And a happy New Year !

Bonne Année 2010 !!!



On a récidivé pour la photo de groupe, ça fait rire Tipoulet d'utiliser le trépied et le minuteur de l'appareil-photo, alors bon, pourquoi se priver ? Et, non, il n'y a pas d'autre endroit décent dans la maison pour l'arrière-plan.

Notre menu du réveillon:
Foie gras
Rôti de boeuf, pommes de terre et haricots verts
Crème brûlée, mousse au chocolat
Financier, macaron
et vins assortis







Et voilà Tipoulet prêt à commencer les festivités.



Eh ben, on n'avait plus faim...

Happy New Year 2010 !
Yes, we did a group photo-shot again, but Tipoulet likes to use the tripod and the timer on the camera so much that we couldn't resist ! And no, there is no other decent spot in the house for the background.
Our New Year's eve dinner menu:
Foie gras
Roasted beef, potatoes and green beans
Crème brûlée, chocolate mousse
Financier (almond madeleine), macaron
and assorted wines
Here is Tipoulet ready to start the show.
Guess what, we were completely full after all that...

Before/after

Le Père Noël a bien trouvé la maison, et Tipoulet ses cadeaux au pied du sapin.



Un petit résumé des cadeaux: une guitare, plein de livres et de puzzles, un cheval à bascule, des marionnettes, des légos, une ardoise magique, des animaux aimantés et des animaux gigognes, une machine à lancer des balles en l'air (mais le PN a oublié les piles, on ne l'a pas encore essayée...).




Voilà, je crois que je n'oublie rien... Après le déballage, ça donnait ça.



Santa found his way to our house, and Tipoulet found his presents near the Christmas tree. A short summary of all the presents he got: a guitar, lots of books and puzzles, a rocking horse, puppets, legos, a magnadoodle, some animal magnets and some stacking animals (not sure of the actual name, here), a machine that throws balls in the air (but Santa forgot the batteries, so we have not tried it yet ...). That's it, I think I didn't forget anything ... After unpacking, it looked like that.

Merry Christmas !

The insomniac chocomaniac

Tipoulet se réveille la nuit en ce moment.

Il y a quelques jours, vers 3h du matin, on entend une petite voix dire "câlin... câlin...". Je me lève ensommeillée, me disant que toute occasion est bonne à prendre, mais lorsque j'arrive près de son lit, le "câlin" se transforme en un très audible et non-ambigü "chocolat"...

Tipoulet est devenu complètement obsédé par le chocolat récemment. Voici un enregistrement récent, d'un Tipoulet qui réclamait du chocolat au lieu de dormir à 21h45...




Tipoulet wakes up during the night these days.
A few days ago, around 3am, we hear a little voice say "... cuddle ... cuddle ..." ("câlin"). I get up, all sleepy, thinking that a hug is always good to take, but when I arrive near his bed, "câlin" becomes a very audible and non-ambiguous "chocolate" ...
Tipoulet has become completely obsessed with chocolate recently. Here is a recent recording, of a Tipoulet who wanted chocolate and still didn't want to go to bed at 9:45pm ...

Christmas tree

Bon, il ne restait pas tant de trucs à raconter que ça sur notre week-end. On a décoré le sapin, avec "l'aide" de Tipoulet, qui après avoir cassé une boule, a fait bien attention aux autres, puis a fini par s'occuper avec les clochettes pendant le reste de l'après-midi.





Ah, et voilà le sapin!




Well, there was not so much to say about the rest of our weekend, after all. We decorated the tree with the "help" of Tipoulet, who after breaking one ornament, took better care of the others, then finally stayed busy playing with the little bells for the rest of the afternoon.
Oh, and here's our Christmas tree!

Dim Sum and Pop Corn

Ça a été un week-end pluvieux, mais chargé.

Samedi midi, on avait rendez-vous avec des gens de mon labo pour aller manger des vapeurs dans un restaurant cantonnais à Mountain View (photos pourries prises avec l'iPhone, désolée).



C'était la première fois que Tipoulet goûtait ce genre de nourriture, et... suspense... il a bien aimé! Surprenant, non?



