Girls, Girls, Girls

Elsie...can...crawl...

Ida is too little (and a Hottentot) and can only look on in disbelief.

Ida Loves Her Mom and Cooking

As one astute (and anonymous) commentator has noted, life really doesn't stop for Ida just because Elsie is out of town...

Ida Misses Elsie

Elsie has been taken back to the East Coast!* Because Arthur's pilot of How's Your News? for MTV has been picked up and he has to go there to talk to J.J. Jackson, Martha Quinn and the rest of the team about what will happen next...

And the girls are separated; you can tell by these pictures (taken when they were about to be taken out of their Chariot) that they don't like that one bit.




*but only for about a week.

Ida vs. Guest Blogger / The Many Faces

Our recent houseguest Sung-Ji Kim Schmidt embarked on a project of capturing Ida's expressions--expressions that other photographers had missed. So here are some photos from her. (Sung-Ji is a very good friend of Ida's, and a very accomplished blogger, though her blog is so anonymous I cannot even name it here.)

Cookie Monster Suit!

Ida has coveted this suit since before she was born. And now it's hers! So strange to think she's now 2+ months older than Elsie was when this photo was taken.

As promised: Chandler is the bomb!

Okay, as one anonymous commentator said, "Chanler is the bomb!" It's the truth. Here is Chandler feeding both these hungry swarthies at once!



And just to show Ida's devotion to Cousin Elsie, here are some nice photos of her. In one she's talking to a pet dog. It's just a matter of time before she gets hold of Ichiban...

Sung-Ji and Other Delights

Ida became very excited:



Because Sung-Ji Kim Schmidt, our old friend, came to town to visit, do yoga, and cook delicious meals for us.



In fact, we all were excited.



Before long, we got into the car and drove to Long Beach, Washington, home of Jake the Alligator Man:



Also, the alleged "longest beach in the world" (28 miles), a lighthouse . . .





And then Sung-Ji bought Ida a kite, a Penta-Cat kite --



--the instructions clearly state that one must be 5 to operate it, so until that time, Ida will just have to watch (and watch she did as Ella dropped the spool and chased in across the beach as it slid across the sand, barely catching it...)

Of course, the travel was occasionally hard on Ida,



and she had her less than stellar moments.



Who doesn't?



But we try to keep looking on the sunny side, like all those good-natured hi-jinks back at the beach house:

Cousin Championship

What if you saw these two hungry cousins, waiting to be served. Could you feed them both at once?



If you were as strong as Chandler, you could.

Meanwhile, Europeans are threatening Ida's supremacy.

40 year olds do this kind of thing whether their daughters like it or not

Ida vs. Most of Her Hats that Don't Fit Her

100th Post!

Can you believe it? Probably, you can. It won't go on forever, though. Below, a picture without a flash and one with a flash. One thing is certain: she's a very sweet girl with whom to share one's birthday.

Battle of the Titans

I stole this photo from Elsie's blog because it so wonderfully suggests the quickness of Elsie's hands when in the presence of Ida (and her hair). No camera is fast enough to actually capture her hands, just as no adults hands are quick enough to forestall them.

Emma Chandler Jenrette and More Elsie

Okay, here is the long-awaited documentation of Chandler Jenrette, Ida's nanny:



I have known Chandler for many years and she is perhaps the most-in-demand nanny in America and Europe, so we were lucky to have enough money to hire her. She is nice. and a good example. While her first name is Emma, she has always been called Chandler (which is her official middle name), from the time she was born. She claims this is a southern thing; she is either from West Virginia or South Carolina, depending on when you ask her. Also, she is a vegetarian and eats hummus and fruit. More details to come, no doubt. We're not going to bother her too much, here on the blog, but at the same time we don't want anyone to say, "Hey, who's this Chandler, on the scene?"

On Monday, Chandler's going to face her most daunting task, akin to Hercules vs. the Augean Stables: Ida and Elsie, simultaneously!




Believe me, there will be more documentation of these young ladies as they try to become friends. Right now Elsie and her quick-grabbing hands are slightly feared by Ida, who remains intrigued.

Elsie: Landfall!

After one of the most circuitous and kayak-laden trips ever across America, Elsie finally arrived at her new home in Portland. Ida stayed up, crabbily, to say hello:



The girls seemed to recognize each other! Elsie pulled Ida's hair several times. Vidamae drank all Ichi's water but didn't quite get to his food. Stay tuned...