Fancy Feet

She can't keep her hands off the new shoes her papà bought for her.  Seed beads in the shapes of flowers and ladybugs, she has trouble taking ten steps in a row without bending over to fiddle with them.

Bare Noggin Under Sunny Skies

Our temperature jumped well over 20 degrees in the last two days.  Her mother was obligated to run to the store in search of something to cover her very bald head.

Trying to Play with the Big Kids

Collecting Pinecones

A Clear Victory for Team Anti-headband

While amiably playing beside a girl in the neighborhood, Julia - without preamble or fanfare - quietly got up, removed her headband and placed it on the head of her new friend.

Enjoying the new-found freedom, she runs her hands through her hair, shaking out the locks.

Pappagallini!

Just spotted a blue-tailed parakeet in the trees above.

And here we are engaging in a bit of Peekaboo with papà

Party Crashers

The little girl celebrating her birthday in the park had no idea she would be sharing the spotlight with Pix who upon stumbling into their merrymaking was fawned over and offered balloons and cake.

Let Loose

I don't know why I didn't try this rainy-day solution before.  We left the stroller at home and walked to the grocery store where she had free reign to scamper up and down the aisles as she pleased.  Shrieks that drew crowds, kisses to advertising mascots and a new sound that, frankly, resembled more monkey than baby were a few highlights of our outing.

Happy Birthday Rapunzel!

Fifteen months old today!

Showing Off Her Moves

The brothers have been showing her how to kick and throw a soccer ball .  She plays hard, but keeps her daintiness about her.  Each time her foot connects with the ball, she stops and applauds.

Let the Record Show...

...the moment she loses those wrist rolls, I will go into mourning for a month.

Sticky Fingers

Julia stole this ball right from under a poor bambino's unsuspecting nose.  While no photographic evidence exists, her mother witnessed other playground infractions, including taking a Winnie the Pooh ball from a small girl, yanking a Minnie Mouse ball from another, trying to steal cookies from various playmates, and robbing a jar of fruit from a rather small and undernourished looking boy.  

Clapping

Each stone thrown successfully in the fountain was cause for a well deserved round of applause.

Strawberry Raincoat

The famous Strawberry Raincoat - found and greedily clasped to our chests about 10 minutes after the ultrasound determined that Raspberry was a girl.  Gramma bought it big, so that "she can bip around in it".  If this isn't bipping, I don't know what is.

The forecast predicts rain for at least the next 5 days.

Let it rain, let it rain.

Easter Weekend

More Easter Fun

The sun finally peeked out, so Julia was permitted to relieve herself of one woolly layer. 

So, how did we end up here?  Let's go back a bit.

One minute earlier...

Possibly my favorite picture of these two

And then...

Let's zoom in to examine the "evidence" as Leonardo later called this photo

Extraction

Subsequent reaction