August Visit to NC

Hello all,

Aydin and I had a fun time in Wilmington last week. Aydin discovered something new and incredibly important in her tiny world: DOGS. Mo and Sally (aka Black Dog & Red Dog) became objects of intense affection; thankfully both are good-natured dogs and indulged Aydin her need to pet & pull hair—all while grunting and shouting, of course. (It helps that Mo is practically deaf.)

Aydin also discovered the mesmerizing world of Sesame Street, watching two full episodes and becoming wholly obsessed with both the Sesame Street Playhouse and SS Townhouse toys that Taylor and I played with as children. (Thanks, Mom and Dad, for keeping them all these years!) Her favorite character so far is Oscar the Grouch, but that may just be because she liked chewing on his trash can lid so much. Yes, Aydin is STILL in the throes of teething, this time her maxillary and mandibular lateral teeth (thank you, Google!). Aydin also got a kick out of the Winnie the Pooh car Mimi and Skip have that Sophia usually plays on when she's in town. It has lots of buttons and gears, an ignition switch and a car horn, not to mention a bunch of things to tug and pull on in the front that all make sounds. All this boils down to Aydin delightedly pulling the tree trunk connected to Pooh so he says "This vat of honey is so yum... yum..." then the Winnie the Pooh song in its entirety over and over and over and over again. Did we mention that this was fun?

Other than playing with Mimi and Skip's far more interesting and interactive toys (than the ones Aydin has at home), we went to the beach (water, so-so; sand, rejected), went to Target (riding in the shopping cart is fun!), and ate some great food. Aydin is truly a Southern girl. We know because she likes her Southern-cooked vegetables! She ate green beans and baby limas with gusto. She even ate a little bit of dumpling from the tasty chicken n' dumplings Mom made Sunday night. She ate kiwi fruit and cantaloupe, mango and lots and lots of Oatios.

Of course, she missed her Baba terribly and was so happy to see him on Skype. While we were living it up in NC, Baba was in Brooklyn with Cinar Amca rearranging our apartment! We'll post pictures shortly of the redo; in a word, it's FANTABULOUS!