The Last Word in Peruvian Fashion

"Yay, llamas!"

Fletcher models his new sweater, which his Tante Ruth and
 Uncle Ken brought back for him from their most recent trip to Peru. Chic, no?

Thirty-four Month Cupcake...maybe the best yet?

We're not sure how it happened, but somewhere along the line, someone taught Fletcher to say "cheese" whenever he saw a camera. The result is that we have a lot of photos now where he has a smile that is best described as "cheesy".

This was  a highly superior cupcake: chocolate with chocolate ganache frosting from Quack's (again). Did I mention the whipped cream filling? Fletcher is developing some impressive cupcake selection skills.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Last Saturday, we took Fletcher to his new favorite place in the world: The Guitar Center. We went on the outing as a reward for pooping on the potty. (Don't get too excited, everyone, this is still a very, very, rare occurrence.)

They have an entire rack of ukuleles right by the store entrance.

This is a nearly three year old playing a $300 ukulele.



Okay, Grandparents, I know he looks happy banging on a giant drum kit, and I know he has a birthday coming up, but do not get any funny ideas, okay?

Summer Adventures

We've been spending most of this summer trying to keep both occupied and cool.
This frequently means lots of time at the local splashpad:

We've also rediscovered our love for Highland Mall, the dying commercial wasteland
 that now provides the perfect spot for toddlers to roam free. We love it for the escalators,
 the fountains, the vast empty spaces, and the cheap rides:

Despite his grim expression, he swears that he liked this.

The wild carousel ride was too much for Simon, but Fletcher stuck it out. You can hear him
 tell me that he thinks it's fun...and yet immediately afterwards he asked: "Can we go to the
photobooth ('photoboof') now, Mama? It doesn't go.".

Music Dog needed some snuggles to recover from the trauma of the train ride.

We've also been working on some projects at home:

We made some cupcakes for Gretchen's birthday, which is observed on June 15th. 

 No gifts, please.

Fletcher, with some assistance from me, made frozen banana bites. He sliced a banana,

I froze it, and then he dipped it in melted pink almond bark and then rolled it in sprinkles.

The result was...sorta gross, but colorful.

We have plenty left in the freezer! Anyone interested? No?



Important Blog Update!

Finally, the answers to the questions I know you've all been asking:
 Was there a June cupcake? What kind? What bakery was it from?
And did Fletcher enjoy it?

I'm pleased to announce that there was a June cupcake!
It was chocolate with pink vanilla frosting. Fletcher and his Dada
 picked it out at Quack's.

And yes, it was delicious!

4th of July Festivities

Our neighborhood doesn't do much for the holidays, so once again we crashed
 the Cherrywood celebration and joined in their parade.

 First Fletcher hitched a ride in Noli's wagon...

...before squeezing into a spot in Simon's custom-made ride.

There was a short wait before the parade began, so he played some banjo
 (borrowed from his friend Desmond)...

...and some duck quacker, which is a leftover from our birthday adventures last year.

And then he played some more banjo for good measure.

And then some more banjo.

Annnd a little more.

They served refreshments after the parade, but it's surprisingly difficult to eat

 watermelon while playing the banjo, so we just went home.

After we all took naps in our delightfully air-conditioned house, we went over to Quinn's
 for a pool party.

Sabina splashed Fletcher, which he thought was totally fun...right up until the moment when he decided that it was not fun at all.

Happy Belated Fourth!

June Rodeo

Fletcher and his bandmates, Quinn and Aidan, sang "Wheels on the Bus" (with a little help from Dallas) at our most recent rodeo. Caution: this is a very long video, so if you aren't a grandparent, you might want to skip it.

They also paid a tribute to Zoe, who has temporarily relocated to the UK.

A Conversation in the Car
F: Mama, what is the name of the gym parking lot? (He's really into street names lately.)
Me: It doesn't have a name. It's not a street, it's just a parking lot.
F: It does have a name, Mama. Its name is Zoe, like my friend.

Swim School Graduation!

Fletcher's experience with swimming lessons got off to a slightly rocky start - I made the mistake of calling it "Swim School", which naturally led him to believe that there would be awesome school buses there. I mean...of course. After the initial disappointment wore off, however, he really took to it.

He received a medal with his name on it and a Tootsie Pop (root-beer flavored) at graduation and he was totally over the moon about it. It took him four lollipop-licking sessions to finish the treat, and he insisted on wearing his medal every time.

Father's Day Taco Extravaganza!

A few days before the holiday, Fletcher signed his name on some artwork he made for his Papa.

 We started our day with our traditional breakfast at Juan in a Million. This year, we were joined by the Chip family: Dada, Mama, Big Kid and Baby Chip.

 Bye, Dada Chip!

 Bye, Dada's giant taco!

Fletcher works on his modest taco.

 Breakfast was followed by a concert by Fletcher's former music teacher (and inexplicable idol), Neal.

Fletcher sang along with his all-time favorite song, "Thelma Lou". It's a ballad about a man, his gorilla, and a love gone wrong.

 Jammin' with Neal.

 After nap, we dined on more Mexican food at Trudy's. This is Fletcher's "child's portion".



He washed it down with some refreshing apple juice, and then we all collapsed in a food coma. Happy Father's Day!

Enough already, I give in!

Yes, Fletcher, we will buy you your own microphone and stand. So you can stop saying "Check, check!" into your percussion instruments now - you win, okay?

Hey Bud, it's a digger truck!

On OUR street!!!

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Ain't No Party Like a Suitcase Party

It's Saturday night, so the suitcase family threw a party in Fletcher's room.

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Kissycat and Fraidy/Shycat

By far, Fletcher's two best friends in Italy were the two farm cats. As far as we could ascertain, they were working cats, and thus had no actual names. We called one of them "Kissycat" and the other "Fraidycat". By the end of our visit, however, we realized that Fraidycat wasn't timid at all; he was just sort of sensible about keeping his distance from a two-year-old, at least until the two year old in question had proven himself trustworthy. Can you blame him? We renamed him "Shycat" and he became our boon companion.

Meeting Kissy - Fletcher was a little overwhelmed by his affections at first.

Kissy earns his name.

More love.

And still more.

 Shycat

Introducing Shycat to our friends yellow truck and baby giraffe.

Shycat accompanied us a a long and sunny hike one morning,
stopping to rest in the shady patches along the way.

 "Come on, Shycat!"

Surveying his domain

If your two best friends climbed a tree, what would you do?

On the farm

We stayed at the lovely Agriturismo La Fonte just outside of Pienza, in Tuscany.
It's a working farm that primarily produces olive oil. The original
 fourteenth century farmhouse/barn has been turned into four
 apartments; we had the smallest one.






Our apartment, La Caciaiola, was apparently
used at one time for cheesemaking.

 The suitcase family was relieved to have finally arived.

Fletcher's room

The gravel road that lead to the highway. Fletcher
 loved the "dirty road", because it meant that we were
 returning to the farm, and more specifically, to the...

...slide...

...and the swing...

....which had a view, of course.

Can you believe it?  Not only did our farm have the
usual assortment of tractors, but there was also some major construction being done!

How can one boy be so lucky?

This was the view from the pigsty.