And about baby Amélie: nope, neither of her parents is French, and neither even speaks French. A few other people in our family do, so she will probably grow up hearing various pronunciations of her own name. I actually have another friend from high school who has a daughter named Amelie (they don't bother with the accent) and I'm pretty sure there are no francophones in the family there either.
But I know what you mean. Had Jude been born a girl, there was a chance he might have been named Iva (Ee-vah) which is a Czech name. Same dilemma: everyone would pronounce it Eye-vah, and we're not actually Czech (though the hubby did serve a mission there).