A Collection of Memos from my Phone

I started to write this blog on why Scotland is totally underrated as a tourist destination by Americans.  But half an hour in, it was starting to look more like a thesis than a blog post. So, moving on.

Sometimes when I am walking home from work, I think of something I want to blog about. So I stop and whip out my super-wimpy smartphone (it doesn't even merit a capital S) and click on the Memos icon.  I am still a fairly rudimentary texter, so my Memos are often mis-spelled, but my hope is that when I look at them later I'll be able to figure out, as the Brits say, "what I was on about." So here goes.

Memo 1: Blog on best toys.

Tad and that $3 cape I bought at Savers. Seriously, Tad, of Leapfrog fame, has got to be our most long-lasting toy.  My aunt gave him to us when Audrey was 18 months old. We started using him as her "going to sleep" music (he plays 10 minutes of night-time music if you sqeeze his hand twice) then, and he's still going. With only about 3 battery changes...we play him every night. He even goes on vacation with us. Audrey is now nearly 7. And the $3 cape. I bought it on a whim at Savers, the thrift department store in Rhode Island, when Audrey was about 4.  It's shiny green on one side and black on the reverse. It has been a princess cape, a fairy cape, and is currently serving as Hermione's cape from Harry Potter, complete with the Hogwarts "coat of arms" badge that I bought in London sewn on.   

Memo 2: Flying thru Amsterdam

My attempt to capture our flying trip through Amsterdam.  It was supposed to be an afternoon, maybe getting to see the Van Gogh museum. But thanks to airline delays, we got into the city in time to check into the hotel and seek out dinner. It was a cool city. We saw a stand with about 8 varieties of what Rhode Islanders would call "fried dough"  - mostly apple-based. There was a skating rink, but it was quite melted in places. Even in the north, the weather was too mild for an outdoor rink.  We also saw a big sculpture/place to take selfies written "I Am sterdam" - the letters were probably 8 feet tall but people were climbing all over them for pictures.  We ended up in a hotel on the 3rd (well, they call it the 3rd but counting the flights of stairs you would call it the 4th) floor having to open out windows to the December air because the heating was on full blast and we couldn't adjust it. 

Skating Rink/Swimming Pool

Selfies galore

Apple/Dough stand at the airport

Memo 3: Could you possibly...

A note to myself about the possibility of a blog about polite British ultimatums.  Stemming from my boss telling me that when she says, "Could you possibly..." to her teenage children, they jump up and do whatever she's asked, because that phrase is eqivalent to her saying, in American terms, "F-ing do it, or else!"

Memo 4: What the...

Notes about a possible blog (or blogs) about how the UK did not recognize us as having a life or history beyond its borders, and the parallels with a workshop I took on creating a fake identity (in the name of research, of course!).  In reality, all the steps the workshop runner explained for creating a fake identity were things I had done in the previous 6 months to establish myself as a legitimate person in Scotland.  The only difference was I had a letter from the University stating I was employed by them, which made me "legit" instead of "fake."

This memo was also about being culturally lost in the grocery store, and being intially unable in Dundee to find a store that sold tissues (hint, not the pharmacy) or basic office supplies (hint, the post office). But that while I was on my tissue hunt I ran into both my choir director and my boss. Typical small-town Dundee. 

Memo 5: More Amsterdam.

This memo was about how impressed I was in Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport to find that someone had designed a seating area with a built-in slide. Adults rest, kids climb the stairs and slide down over and over and over...brilliant!  Also in the same airport, I spotted a store called "Philosophy" - they really sell everything in airports nowadays. I almost bought slippers in the shape of wooden shoes. But I resisted. And for some reason I also remembered in this memo that it was snowing lightly when we visited L'Academia in Florence.  

Hope you have enjoyed this trip down Memo-y lane.

Tag Blanket!

Yesterday Joanna sent Audrey a new toy. She apologized for it being late (for Audrey's birth and for my birthday) but I think it's right on time, since Audrey recently learned to grab and even more recently has been trying to put things in her mouth. The tag blanket is perfect for both of those pursuits, and as you can see from the photo, she is enjoying it already!

Leaps and Bounds

So over the weekend, Audrey learned to grab things. Paul has been working with her, showing her that her hands can close around various little hanging toys that she has, but it wasn't until Saturday that things seemed to "click." Paul and I had noticed that Audrey was now bored in her infant carrier. Every time we put her in it, she would "read" the warning on the side of the carrier about 20 times (when she's able to talk, I won't be at all surprised if her first words are "Warning! Advertencia!" since the label, advising us not to put the infant seat in the front seat of the car, is in both English and Spanish). Anyway, Paul hung a giraffe toy from the carrier canopy, figuring she'd look at it.

While we were in the car on Saturday, trundling from party (Happy 15th birthday, Nick) to party (Happy get-together at Lauren, Niel and Gavin's!) I had pulled the canopy all the way down to keep the sun from beating down on Audrey as we drove. I was talking to Paul, and noticed that the giraffe's head (which was all I could see of him, as his body and legs were under the canopy with Audrey) kept moving. I lifted the canopy, and saw that Audrey had grabbed the giraffe's leg and was repeatedly pulling on it, causing the head to bob under the canopy and then re-appear in my view.

Once she mastered this skill with the giraffe, she was quick to try it out on her new toy, the take-along arch (thanks Erica, Sammy and Nick, I think this was a gift from you). Paul clipped it to the boppy, so she could rest and look at - or grab - the toys as she rested there. So that's the picture. Audrey is grabbing the turtle, who is supposed to play three songs, but I can only get him to play one (part of "Pop Goes the Weasel", I think). Audrey managed to hit it in such a way as to get it to play another song, but I have no idea how she did it...I have experimented with hitting the turtle in multiple ways (much to the amusement of Audrey AND Paul) and it either stays silent, mocking me, or plays "Pop Goes the Weasel"...c'est la vie.