Smasher of Sunglasses

It is nearly impossible to expect that I will ever "catch up" on the blog. So for those of you who are my devoted readers, I will pledge to update the blog every single once in a while. That is actually a phrase that I coined when I was 8 years old. My older sister of 14 complained that I, the little brat, didn't help out with the dishes enough. "Yes I do," I countered. "I do the dishes every single... (long pause, searching for truth to tell)...once in a while!" At least I am honest.

About the title of this blog. Harvey is guilty of three acts of destroying sunglasses this summer. I was getting pretty good at haggling with the vendors at the Fontainebleau Outdoor Market to give me lower prices on my replacement sets of lunettes du soleil. Don't let this little person hold your glasses for a second. He LOVES to snap their little arms off.

Pictured with Harvey is violinist extraordinaire, Alicia Ciccone. They are across the street from the movie theater in F'bleau. It was a great session. More later.

Dirty Baby!

Somehow he found this on the shelf and has taken a liking to it. I guess he is practicing for France this summer. For those of you that don't know the translation of Merde, you will have to look it up as this blog is rated G (hint: babies leave it in their diapers...) Meanwhile his cousin Erin gave him a much more useful gift for Christmas. which is a picture book of 1000 french words. Thanks Erin. Note that the green overalls and turtleneck were from Therese and are sized for 18 months! Wow Harvey you are getting big. Yesterday I took 4 bags full of too-small clothes to our storage facility at grandma's garage in Willow Grove!

Trottoir

French for "sidewalk". Erin was the best au pair. She took Harvey all over Fontainebleau in his stroller. He visited the formal gardens at the Chateau and munched on baguettes while perusing the outdoor market. She even bought him a cute little outfit and sun hat in the Monoprix (a store kind of like Walmart, except with fresh-baked croissants and fancy French perfume). One day they had to stroll to the Pharmacie and buy ointments and bath salts for his mosquito bites. Poor baby, he was covered from head to toe with bites. Unfortunately the French don't have mosquito nets (screens) on their windows. I thought they were supposed to be so advanced!

Harvey Chez Delloye

He loved dining al fresco and was always curious to try new foods: yogurt, roast beef, apricots, croissants and the list continues to grow. Yesterday he ate figs - a big hit!

Too Big for the Airplane

The packing list is already too long. We are torn about bringing the pack-n-play as a substitute crib. So we are posting these pictures for our dear friend Catherine in Fontainebleau who will help us to get a crib and a high chair so that nothing is lost in the translation. What IS the french word for crib, anyway?

Globe Crawler

Harvey is so excited about going to France that he started checking out other cool places to visit on the planet. We are waiting for his passport to arrive. Joe took the photo for it and the passport lady at the Post Office exclaimed that it was the best baby picture she'd ever seen on a passport. Today I spoke with the travel agent and we still haven't been guaranteed the bulkhead with a bassinet yet. US Airways has been a bit over the top. They charged us $295 for Harvey even though he's not getting his own seat! Meanwhile, we are trying to figure out what to take. Should we bring the carseat and stroller transportation system and pack-n-play? Should we try to find a crib for loan in Fontainebleau?

Are You My Mother?

Somebody commented that boys start young...

Steak au Poivre at the French Roast

He didn't seem to go for it at first....













But then he tasted it and said, "ENCORE! ENCORE!"

First Fontainebleau Event

Harvey is gearing up for France. Last week he made a lot of friends at the Alumni gathering in NYC. He is pictured here with members of the class of 2004 when he was merely a monkey in potentiality. He was quite the hit of the party and a few people came just to get a glimpse of him. Unfortunately there weren't any suitable crawling areas so at 9 PM Harvey promptly passed out into baby dreamland.