Il y avait des petites dames qui passaient avec leur chariot rempli de petits plats, ça m'a rappelé le Nioullaville*...



En fait, contrairement à tous les autres restaus chinois auxquels nous sommes allés jusqu'à présent, celui-là nous a paru étrangement familier. Peut-être du fait de la petite taille de la région d'origine des dim sum, la cuisine ne varie pas du tout, qu'on la déguste à Hong Kong, Paris ou San Francisco...

Et puis, après la sieste de Tipoulet, on est parti chasser le sapin de Noël, sous une pluie relativement battante. Mais c'était pas bien grave, parce que c'est P qui s'est collé d'aller choisir le sapin, pendant que nous on s'abritait sous le chapiteau. En plus, sous le chapiteau, il y avait une machine à pop-corn. Et donc, 3 heures après s'être goinfré de dim sum, Tipoulet s'est enfourné un paquet de pop-corn.



La suite du week-end, plus tard...

* le Nioullaville a un site web maintenant, incroyable. On peut même faire une réservation en ligne!

It was a rainy but busy weekend. Saturday for lunch, we met with people from my lab at a dim sum restaurant in Mountain View (the bad pictures were taken with the iPhone, sorry).
It was the first time Tipoulet tasted this kind of food, and ... guess what ... he liked it! Surprising, isn't it? There were little ladies pushing their cart full of yummy dishes, it reminded me of the Nioullaville*...
In fact, unlike all other Chinese restaurants that we have gone to so far, this one seemed strangely familiar. Perhaps because of the small size of the region of origin of dim sum, this cuisine does not vary that much, should you try it in Hong Kong, Paris or San Francisco...
And then, after Tipoulet's nap, we started hunting down the Christmas tree, under a somewhat pouring rain. But it was not too bad, because it is P who was in charge of choosing the tree, while we took cover under a big tent. In addition, under the tent, there was a popcorn machine. So, only 3 hours after all these dim sum, Tipoulet crammed a whole bag of popcorn. I'll tell you about the rest of the weekend later...
* The Nioullaville has a website now, unbelievable. One can even make reservations online!

Loulou's ok, thanks for asking.

"Loulou, ça va." means something like "Loulou's ok."

Foodie, indeed

Tout seul comme un grand, Tipoulet a inventé le mélange qui tue: chocolat-orange. Et il a bien aimé.



All by himself, Tipoulet just came up with the killer food combination: chocolate-orange. And he liked it a lot.

H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine

Ça y est, Tipoulet a eu sa première dose de vaccin contre la grippe H1N1. On avait reçu un email la semaine dernière disant que notre clinique avait reçu des vaccins, et allait mettre en place une séance de vaccination pour les enfants à risque dimanche, mais ils ont eu moins de monde que prévu, et donc en milieu de journée dimanche, ils ont envoyé un autre email disant que la séance était ouverte à tous les enfants.

On a donc pris Tipoulet sous le bras, et hop, direction la PAMF. Tout était super bien organisé, à l'américaine, avec des gens pour vous aider à vous garer, et pour vous indiquer le bon bâtiment tous les 10 mètres. Et à notre étonnement, il n'y avait même pas de file d'attente.

Le Tipoulet a été super, comme d'habitude. Il a même regardé attentivement l'infirmière préparer la piqure (moi, je me cachais derrière, parce que la vache, pour les vaccins intra-musculaires, c'est une grosse aiguille!), et dit "bye-bye" à l'infimière en partant.

La conclusion de Tipoulet:



Alright, Tipoulet received his first dose of H1N1 flu vaccine yesterday. We had gotten an email last week saying that our health provider had received the vaccines, and would hold a vaccination clinic for children at risk on Sunday, but they had fewer people than expected, and thus at lunch Sunday they sent another email saying that they were now accepting all children.
We therefore grabbed Tipoulet, and off to the PAMF. Everything was super well organized, like always in the U.S., with people here to help you park, and to show you to the right building every 30 feets. And to our surprise, there was not even a line.
Tipoulet was great, as usual. He even looked carefully while the nurse was preparing everything for the shot (I was hiding behind, because holly cow, neddles for intra-muscular vaccines are big!), and said "bye-bye" to the nurse after it was done.
Tipoulet's conclusion: [stings]

Happy birthday Daddy !

