On 13 June Granny M came to see you and spent a lot of time singing the song with the owl which lives on a tree and greets the evenings whith her shout of "kou-kou-tza!". You like the song, even though Granny M sometimes forgets the words and had to call Auntie Maria out in the village to remind her.
After Granny M left Mummy and Daddy decided to try to go watch another film. This time they chose the Oasis cinema on Pratinou street which has a small screen and lots of trees to keep the area cool. You slept almost all through the film which was about an old curmudgeon and his dealings with a boy who tries to steal his car.
Not a bad film, one of Clint's best, but not well received by the critics, maybe because of the wooden acting from the supporting cast and the fact that critics don't like films with on screen eating of vast amounts of food any more.
On 11 June the nice Paediatrician came and said you were looking good. You are now 57cm long, up from 53, with a head circumference of 36cm and you weigh in at a whopping 3770 gr!
He said that any similarities you have to the frogs will wear off in time and we should not be worried.
On Monday 8 June, Daddy read to you from the book that cousins Irene and Evgenia sent from America. The story is probably very popular in America because it proves that god created everything and that nasty darwin got it all wrong. Daddy likes the book because it has finger puppet animals which keep your attention.
June 7 was a big day for democracy in Europe - well, it would have been if the citizens had bothered to turn up.
Mummy and Daddy went to vote for the Euro-elections because not to do so would be quite properly idiotic. Did you know that the word idiot comes from the Greek word: idiotes, which means a person who concerns themselves only with their own business. People who did that and did not concern themselves with the common business used to be considered bad citizens - hence idiots! Mummy and Daddy are not idiots and we took you with us to show you how you can also avoid being an idiot in the future. It's not that hard to vote three times every five years.
You attracted quite a lot of attention in your sling at both polling stations. One of the people who took an interest in you was from one of the big political parties. She came up and said to Daddy that she hoped that you would grow big and strong and one day you too could become a member of the Greek parliament. Daddy expressed his opinion that he would rather not see you in parliament, especially the way parliament is staffed at present. When Mummy came back from voting Daddy told her about the lady and Mummy said to him that she would rather see you dancing saucily in a cabaret than having a seat in parliament.
Although Mummy and Daddy are not idiots it seems half the Greek voters decided that this year was the time to become idiots, little one.
When we came home, we put you in your seat and Daddy played around trying to make you look at the bat doll he was holding, with varying degrees of success.
Later that evening, Mummy and Daddy did something daring that they did not expect to be able to do for a long time after your birth. You were now 36 days old, you were happy to be in your sling and so Mummy and Daddy took your changing bag and set off for the "Palas" cinema on Hymittou.
The lady at the entrance said there is no problem for you to go to the cinema without a ticket, so we got two tickets and went up the stairs to the rooftop where they have an open air summer screen. The film we saw was a rather better re-telling of the Angels and Demons story than anyone could have hoped for. Given how difficult it had been for him to finish the novel, Daddy felt quite impressed with how much more interesting the story was when turned into a film. He did, however, have some problems with some out of character behaviour by the cardinals that made it really quite hard for him to continue to suspend disbelief. It seems that you also found it hard and you noisily demanded food about 10 minutes before the end of the film. Mummy fed you and then you slept through for quite a few hours after we got home!
This brief video is from the intermission when you were still soundly sleeping.
When you were 35 days old, Daddy put you on the gym-mat that Penny his co-worker got for you. It's great! It has all sorts of colours, it plays music and has all sorts of textures to touch and chew on, together with a whole range of funny things hanging from the top. Look how excited you are with it all in these images:
We can see how much fun you are having in this video as well.
After you had played in the gym, Daddy decided to sing to you. He sang about a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold...
He then got all excited and put a CD on for you, 'cos you know sometimes words have two meanings…
Later on that day, Mummy's friends Alexandros and Lisa came to give us invitations for their wedding. This is going to happen on June 21 and it will be your very first public appearance in a pubic place and public function. Mummy and Daddy are very excited about this.
Lisa has a lot of nephews and nieces and knows exactly how to hold a baby. You were both very calm together, while Alexandros seemed a little surprised at how much Daddy knows about having a baby in the house. He doesn't realise that Daddy is picking it all up as it goes along and that he'll learn it all just as easily!
When you were 34 days old, Mummy and Daddy had a special visitor. This special visitor is none other than General Lia, who organised Mummy and Daddy's wedding in October last year! She hadn't had an opportunity to see you yet and she had come all the way from the island of Syros to see you.
You were very nice and quiet in her arms while she told us all stories about how life is on the islands of the Cyclades during the rainy winter months. The Cyclades used to be heavily wooded in the past thanks to that same rain that Lia was telling us about, but after the Venetians came, they felled the trees to make ships and, as usual, the future was sacrificed on the altar of the present, this time by over-logging. Speaking of which, there's a large forest called the Amazon in South America. I am curious how much of it will be left by the time you read these pages.
Here we are, you together with Daddy and you are interacting with him by sticking your tongue out! Daddy thinks it's funny. He was home early, even though it is a Thursday, because we were expecting a visit from a very dear friend. Erato came to see you and she took some nice photographs of you in the bath and getting dry. Daddy likes the photographs that Erato takes of him.
Erato had never seen a baby as small as you and found it very strange. At first she was a little uneasy and you were not that keen on going into a new set of arms, but you both got used to it after a while and in the end both of you quite liked it.
Look at this portrait Daddy took of you lying on Erato's arm:
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