Well, helllllllllooooooo!

Hi Sonia!

Welcome back to Boston. You got here again on Friday. So glad to see your smiling face. And it is: smiling! You giggle and laugh and shake your head in utter glee. I love you!

I would upload a photo of us together, but I packed my camera cord and I have no idea where I put it. [Update: Uploaded the photo Wednesday morning after I unpacked!] I'm moving tomorrow, right in the middle of your visit! But only two days apart, and then I'm coming to Nana and Papa's house again for dinner on Wednesday. And we'll spend most of the weekend together, too.

This week, you love it when I make kiss-noises at you. And you also love another noise that I make by sucking my tongue in a weird wet-click. You really love that one.

Yesterday, you were Miss Crankypants all afternoon. Your Nana watched you in the morning while your Mom came with me into Boston to help me pack my apartment. We were gone for 5 hours all together. My new roommate, when I told her you were Miss Crankypants, wrote: "Cranky-pants Baby Sonia is jealous her aunty was scoring all her mom's attention today. One day she will understand the kind of moral sibling support needed to clean all your worldly possessions of cat hair." Ha! I'm moving (again) because my silly roommate here at this apartment got two cats, but seems to have forgotten that they need cleaning up after.

Oh! Tomorrow you will visit with Auntie K's oldest friend Sara and her three kids. She has a baby that is only 5 weeks old! She is looking forward to meeting you. Enjoy her and her kids!

Well, chickie. I'll see you soon. So glad you're here in Boston with us again.

Love,

Auntie K.

A Brief History of Boston

Dear Sonia,

There is a freebie magazine in Boston called The Improper Bostonian. It's well written and fun. Your cousin E was recently chosen by the magazine as one of Boston's Best Bartenders and a photo of her was in there! Very cool.

Anyway, this week, they did a huge story for anyone who wants to be a Bostonian quickly for everything they would need to know. The very first little section was a "Brief History of Boston" and it was hilarious. (Many of the little sections in the article were hilarious, but I thought you'd want this one for prosperity.) I am reprinting without permission from the Improper, but giving full credit where it is due, so hopefully nobody'll sue me. (If enough people are reading this for me to get sued, I'll throw a party anyway.)

A Brief History of Boston
Memorize. There will be a quiz.

1. 1620: Pilgrims arrive. Clear land, plant pumpkins, kill American Indians, later burn witches.

2. 1636: Harvard happens. Shit follows.

3. 1776: Bright idea hits Sam Adams (the man, not the beer) and other Boston hotheads: Boot Brits, steal fruited plains, prepare for world domination.

4. 1840: Irish arrive. Can't get work; elect selves mayor, governor, eventually president (see below).

5. 1858: Proper Bostonian Oliver Wendell Holmes in a fit of irrational exuberance, dubs city "Hub of the Solar System." Countless Parisians, Londoners, New Yorkers snicker.

6. 1863: Proper Bostonian Edward Everett delivers long-winded two-hour oration on fallen heros at Gettysburg, eclipsed by a pithy address by a guy named Lincoln.

7. 1947: Original Improper Bostonian James Michael Curley wins fourth term as Hub mayor, enters federal pen for mail fraud but somehow stays in office.

8. 1960: John F. Kennedy becomes president, inspires numerous pretenders (Michael Dukakis, kid brother Ted Kennedy, John Kerry); they all fail.

9. 2004: Having taught town how to dress, dance, etc. Mass. gays win dubious right to wed, divorce, pay alimony.

So there you go. Some clever person summed it right up. You'll be a Bostonian at heart yet!

Love,

Auntie K.

Your First Wedding

Dear Sonia,

Thanks so much for coming all the way from Texas for your Uncle S. and other Auntie K.'s wedding. It was so much fun and you were so good! It was great to see you. You just made everyone so happy (a baby usually does) and they couldn't stop talking about how cute you are.

After the wedding, before you flew home, you came to my house in Boston and we hung out and walked down the street to get sandwiches. You looked so cute in your sling, facing frontwards with your head and arms sticking out. I wish I had taken a picture.

