marta goes to market

Today we tried to visit my brother - and Marta's uncle - Ian in Hoboken, New Jersey. The only problem was that we waited about 45 minutes trying to get into the Holland Tunnel before realizing that maybe it would be better to go another day.

Instead we went north, up Greenwich Street, deep into Greenwich Village where I actually parked my car for free and we went to the ubiquitous Greenwich Village supermarket, D'Agostino's, to get some pick-up food before we headed over to the Bleeker Street Playground.

Inside D'Agostino's they had little shopping carts for kids and Marta got to push her own. While Epp and I were busy debating on what kind of food we should get, Marta was busy loading up her cart. It is my pleasure to share with you Marta's shopping list.

1. Cupcakes
2. Dried Cranberries
3. Yogurt-Covered Raisins
4. Wasabi

and

5. Ginger-Flavored Salad Dressing

Buon Appetito!

Musical Blood

When I started being in bands as a teenager, I made a unique discovery - lots of other musicians came from musical families. My friend Jimmy's Dad played banjo in an Irish folk band. Our drummer Pete's father had also been a drummer. Doug, the guitarist, was playing his father's guitar. And my dear friend Dave came from a house where guitars were everywhere - his father was a collector.

But music was really *there* in my household growing up. I mean, my parents liked music, but they didn't play anything. Neither did most of my relatives. I think our musical background came down to Mom playing glockenspiel in grade school. Which made my interest in music, as opposed to graphic arts - where we do have a lot of family members involved, sort of different. My grandma does play the piano. So maybe she had a big influence on me, because as bad as I was, I still managed to play around with that thing. She also supported my interest in music while I was growing up.

The reason I am telling you this is because Epp told me that Marta has been playing the instruments at daycare - the synthesizer and the microphone. She is apparently pretty musical. This makes me happy. It makes me feel like the gift of a love of sound has been passed on. Music is a very rewarding thing, if it can even be called a thing. I don't know where I'd be without it. Life would be so gray and boring. Music is like sunshine. The people that make it are like little suns. They reflect off each other.

Eh, whatever. I hope you got my point.

Funny Nicknames

This is an appropriate time as any to discuss some of the funny names I call Marta. Marta doesn't have any permament nicknames, but a few have lasted longer than others.

One of the first was "Bear Butt" - this is because she had pajamas with a bear's face stitched into the backside of the pajama pants. Don't they make the cutest things for children? I extended this to the whimsical "Baronness Bambina Von Bear Butt" - but that's about it. I've also played with bambina, Italian for baby, and menina, Portuguese for little girl.

Most days, though, it's whatever comes to mind. At the beach she can become sandy or sandy beaches. Many combinations of butt and other words also apply, such as boogerbutt, boogerbear, boogiebear, and Martabear.

There are also the adjectives, such as stinky and tubby. If her stomach is sticking out of her shirt, then that warrants being called tub-tub just one time, and maybe patting her stomach. "How's it going tub-tub?" There are also the feminine nicknames, such as little miss.

I am unsure of what else I call her, but I am sure she has other nicknames. What do you call your children?