h e l l o l e t i c i a

And she is three...

Zara Blue is our little entertainer.

She wakes up everyday and tells me "Mamãe, I'm not tired anymore. Can we go see our friends?" She has many "best friends" and is called by many a "best friend."

She is speaking in Portuguese and English. But English her go-to language for now.

She loves her gymnastics class (we've been doing it for a year now!) and her music class. While in class, she's always eager to answer the teacher. (She tries, even when she doesn't know the answer).

She can spin around, dance and sing all day. She finds stages everywhere.

She is very dramatic and good with adjectives. Every phrase comes with a "fun", "beautiful", "awful", "cool", "cute", "shiny", etc. A few weeks ago, checking out our furnace closet, she saw all the pipes and said out loud, opening her arms up: "Those pipes are FABULOUS!"

She made up a word "booba." We keep asking her what booba is and we get different answers all the time. Usually is something to eat, but sometimes is a green triangle and sometimes it is a pink circle. (We hope to one day find out what "booba" is.)

She excels recognizing faces and names. She likes to point out the little Facebook icons of people she knows. Before leaving the house she mentally goes through her mental "rolodex" of local moms, dads, siblings and nannies, asking who we are going to see today. I showed a few times who President Obama is, so she recognizes him when he is on TV. The other day strolling around Target she pointed it out to me to the card section and said: "Mamãe look, Obama!" I couldn't find it, and for a second I thought, "Oh no, all African-American males now are going to be 'Barack Obama.'" But no, she was right, I looked again and there it was a birthday card with a big Obama picture on it! (Phew.)

As the first grandchild and great-grandchild in both sides she's the little princess of the family. And has a special place in our hearts.

I've asked Zara Blue what she wants to be when she grows up and she said: "I want to be Doctor Zara."

Oh... and her favorite color is purple and she had a butterfly party this year. She was very persistent and asked for one for five months!

Firsts

September was full of firsts. First time ZB had an ice cream.
First time she enjoyed the Crown Fountain at night. (What a treat!).

First time I had an art opening in Chicago! Yes, my art group "Prairie Art Group" (more on that later) had its first opening at The Keith Mansion.

And September was also when dad Phil started his MBA.

Five months in Five days

Well, I haven't been here for a while, but I want to do a quick update on the past five months before the year ends.

July ended with a special note. A city kids campout organized from the awesome mamas of SLMNT. The whole family went to the park close to our house, listened to stories told by Z's daddy (that's right!), had s'mores and hot dogs, and played with glow sticks when it got dark.
August was very fun around here. Lots of playdates, park time, picnics, music class and soccer class! Yes, soccer class. Priceless to watch a bunch of 18-24 month-old kids trying to follow directions and kick some balls around.

Fun under the sun: Part 3

Princess dress

New dress from her godmother.

She doesn't know what a princess is, but she sure likes to dress like one!

Fun under the sun: Part 2

We enjoy having guests over (and if you know us, you know that we have them as often as anybody I know!). Is so fun to constantly being able to see our city through a tourist's eyes.

Last week my cousin's wife Alana (aka “Nhãnha,” which is what Z calls her) was here for a few days. And the whole family took her to the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower. Here is my fearless little girl:

Pae White at Art Institute Chicago

If you haven't yet, stop by the Art Institute's Modern Wing Terrace to see Pae White's work:

"Restless Rainbow, a commissioned, site-specific work for the Art Institute of Chicago’s Bluhm Family Terrace, uses this dramatic space not as a platform for objects but as the work itself."

White's work brought an incredible energy inside a space where you'd normally go to look the view outside the glass. Very unexpected. Pure awesomeness.

Fun under the sun: Part 1

I love my second city, Chicago. You gotta give some respect for this c-r-a-z-y weather. In the past week, one day was close to 100F and the next around 70F!

But Chitown is ZB's first city. And, as a good Chicagoan, she loves to play outside when the weather gets warm.

Check out how much fun she had on Millennium Park Crown Fountain a couple of weekends ago:

At the (Chicago) Beach

Last weekend we went to check out a beach close to our home in Chicago. It's a nice 30min walk. As you can see, Z had a blast:

The cutest part was when the water hit her feet for the first time. She looked at me with a surprised face and screamed "Agua! Agua!" (“Water” in Portuguese.)

I just LOVE our neighborhood. Yay, South Loop!

Z's first television appearance.

Check it out at 00:13 :-)