Minky & Me

Yesterday Lucy, Tristan and Sinéad’s dog, was barking. Coco turned to her, put her finger near her lips and said, “ssshhhh.”

Last week while in Vegas we noticed what seemed like a developmental explosion. Many new words are being added to Minky’s vocabulary like, bite, hat, dad, me, you, turtle (funny story about this word), shark, water, hello, I love you. Pretty much anything you ask her to say, she’ll try. Of course not all of the words she pronounces would be understood by anyone but us. For instance, she pronounces Tristan, her brother’s name, “na-nee.” Go figure.

We were in the town of Boulder City on our way to the Hoover dam when we saw a shop that looked interesting so we stopped. It was a mix of Indian and Mexican stuff, all aimed at tourists. The owner was very friendly and liked Coco. He handed her a little carved turtle. Larry was holding her and asked her to say turtle. The shop owner made a dismissive hand gesture, like Coco was much too young to be able to say that word. Surprisingly, as he started to walk away, she said “turtle” very clearly. She is usually not one to perform on command but this time she did. The man couldn’t believe it.

“Wow,” is another word we’re hearing a lot of and at all the appropriate times. At the Hoover dam Coco looked over the edge and said it with great enthusiasm, completely unprompted. There is something startling and amazing about hearing your baby say something like that because you realize that she’s absorbing much more than you imagined. It’s also damn funny.

Lately we’ve been getting these great legs hugs. Coco runs toward us and throws herself against our legs and hangs on for a moment or two. Each time anyone gets one of these hugs, we swoon.

She began taking her hat off and putting it back on last week.

While speaking to her in our hotel room the other morning, I referred to her as “you.” When I said it she pointed to herself. Larry has been teaching her “you” and “me.” She will also refer to herself as me and point to her chest.

Right before vacation she strolled around the kitchen with Rocky as she held onto his leash. We had rushed into the house and I hadn’t taken the leash off. I answered the phone and as I was talking saw her pick up the leash and take off, Rocky following willingly behind. It was a funny sight, this teeny girl walking this big dog around.

We are now in full toddlerhood, too. Coco knows what she wants to be doing at any given moment and if it conflicts with what you think she should be doing, look out.

Just returned from a fabulous trip to Sin City.

We stayed at the Paris Las Vegas hotel. What was wonderful about that was that for one week we got to feel as though we were enjoying ourselves in gay Paris, not in some lousy desert in the USA. Let’s see. There were crepes, croissants, a boulangerie, hotel employees that said “bon-jer” to us and “mercy.” What a treat.

We really lived it up on this trip, too. Lunch by the pool, a facial at the Bally’s spa, a gift of perfume from my beloved husband. Hell, we even ate some stuff out of the mini-bar. Saturday night we got tickets to go to see a Cirque du Soleil show, Mystere, without Coco. Evan, Larry’s coworker, was kind enough to babysit for us.

Sunday, Coco and I got to explore a little on our own while Daddy attended the NAB conference. We headed to the Mandalay Bay to see Shark Reef. If you’re going to Vegas don’t miss it. It’s the most beautiful aquarium I’ve ever seen. I overhead one woman saying, “wow, look, it’s a dorie fish,” to her kid. I was impressed that someone knew the name of such an exotic fish. As I walked away I realized she was referring to Dorie, the fish in Finding Nemo.

Monday we took a drive to see Red Rock canyon. Larry told me all about his bike ride out there seven years ago. He kept saying, “you think this is really flat but it’s actually going uphill.” Actually I thought it looked uphill and everytime we passed some miserable cyclist pedaling only fast enough to keep his or her bike upright, I thought how I’d never in a million years do that ride. Needless to say, Larry was really impressed with himself after seeing the road from a driver’s vantage point.

That night we broke out of hotel dining mode and had Bavarian food at the Hofbrauhaus an exact replica of a restaurant in Germany. Their tagline is “Stay thirsty.” What a find. You sit at communal tables and chat with total strangers. People were quite friendly. The food was delicious and Coco entertained us and the band by dancing to the music.

Sinéad and Tristan arrived Monday night to spend the remainder of the week with us. Tuesday we all headed to Hoover dam and then onto the Hello Kitty store we heard was at Circus Circus. Wednesday the kids rode the roller coaster at New York, New York. Thursday, while I sat by the pool, Layr returned to Red Rock canyon to show the kids. On the way back they checked out a pawn shop and the world’s biggest souvenir shop, high on the list of must-sees for Sinéad and Tristan.

A curious thing of note. You simply cannot order anything but Pepsi in any restaurant anywhere in Las Vegas. I think they should rename the place “Pepsi-town.”

This is the second big trip we’ve taken with the kids. It’s great fun being all together, away from home.

See all the pictures here.

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Ten years ago this year my sister and I, during a brief and disastrous spell of living together, went to get a cat at the Animal Rescue League.

All the cats looked helpless and lonely in their little cages at the shelter. My sister would have taken the whole lot if our apartment had been slightly larger. Instead, we got two and named them Winkle and Ernie. Winkle was mine. Ernie was Kristen’s.

Winkle was aloof and debonaire. He had one long snaggle tooth that stuck out when his mouth was closed.

One day while sitting at our kitchen table Winkle bit my neck and rubbed his nose under my chin again and again. It was quite curious and very uncharacteristic behavior for him. It was one of those moments that make you think your pet is a much more complex individual than you might have first imagined.

After I got asthma we had to figure out a new arrangement. My sister and I were moving to new places, so my parents took Ernie. She was the more easy going of two and would probably get along better with my mother’s cat, Rusty. Winkle and my sister moved close by in Brookline. I got to see him often.

Six years ago Winkle and Kristen moved to New Mexico. Though they were far away, they had each other. (Isn’t that the beauty of having a pet? You have an unconditional friend who is always thrilled to see you come through the door at the end of the day.) In Boston, Winkle had been scared to be outside. One time we took him out with a harness and leash getup we bought. I remember him growling in a bizarre way and slinking through shrubs clearly discombobulated. After another go at it we gave up. In Albuquerque, though, he came to enjoy roaming around the balconies and yards my sister has had. Why just this morning my sister told me he was up on their roof last week surveying the scene.

Yesterday Kristen called to say she couldn’t bear to see him looking so worn out and unhealthy anymore. He’s had a series of health problems in the last year. She decided to put him down in the afternoon. I know that was a wrenching decision for her to make. I think that if there were loan available for pet bionics my sister would have been waiting in line at the bank. She was wild about that cat.

The first call we had about it Kristen sounded very matter of fact – her way of not upsetting me. When I called back a bit later, I told her to make sure to tell Winkle that I loved him and that it was a medical condition that kept us apart all these years – a running joke between us that was worn out long ago (a family idiosyncrasy: wearing out some pithy phrase until its triteness makes it funny). She started to cry and said she would.

Here is a picture of Mr Winkle in October, enjoying the outdoors. Goodbye, Wink.