I Love my in-laws. No, I really do!

When I hear about people having really dramatic, tortuous relationships with their in-laws it makes me so sad....and especially lucky. I love my in-laws and am lucky to enjoy a really great relationship with them. Last weekend my in-laws were in town. This meant, among other things, a return to grandparent land. We realized that Judy seems to time her visits to town just right. Ada makes some kind of quantum leap every single time Judy is here!
May I introduce...

Ponytails!!!

Ada has resisted ANYTHING in her hair until now but Grandma Judy turned that around.



Ada was so excited when she first saw herself in the mirror that she jumped up and down and up and down.



In addition to the ponytail break-through Ada experienced a cognitive explosion over the weekend. Her vocabulary doubled. Literally. My late talker caught up in spades.


We entertained the in-laws by taking them to Sonoma for the day on Thursday. Just as we approached Ironhorse Ada was nibbling a cracker and I heard her give a little cough.
"Oh. Shit."
Tim and I caught each others eyes in the rearview mirror instantly understanding what was about to happen. Ada threw up everything she had eaten that day. Everything. All over her dress and the car seat. There we stood stripping her down in the parking lot, using Windex and paper towels to salvage the car seat for what would be a very long and stinky and poorly-ventilated drive home. I've mentioned before that we drive a total piece-of-shit car, right? The only window that will actually go down is the drivers window.  What's really ironic is that 36 hours later the passenger window fell from the tracks and couldn't be put up!

Nevertheless, we got to look at peaceful, serene scenes like this all day:




And one of my favorite people tasted champagne while comforting my other favorite person for having just puked her guts out.




Another thing Ada picked up this weekend  from her grandmother was how to wear a watch. When I first saw her wearing a watch I thought she looked so grown up that it made me sad. Luckily the ponytails later on cancelled it out.




We had lunch at a pizzeria. Ada had fallen asleep in the car so the in-laws and Tim went in to order lunch while I stayed in the car with Ada. I jimmied some shade for her using my cashmere sweater and a car window shade lodged in an open back door (remember, the car stinks of baby vomit) and Judy brought me wine in a plastic cup. It was good actually, I had been craving some alone time.



Later that day I sat beneath a grapevine arbor to enjoy a really lovely pinot noir in a real glass.




Ada woke up and lunch ended. The great pumpkin invited some pictures:






It was a good visit. There were dates, pedicures, bad jokes, picnics with the brother-in-law and a lot of hanging around. I'm so lucky. I love my in-laws!