And then as you were leaving, I didn't have to feel sad, because I sang to you:

"Leav-ing, on a jet plane, I know when you'll be back again, you're coming in only two more weeks!"

So, girl, I'll see you soon! In less than two weeks now. And I get to pick you up at the aiport again. Your Boston carseat has become a fixture in my car!

Love you,

Auntie K.

Your unborn self

Dear Sonia,

This is a post that I wrote in December, while you were still inside your mom. It must be on your blog too. :)

POW-POW-POW

Love,

Auntie K

Children's Books

Dear Sonia,

I wrote a big huge post on my other blog about kid's books, because I'm thinking of going back to school. You can read the whole thing here.

Thought I'd republish some of it here, so you'll know what I love the most and what to read later, because girl, I'm assuming you'll be a reader, like the rest of the Boss women!



I have had a place in my heart for children's literature for a long time. I think it probably began when I was a child, since I read an inordinate amount. I distinctly remember one time when we were planning to be away from home for two weeks at a cabin somewhere when I was about 12, we had to make sure I got at least 15 books from the library. I remember being worried I wouldn't be able to take enough out.

I have maintained that love throughout my adulthood. I mostly keep up with what's new out there for kids. (Not in an academic way; in a pop culture kind of way.) I took a Children's Lit class one semester at Glendale Community College when I lived in LA. That was great, because we studied some of my favorites, including Harriet the Spy, my all time favorite book of any type and some new ones I'd not read before, such as Hatchet. I used to go to this amazing children's book store in LA called Storyopolis when I lived there. I bought a few picture books that came out around that time, too. One called No David! by David Shannon (I actually went to a book signing for that one.) I also began reading all the Series of Unfortunate Events -- Lemony Snicket books as well. One of my aunts bought me each book and sent them along as they came out. I love hanging out with friends' kids because it means I get to read to them. I went to the Eric Carle (of the Very Hungry Caterpillar fame) Museum in Western Mass. I know about Olivia, Maisy, Walter the Farting Dog, Eleanor, and others. I remember Ping and Mike Mulligan and Richard Scarry. I read Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants when it first came out and I was up on the Harry Potter way before most people. I love YA lit as much as picture books.

I have scared the ex (who, remember, has a two-year old) with my knowledge of children's books. It began the first week I met his daughter, when I sat on the floor and read to her, saying "Oooh, look! Sandra Boynton!" or "Yay, Eric Carle!" like a dork. He was amazed and a little scared. He is still a little scared. Just yesterday, he read me the list of books he'd just bought her, and I recognized one or two.

I have kept some of my original copies of some books from when I was a child, including Harriet, which is a godsend because they have changed all the covers from the 60s, 70s and 80s and updated them. I guess that is a good idea, if we want kids today to be drawn to them, but it still makes me sad.

I love E.B. White, Judy Blume, Maurice Sendak (Little Bear was the first book I remember really being able to read myself), Louise Fitzhugh, Roald Dahl (oh Dahl!), Beverly Cleary, The Chocolate War, the Heidi books, Shel Silverstein, Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (which I've been known to give to students when they are having a sucky time and has managed to maintain the cover I remember) and Oliver Butterworth. What? You've never heard of Butterworth?

This is worth a digression. I read The Enormous Egg in about the 5th grade. It was about this kid who finds and egg and hatches it and it's a dinosaur. I loved it. Loved it! I found out this author had written another book called The Trouble With Jenny's Ear, but the library didn't have it. Neither did the bookstore. (This was about 1985, so there wasn't an enormous bookstore on every corner and there was no Amazon and such.) I found out it was out of print. Somehow, my aunt and my mom managed to get me a copy. It was amazing. Jenny ends up with damage to her ear which leads to her ability to hear others' thoughts. (A quick search just found that it is available again in reprint from Amazon. I have my original hardcover copy (like the top photo) sans dust jacket (also like the top photo).

There's lots more to talk about, little one, but it'll come in good time.

Love you!

Auntie K