remiandsteph

Aunt Chloé visits

Camille loves her French Aunt!

We had a busy week! It was so great to host Rémi’s sister Chloé and her boyfriend, Quentin. They are the cutest couple, and they loved all over Camille. They also did a lot of tourism, visiting all the sights in the city. It was a whirlwind week for them. Camille stayed closer to home, but was able to spend a lot of time with her French Aunt nonetheless. Chloé helped feed her, went on walks with her, and helped put her pajamas on at night. Camille took to Chloé right away and by the end of the week they were best buds. She was hilariously more shy with Quentin at the beginning of the week, turning away when he would look at her and pretending to be very interested in her toys all of a sudden when he would try to talk to her. But he was patient and by the end of the week she was playing with him and letting him hold her, she warmed right up to him. We also went to the park for a picnic where Camille discovered the new love of her life, apples. Now mind you, she doesn’t care for apples at all when they’re pureed and in a baby food jar, but she LOVES them whole, when she can bite into them with her new little teeth. After the picnic, we stumbled upon a Hungarian street festival (only in New York! - Or Hungary, I guess). We had a great time, a great week.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap your hands!

Yep, she’s doing that. This is my favorite development yet, we walk around New York applauding everything and everyone we see. She claps on command, when I say “yay, bravo Camille!” or she claps when she likes something or when she is proud of herself. She’s learned how to turn off the light in our bathroom, it’s a sliding dimmer, and every time she does it she gives herself a round of applause. This week Remi’s sister Chloe is visiting with her boyfriend, so soon I’ll have some pictures of Camille with her other aunt, but for now here’s the girl clap clap clapping away.

At summer’s end.

This town is cooling off pretty fast. In the mornings now you can definitely feel fall’s first chilly breezes. We walk to the park in the morning, let the dog see some grass and play with some other dogs, then head home for a nap. After that we usually go out exploring again. One of Camille’s favorite places in the city is the Petrie European sculpture court at the Met. It’s bright and filled with people and stuff to pull up on, she could walk around there all day.

Finally after months of gum pain and excessive drooling, Camille’s first tooth broke through this morning. I guess she’s ready for the steak au poivre that goes with the baguette she gnawed on Saturday at the park. (See picture) Our little girl growing so fast!

7 Months, time for a breakthrough.

After days of trying, finally she can pull herself up.

Camille had been putting all her efforts into learning how to pull herself up on her crib rail, and finally, on her 7 month birthday, she succeeded. Now she just can’t get enough of it, and every minute she spends not pulling herself up on something (anything!) is time wasted in her book. She’s become an expert crawler, but this step towards walking is her new favorite activity. We’re finally settled in to our apartment, we have a few boxes remaining, but are pretty well unpacked. We’ve spent the last week exploring our neighborhood, and discovering all the great stuff we have within walking distance. Camille is in heaven, since she hasn’t seen the inside of a car in over a week, and she gets to walk around all day in the baby bjorn, where hundreds (literally) of smiling people greet her every day. They say New York isn’t a friendly city, and this may usually be true, but Camille is making plenty of friends. I think she’s such a ray of sunshine to people who aren’t so used to seeing a baby. The new city has its downsides, however. For one thing it is sooo noisy, something I never noticed as a tourist here. I’m told we’ll get used to it and pretty soon we won’t be able to sleep without the sound of sirens and taxi horns, but I have my doubts. Meanwhile it’s making naptime very interesting. Anyway, here are some pics of the last month. Some of these are from Asheville, where Camille and I spent a long weekend visiting her cousin Julia.