On February 1st, Cheryl and Lura went with their Mommy & Me playgroup to the Artzone, a local arts and crafts studio for children. Lura's creation is now hanging up on our refrigerator: Untitled #1, mixed media (yarn, paper shapes, and glue paint).
Of course, there are other things with which to paint! Got spaghetti?
She doesn't always eat with her fingers (or entire hands); she has also learned to use a spoon, or two.
On February 3rd, the Mommy and Me class went to a different kind of arts event, a class at Music Rhapsody, and Mark drove down at lunchtime to join them. Here we are getting ready to dance to "B-I-N-G-O".
The next evening was opening night for the two-weekend run of "1776" with The Aerospace Players. This musical play, based on the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence, has been Mark's favorite show since he saw a movie of it in a history class back in high school. He wasn't planning to be in this production, because his absences to rehearse "The Pirates of Penzance" last Spring had been very hard on Cheryl; however, she knew he loved "1776," and she very generously told him that she wanted him not to miss this opportunity to be in it. He played Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress; his transformation wasn't as dramatic as when he played The Major-General last Spring, so when Lura saw him in costume and makeup she wasn't fazed at all. He is very grateful to Cheryl for enabling him to fulfill a long-standing wish!
A number of local movie theaters have figured out that they can serve an untapped audience by advertising certain matinee showings as baby-friendly; that is, if everybody in the audience is a baby or a parent, then nobody will object to kids crying, or diaper changes in the aisle, or the other things that make parents of babies reluctant to come to the movies without engaging a baby-sitter. Cheryl has seen more first-run movies than Mark lately! Here Lura is on February 7th, all set up in a seat with a tray for easy snacking, alongside her similarly-outfitted friend Ivy and Ivy's mother Erica.
A couple of days later Ivy came over to play. Here she is giving Lura a ride on her little car! When Ivy (or Mark or Cheryl) pushes her, Lura has learned to keep her feet up so they don't get run over.
We have a tradition, going back to "Oliver!" five years ago, of having dinner at the Coyote Cantina on the Wednesday between the two weekends of a show. For "1776" that was February 9th, and since Mark was scheduled to go to Berkeley on Valentine's Day (he ended up leaving a day later) we decided to make this our Valentine's Day celebration as well. Lura enjoyed sharing our food, even with the Mexican seasonings (though we didn't give her the hot stuff), as well as eating what we had brought for her! Like her Mommy and Daddy, she likes to try new kinds of food.
Mark's sister Jennifer sent Lura a marvelous handmade Valentine's Day gift: a dolly with a dress covered in hearts, and a matching dress for Lura to wear! On February 13th she showed off both, and her new skill at walking on her own, at church. Both Mark and Cheryl are very grateful to have so many reasons to celebrate Valentine's Day since we met, after all of the Valentine's Days when we didn't; Lura is a wonderful new reason to celebrate!
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