"Bon anniversaire !" version Tipoulet

The foodie

Tipoulet est un bonheur à nourrir, il goûte tout ce qu'on a dans nos assiettes et mange de bon appétit (ci-dessous, un pain au chocolat).





On pensait donc qu'on avait hérité d'un mini-gastronome.

Jusqu'à ce qu'il nous fasse ça.



Tipoulet is a pleasure to feed, he loves to try everything that we have on our plates, and always eats enthusiastically (a chocolate croissant, in the pictures). We thus thought that we had a mini-foodie here. Until he did this.

Two exciting new releases

Pour les Tipoulets, le petit frère de Peekaboo Barn: Peekaboo Wild. C'est déjà sur l'iPhone et très apprécié.



Et pour tout le monde, le Lindt Excellence Fleur de Sel. Youhou! Faut juste que je le trouve dans le coin...



For the Tipoulets amongst us, here comes Peekaboo Barn's little brother: Peekaboo Wild. Already on the iPhone, and already a hit!
And for everybody, the Lindt Chocolate "A touch of sea salt". Yeah! Just need to figure out where to find it...

The Thanksgiving letter

J'avais trouvé ça l'année dernière déjà, mais je n'avais pas encore de blog pour vous le faire partager. Thanksgiving n'est pas toujours une partie de rigolade...

I found this last year already, but didn't have a blog yet to share it with you. So just in case you haven't read it. Thanksgiving is not fun for everyone...

---

From: Marney

As you all know a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner does not make itself. I need to ask each of you to help by bringing something to complete the meal. I truly appreciate your offers to assist with the meal preparation.

Now, while I do have quite a sense of humor and joke around all the time, I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS when I am providing you with your Thanksgiving instructions and orders. I am very particular, so please perform your task EXACTLY as I have requested and read your portion very carefully. If I ask you to bring your offering in a container that has a lid, bring your offering in a container WITH A LID, NOT ALUMINUM FOIL! If I ask you to bring a serving spoon for your dish, BRING A SERVING SPOON, NOT A SOUP SPOON! And please do not forget anything.

All food that is to be cooked should already be prepared, bring it hot and ready to serve, warm or room temp. These are your ONLY THREE options. Anything meant to be served cold should, of course, already be cold.

HJB—Dinner wine

The Mike Byron Family
1. Turnips in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. Please do not fill the casserole all the way up to the top, it gets too messy. I know this may come as a bit of a surprise to you, but most of us hate turnips so don't feel like you a have to feed an army.
2. Two half gallons of ice cream, one must be VANILLA, I don't care what the other one is. No store brands please. I did see an ad this morning for Hagan Daz Peppermint Bark Ice Cream, yum!! (no pressure here, though).
3. Toppings for the ice cream.
4. A case of bottled water, NOT gallons, any brand is ok.

The Bob Byron Family
1. Green beans or asparagus (not both) in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. If you are making the green beans, please prepare FOUR pounds, if you are making asparagus please prepare FIVE pounds. It is up to you how you wish to prepare them, no soupy sauces, no cheese (you know how Mike is), a light sprinkling of toasted nuts, or pancetta, or some EVOO would be a nice way to jazz them up.
2. A case of beer of your choice (I have Coors Light and Corona) or a bottle of clos du bois chardonnay (you will have to let me know which you will bring prior to 11/22).

The Lisa Byron Chesterford Family
1. Lisa as a married woman you are now required to contribute at the adult level. You can bring an hors d’ouvres. A few helpful hints/suggestions. Keep it very light, and non-filling, NO COCKTAIL SAUCE, no beans of any kind. I think your best bet would be a platter of fresh veggies and dip. Not a huge platter mind you (i.e., not the plastic platter from the supermarket).

