One of the luxuries of living in Tourism Central in the middle of Manhattan is the constant stream of parade activity that hits Fifth or Madison Avenues on the weekends. The most energetic parade is by far the Gay Pride Parade - so Grace put on her favorite “I Love NY” Pink onesie, cranked up the Broadway show tunes and decended upon the streets of Manhattan to get her “groove” on.
As you can see from the photos below, certain groups marching were hit-or-miss in terms of how much excitement they generated. Next year, the parade committee is thinking of using the Grace Sleepometer to determine which demonstrations will be invited back the following year. Notice how some of the marchers kept her awake while others did not.
Dykes on Bikes - a clear winner on the Sleepometer (was there ever any question?):
In some instances, waiting for parade activity was more exciting than the parade itself (although appropriate for the day, the inclusion of the “Silver Queen” sign is purely accidental):
With all the excitement going on, it figures that Grace would lose her momentum at the exact moment that Jim’s boss Diana stops by:
Although Grace is a fan of adult company (and by adult I mean “grown-up” not adult as it’s used in the phrase “adult video”), she thought it was time to spend a little time with her peers. At the suggestion of her MUCH older cousin Ted (6 weeks older - which seems like a decade in baby years and is barely a nanosecond in adult years - again, by adult, I mean …), Grace braved the Metro-North commuter train to visit him and her Aunt Emily, Uncle Mike and Great Grandma in Peekskill.
Grace achieved quite a few firsts on this trip: first train ride; first time out of Manhattan; first time out of New York City; first time in “the country”; and first time in a car & car seat. Since Uncle Mike was kind enough to pick her up at the train station, she thought she’d spend a little time with him and enjoy her cousin Ted’s canvas (aka Mike’s shirt) before it became decorated with his latest creation.
While Uncle Mike and Grace’s Dad stupidly pose for the camera, Grace and Ted begin using baby telepathy to share their thoughts on whose Dad is the biggest dork - they agreed to do a little more research, and share their results once they both enter high school.
After all the pleasantries, Grace finally has a chance to watch the artist at work - here we see Ted, in his “climbing Mt. Mike” position, creating his abstract rendition of the Japanese Archipelago (baby spit-up on red cotton t-shirt canvas)
Courtesy of Grace’s Aunt Emily - we’re able to add this picture to the posting. Here we see the artist Ted at rest as his younger cousin Grace looks on in admiration while thinking “what a difference 6 weeks and 5 lbs. makes!”
With their weak personalities and susceptibility to falling hard for new, untested ideas, Grace and her Dad demonstrate their obedience to the newest religion du jour - the Sacred Order of the Star Shaped Lightbulb. Unlike Scientology where a couple hundreds of thousands of dollars enable you to reach the top tier in the faith heirarchy, the Sacred Order of the Star Shaped Lightbulb doesn’t demand money - just time. Grace and her Dad are on their 18th straight hour in this photo - (fathers who enter the faith at the same time as their infant daughters can be easily distinguished - they’re the ones who have one bicep muscle that’s much more developed than the other).
Grace is a little more advanced than her father - she’s so good at immediately locating the lightbulbs in any given room that some would say she’s a divining rod for lightbulbs.
As Grace eases in to the concept of the social smile, we wanted to give our viewers a sense of just how close she’s getting to the full-blown smile - the type we can discern from a pre-cry smile or an “I’m about to have a bowel movement” smile.
Here she is half-smiling with her mom:
Resisting the temptation to get her Dad a “World’s Greatest Dad” tie with blinking lights, Grace instead opted to give what may be perhaps her first “social smile” (unfortunately we couldn’t capture it in a photo) but more importantly she felt compelled to demonstrate her neck strength by holding her head up as high as she could - against insurmountable odds I might add - like her Dad’s morning breath (which didn’t smell any sweeter simply because it was Father’s Day)
Grace is very animated in describing just how helpful a breath mint would be in convincing her to spend more time with her father.
And here Grace sets a new record for holding her head up - 10 seconds!
In the wake of Father’s Day, Grace noticed that there are very few pictures of her and her mother. Part of the reason, of course, is that many of Grace’s interactions with her mother are those that aren’t necessarily moments suited to Web posting. So instead of posting a series of revealing breastfeeding shots, we figured we’d show Grace and her mom playing together - with Grace revealing a little something: her enormous belly - a result of all those feedings we’re not posting!
A visit by Aunt Linda and Uncle John brought with it a little excitement and a little confusion, as Aunt Linda briefly engaged in the centuries old practice of baby massage - who knew Aunts could be so multi-talented. Here we see Aunt Linda waiting to hear Grace’s answer after offering a massage - Grace is clearly considering her options; avoiding direct eye contact as she makes up her mind. She’s also aware that there are some similarities between Aunt Linda and Grace’s Mom - although the concept of having a sister is a foreign, long way down the road reality for Grace right now, it’s something she’s already considering pestering her parents about.
Knowing that her Dad is an avid Yankees fan, Grace first thought, when she saw Uncle John’s new goatee that perhaps she was being visited by a major league pitcher - more specifically a relief pitcher as goatee’s seem to be the domain of that position. Much to her surprise, and relief (a major leaguers goatee is most likely encrusted with a little chewing tobacco), it was Uncle John, who during the visit, re-affirmed his commitment to quickly introduce Grace to the finer points of Halo II & Oblivion. As Grace is easily captivated by lightbulbs at the moment - we can only imagine how awed she’ll be by a video game.
As a reminder that her roots extend well beyond the NYC area, Grace was visited by her Grandparents (Lara’s Mom & Dad). Here they do their own version of Grant Woods’ American Gothic except their modernized version is entitled American Gothic sans pitchfork plus baby, plus Mom of baby (notice how Grace is the only one who was able to remain stoic during the pose - showing her profound respect for 1930s art)
Here we see Grace covering her mouth as she whispers something, obviously quite fascinating, to her Grandparents. Her parents suspect that she’s describing her latest game of choosing to soil her diaper at the exact moment that her father has removed the old one and before he’s actually put her in the new one. That Grace, she knows fun!
And finally, Grace, a loyal practitioner of hyperbole, retells a story that’s been told many times before. In this instance she’s telling her Grandpa, “I once fed from a breast this big…”
As it’s been proven that an hour of breastfeeding burns 7,000 calories (only slightly less than Grace takes in during one feeding; and slightly more than your average lumberjack burns in a day), it’s understandable that she may just want to take it easy and relax in her “I’m at the spa” position.
Below the curious reader will find Ms. Grace, in a comfortable yet pensive position, as she ponders just how embarrassed she’ll be once she’s old enough to realize how exposed some of these postings have made her.
She nonchalantly wears her brownish, chlorine-free diaper with little or no regard for the potential jokes a pre-browned diaper may inspire and has learned to look away from the camera, while still striking a memorable pose - she’s clearly OK with the photos, but on her own terms.
Here we see Grace demonstrating her patented “look away” move.
And in a classic “leave ‘em wanting more” move, Grace gives what can best be described as a half-smile (PLEASE NOTE: This has been an ongoing debate between Grace’s parents. Jim on one hand, insists that Grace has been consciously smiling from day one - he also claims that she’s predicted a few major news events and is capable of scintillating conversation (and is just holding back), but that’s another story - Lara insists that Grace’s Dad is ascribing much more meaning to little gestures or facial expressions, and that ultmately Grace is unconsciously doing the things a baby does - nothing more. We expect Grace to settle this debate soon.)
