gothamwingard: October 2012

It's hard to believe it's fall, Halloween is next week and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. And do not talk to me about Christmas! Wasn't I just blogging about the heat of summer, wading pools and garden hoses?! Sheesh, time flies!

Coco is now 18 months old. She is such a little person. She marches around in her little outfits, she has an opinion about whether she wants to be upstairs or downstairs, she climbs the stairs all by herself now (okay, we're always right behind her with hands outstretched to steady her if she wobbles), she likes to put on her shoes by herself, and she holds her dolls, bunnies, bears and doggies tight, giving them hugs and kisses and asking Daddies to give them hugs and kisses too. She waves "hi" and she blows kisses "bye-bye." She has added stickers to her list of favorite things (bubbles are still at the top of that list). She likes to put stickers on lots of things. Last weekend we played "stick the stickers on daddy's nose." I now understand why homes with toddlers of a certain age have stickers on everything. I mean - everything. Our time is coming although I suspect Papa will set some boundaries when it comes to stickers.

Clearly Cornelia will be a talker. She likes to talk, although she doesn't have many words yet. She is pretty good with "daddy," "agua" (we get that one a lot these days) "bubbles" and "baby." There are others too - "hat", "balloon" . . . Oh, and "apple" is a big one right now too. Of course she might be saying a lot in Spanish and we just don't know it. Some things are still sounds and signs. Dogs are "arf! arf!"  Elephants are an arm up at the side of you head. More and more she talks with her dolls, bunnies, bears and doggies in her crib before she goes to bed and after she wakes up in the morning. I have to say it's very cute to hear her upstairs talking all by herself.

Our nutty travel schedule for the past three months is lessening a bit. This week should be the last week we both have to travel for some time. We've had very little time together as a family. We did manage to visit the Los Angeles zoo when Cornelia and I flew to Los Angeles for Ken's last day of shooting on HomeMade Simple.  Last weekend we visited a pumpkin patch in Anderson Valley.

I have to admit it's really hard to be away from Cornelia when I travel for work. (Yes, honey, it's hard to be away from you too . . . .) Of course, every parent who travels for work experiences it: the guilt about being away from home, worrying your child is wondering where you are and missing you, and regretting the moments you've missed while away. And it only gets harder as she gets older and more clearly understands that you're leaving and that you're gone.  Before my last trip I'm sure she knew I was packing to leave so she would not let me out of her sight. For me, before Cornelia, I understood my friends and colleagues missed their kids while traveling for work but it's different to experience it yourself. Well, duh! It does mean that I appreciate the kisses more, story time more, and the hugs every night more.

Tonight when I put her to bed she hugged each one of her friends in her crib (Big Bunny, Liza Sue, Baby, Howard, Ellie and Bunny) and then handed them to me to hug and kiss good-night too. Then I picked her up again and gave her another hug and kiss too. That was awesome.