The Michelle Bobble Family
1. Stuffing in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please make the stuffing sans meat.
2. 2.5-3 qts. of mashed squash in a casserole with a lid and serving spoon
3. Proscuitto pin wheel - please stick to the recipe, no need to bring a plate.
4. A pie knife

The June Davis Family
1. 15 LBS of mashed potatoes in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please do not use the over-size blue serving dish you used last year. Because you are making such a large batch you can do one of two things: put half the mash in a regulation size casserole with lid and put the other half in a plastic container and we can just replenish with that or use two regulation size casserole dishes with lids. Only one serving spoon is needed.
2. A bottle of clos du bois chardonnay

The Amy Misto Family (why do I even bother she will never read this)
1. A pumpkin pie in a pie dish (please use my silver palate recipe) no knife needed.
2. An apple pie in a pie dish, you can use your own recipe, no knife needed.

Looking forward to the 28th!!

Marney

---

Thanksgiving dinner

Pour le dîner de Thanksgiving, on était invité, avec S et L, par T et D qui ont emmenagé "Vendome Place" récemment. Si, Place Vendôme, mais l'autre.



On a passé une excellente soirée, et comme il se doit pour Thanksgiving, on a mangé comme des petits gorets.



Et bien bû, aussi.



Je crois que ce sont les apéros que Tipoulet a préférés, les crostinis préparés par sa nounou préférée.





Nos hôtes (et Tipoulet) se sont démenés en cuisine.




Et le résultat était spectaculaire! On s'est régalé des plats traditionnels, dinde et légumes variés, purée de pommes de terre.



Et on a même eu droit à deux desserts fabuleux: la traditionnelle tarte aux noix de pécan (qui trône à côté de P), et les beignets au mascarpone, citrons confits et kumquats (ça rigolait pas).




Happy Thanksgiving!!



For Thanksgiving dinner, we were invited, together with S and L, to T and D's place, who moved to "Vendome Place" recently. Yes, Place Vendome, but the other one.
We had a wonderful time, and as required for Thanksgiving, we ate like little piglets. And did much drinking, too.
I think it is the appetizers that Tipoulet enjoyed the most, the crostini made by his favorite nanny. Our hosts (and Tipoulet) were busy in the kitchen a lot. And the result was spectacular! We enjoyed traditional Thanksgiving dishes, like turkey, mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes. And we were even treated to two fabulous desserts: the traditional pecan tart (that sits next to P), and some fancy cheese donuts with confit lemons and candied kumquats (serious business, I'm telling you).
Happy Thanksgiving!

The half-inflated-balloon game

Le jeu du ballon-à-moitié-gonflé, donc. Quand le ballon est trop ou pas assez gonflé, ça ne marche pas aussi bien, évidemment. Le stade idéal dure environ 3h de la vie d'un ballon. D'où l'accumulation effrayante de ballons Trader Joe's et Mollie Stone's dans la maison (l'autre solution étant de s'équiper d'une bouteille d'hélium).



When the balloon is too much, or not enough inflated, it doesn't work as well, obviously. So the ideal state lasts approximately 3 hours of the total life of a balloon. Which explains why we're accumulating a frightening collection of Trader Joe's and Mollie Stone's balloons (the alternative solution would be to acquire our own helium tank).

Constructions

Ça y est, Tipoulet a enfin (tout juste) assez de patience pour construire lui-même les tours qu'il détruit...




Finally, Tipoulet has (just barely) enough patience now to build the towers that he destroys...

The talker

Bilan vocabulaire à 18 mois: environ 150 mots. Je n'ai compté que ceux qu'il comprend et utilise spontanément, parce que maintenant, il répète tout ce qu'on dit (d'ailleurs, on a déjà eu droit au premier "merde", suivez mon regard...). Eh ben ça simplifie drôlement les choses, un Tipoulet qui parle.

Par contre, j'essaie toujours de l'enregistrer avec mon iPhone, mais maintenant, ça donne ça:

Eh oui, l'iPhone, c'est Peekaboo.

