Despite her lack of balance and a form that looks more like that of a penguin, Grace is convinced she knows how to walk. And lately, that’s all she wants to do - practice walking. Fortunately, Madison Square Park is an excellent place to practice walking, or to practice waiting on 3 hour lines for ice cream, or practice lining up for free meals from the city meals program, or, if you’re there early enough in the morning, practice identifying used crack pipes and syringes.
Here we see Grace caught in the act of practicing indoors prior to heading outside:
Once we get to the park, Grace tends to head straight for the playground (notice how she demonstrates the family trait of sticking her tongue out while concentrating):
After the playground warm-up, she’s ready to do the 1/3 mile inner loop that is Madison Square Park:
And sometimes, when she’s had enough, she’s content just to relax in her stroller (that frustrating piece of equipment that Grace’s parents begrudgingly own)
If anything is going to help Grace’s Dad lose the obscene amount of weight he’s gained since her birth, it’s watching her eat.
Here she reminds us why the butternut squash and sweet potato have not become staples of the family diet.
Grace’s rather ambitious approach to eating usually ends in the over-saturation of whatever she was wearing - fortunately, since the apartment stays at a balmy 200 Kelvin, a replacement outfit isn’t always necessary for Grace to enjoy her post-dinner constitutional:
Grace is beginning to feel more and more like the senior statesman of Baptisms - here we see Grace’s 2nd Cousin Riley (daughter of Grace’s Dad’s first cousin Liz and her husband Sean) taking a dip in the font while shaking her hands vigorously:
But a family Baptism always means visitors - in this case, in was a chance for Grace to see her Grandparents and her Aunt Mary (as well as a whole host of other family members on the fuchster side of the family). Here she is spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa:
And here she is trying to convince her Mom not to use a nette pot to clean her nasal passages:
We also see Grace reacting, with a high degree of skepticism, when she was informed that her Uncle Ed (aka godfather) couldn’t make the journey from Pittsburgh because he had “schoolwork”.
Below are just two more shots of Riley during her Baptism - literally, out of the dozens that were taken, these two are probably the best, and that’s not saying much. (Grace needs to learn to take pictures and relieve her Dad of this task that he’s clearly terrible at):
A six week age difference and a five pound weight difference may not seem like a lot (in fact, these same characteristics, other than gender, are what differentiate Jim from Lara) but in the world of infants they’re pretty significant.
Thanks to a NYC conference that Grace’s Aunt Emily was participating in, Grace was able to spend the afternoon with her Uncle Mike and Cousin Ted (with a bonus visit from Grace’s Great Grandma). Unlike their last encounter in which they acted as if the other did not exist - this time they actually (albeit occasionally) played with each other.
