3!

Our Sedona Rose turned 3 last week. Although this event may not have been met with the fanfare she had hoped for (party with all her friends; clowns; gifts including a cat and/or a goldfish), this was made up for by the trans-Atlantic visit of her grandmother Meme, as well large quantities of sugar-dosed cupcakes made by her mom.

We all celebrated this event with gusto. The past year has brought many fantastic moments with Sadie: who is, to her father's completely unbiased eye, an incredibly bright, interesting, funny, verbal and charming little girl, not to mention a (mostly) caring and attentive sister to her little brother. But Sadie is also a handful, and we have had our fare share of "terrible two"-ness this year. It's a tough age for most kids, I know (thus the term)... but I think the combination of having a brother before reaching age 2 and then moving to a new country/environment before reaching age 3 has made this all a tougher phase for her. There is something about the transition from fully dependent baby to more independent child that is a real struggle for Sadie. Karen's theory, which makes sense to me, is that the birth of Parker forced her to grow up faster than she was willing to do, and many of her emotional struggles seem to revolve around her fighting a rearguard battle to claim back her lost baby-ness... resulting in lots of tears along the way. (If that sounds rather psychoanalytical, chalk it up to our living a few blocks from the Freud's London home.) In any case, we're hoping that this year brings a bit of emotional settling for her.

My mom's other reason for coming to London was a "granny nanny" visit (her term) to allow Karen and me to take a weekend trip to France for my business school reunion in Fontainebleau, France.  We took the Eurostar and drove a further hour south to spend a decadent weekend of fine dining, sleeping in a real live chateau/hotel, a black tie ball in a mega chateau (Chateau de Fontainebleau) and a morning in Paris before hopping the train back on Sunday afternoon. It was a delightful weekend. I was a bit disappointed that not more of my better friends from INSEAD actually made it to the reunion, but Karen & I certainly enjoyed getting decked out for a serious night of Euro-glamour.