Ah, et il commence à faire des "phrases", aussi. La fausse première, qu'on lui avait soufflée: "Papi boum". Et sa vraie première, spontanée: "apu tine" (je vous laisse vous référer au dictionnaire ci-dessous). Fidèle à lui-même, puisque son premier mot était: "miam-miam". 

Papa, Maman, Mommy, Tatane (Nathan), loulou, Co (Nico), Cie (Lucie), Mayur, Tonton, Pi (Papy), Amaïe (Anne Marie), télé, 'pi (Tchoupi), 'coyo (Pocoyo), quiche, pâtes, riz, goyourt (yaourt), pain, ki (cookie), 'colat (chocolat), cuiller, to (couteau), de l'eau, jus, lait, dattes, thé, kiché (café), pomme, banane, 'tine (tartine), beurre, pala (pita), melon, sisse (saucisse, saucisson), miam-miam, Cheerios, raisin, poulet, coupe, pique, chaise, tétine, doudou, ça g'iss (ça glisse), to (auto/voiture), vélo, casque, parc, balle, boule, ballon, book, livre, go, dehors, porte, par là, ballade, sand, swing, bébé, train, lunettes, crème, crayon, parti, bain, douche, serviette, mousse, 'fice (dentifrice), sadent (brosse à dent), tête, nez, bouche, oreilles, main, yeux, zizi, bidou, beleu (cheveu par terre), piscine (machine à laver), kooks (cubes, klodz), tour, touc (truc), 'pala (youpala), bravo, allez, hi, hello, bye-bye, attends, 'tenchion (attention), achtung, bobo, non, nein, encore, allo, apu (y en a plus), bah alors, epelin (zepelin), avion, ter (hélicoptère), tricycle, poussette, ça, this one, couche, pipi, caca, prout, beleu (poubelle), musique, boum, paf, zut, c'est chaud, encore, un autre (un-nok), atchoum, poisson, vroumvroum, 'bogan (toboggan), baco (bâton), caillou, assis, éteint, maquiller, boo (Peekaboo), maou, chat, ouf-ouf, corico, coin-coin, bêêê, meuh, vache, gnée (araignée), pantalon, jean, body, Tshirt, chaussette, chaussure, shoes, culotte, pull, habits, linge, ateur (aspirateur), balai, lunettes, bonnet, sac, nounours

Review of Tipoulet's vocabulary at 18 months: approximately 150 words. I only counted the words he understands and uses spontaneously, because now he repeats everything we say (indeed, he already said his first "shit", courtesy of ... anyway) . Well I have to say it makes things so much easier that Tipoulet speaks.And I still try to record him with my iPhone, but now here's what I get:Yes, the iPhone means Peekaboo now.
Oh, and he starts to make "sentences" too. His first one, although we kind of made it for him, was "Papi boum". But his real first, spontaneous one: "apu tine (no more tartine/bread). He's being very consistent, since his first word was already "miam-miam" ("yummy").

The Senegalese Lion

Et voilà, à peine arrivé, on a déjà remis Tonton S dans l'avion pour Dakar...




Pendant son séjour, Tipoulet a appris à dire "touc", parce que ça lui donnait le droit d'aller dénicher des "trucs" dans le sac de Tonton, comme un maillot de l'équipe des Lions du Sénégal (apparemment en solde - en même temps, ce n'est pas le moment de faire les malins en France) .



Tipoulet s'est éclaté avec son Tonton, et a été tout étonné de le voir disparaître. On lui a dit qu'on le verrait dans l'ordinateur, alors maintenant, quand on sort nos portables, on entend parfois "Tonton" au lieu de "Tchoupi".









It seems like he just arrived, but it was already time for Uncle S to board his plane to Dakar ...
During his stay, Tipoulet has learned to say "touc" because then he could go and find stuff ("trucs") in Tonton's bag, like a jersey from the Lions of Senegal (apparently on sale -- on the other hand, this is not the time for French people to make fun of anyone).
Tipoulet had a blast with his Uncle, and was surprised to see him disappear. We told him we would see him again on the computer, so now when we open our laptops, we sometimes hear "Tonton" (uncle) instead of "Tchoupi"....