January 1, 2009: Happy New Year, Mutzi!

Hello my dear fans! I'm sorry I have not updated my web site in a long time, I promise for 2009 to do so more. My Dad has been very busy and has made a good resolution to help me update my site as often as possible this year. So look out for much more news and fresh photos. Happy New Year 2009 to all preemies and toddlers! Yours truly, Francesca

In the meanwhile, I show you below a photo of me with my lovely doggie-friend Mutzi. I love him very much, and he loves me, he licked me on the face many times, that's so sweet!

More photos and news coming, I promise!

August 24: I'm an Electronics Whiz.

TV's and DVD players are not so complicated to me. I know exactly what button to press to start the DVD player, and as far as the TV is concerned, all I need to do is press all the buttons on the remote and eventually the TV will do its job. Up to now I've been watching a DVD from Tiny Love in Russian, this week I've watched a French DVD called Oui-Oui that my friend Ludivine gave me, I like it.

August 23: Splashing again!

My Dad can't stop taking pictures of me while I'm in my bath, I guess he's waiting for me to splash so hard I'll get his camera wet. He even encourages me to splash, I get the bathroom all wet, that's fun!

August 22: Serious on my Birthday.

Actually I had a good time today, it's the photos which turned out serious. I did not think too much about the fact I'm already... 16 months old! Girl does time pass fast!

August 21: None - I don't have any.

When I can't find what I need, or they ask me a question to which the answer is "No", I answer with my arms like this. For example, my Dad asked me before taking this photo "Where is Moxi?" And since our dog Moxi is not here, I simply answered with my hands. Pretty clear, right? I also do this when my bottle of water is empty. My parents are smart, they then immediately fill it.

August 20: On the Carpet.

We have a nice soft carpet at home, it's very comfortable to lie and play on it.

August 19: Splashing.

I know how to turn on the shower, and boy does it splash, I like that feeling!

August 18: Video: Privet, Kiss, DVD.

I hope you'll enjoy this short video.

August 17: Smelling flowers in Покровское.

Today Sunday I went to see my Mom who is training in a town called Покровское. It was nice and sunny, I was able to walk in the grass and play with her phone, I love do do that.

August 16: Bath Video

I know how to turn on the shower, and boy does it splash, I like that feeling!

August 15: That's me!

It was nice to see on the front page of the Parenting Magazine web site my photo, for everybody to enjoy. Unfortunately I did not win the competition per se, but I am satisfied with having my photo as the first one with the "Hot Shots" notice. I guess it's the heart on my bottom that made me famous...

August 11: Xylophone Tongue.

I have a xylophone, and of course the stick that goes with it. But it's not easy to hit the musical bars, so when I try to hit them I stick my tongue out a little, that helps.

August 9: Would you like some grapes?

I love grapes, you know, the seedless kind. I can eat loads of them, I love the way the pop in my mouth. And even when I only have a few left, I'm ready to offer you one or two. Try them, they're good!

August 8: My favorite DVD.

Yes you know what my favorite DVD is, TinyLove, I'm trying to master the 12-36 month volume, so I need to watch it carefully over and over again.

August 7: Double CHEBURASHKA.

The 2008 Olympics in China just started, and since I'm in Moscow now, I will support the Russian athletes. So I play with the official mascot of the Russian Olympic team, called Cheburashka.

August 6: I can't figure out the code

I found a safe and have been trying all the possible combinations to open it, unfortunately it does not open. It only beeps and after awhile blocks for a few minutes. I like when it beeps, so I regularly try new codes.

August 1-3: Sweet Victory.

Today I accompanied my Mom to her big event, we were very happy because she won and stayed world champion. Look at our color coordinated outfits, pretty nice, huh? Look at the second photo taken on August 3, I am helping her to play chess.

July 31: I'm not tall enough.

Here I am in the elevator of the Hilton Hotel. I like so much to press on the elevator buttons, but they are too high. I want to ask all elevator manufacturers to make buttons reachable by small children. Otherwise I can see lawsuits coming...

July 30: Mainz, Germany.

My parents and grandma took me to Germany for a week, my Mom will defend some kind of title she has. So while my Mom is busy, I go out in front of the Mainz Hilton and smell the flowers, I love to do that. In the fourth picture, I managed to make a bubble in my mouth (click small photo to enlarge), I bet you can't do that.

July 28: Bath Pictures.

Having a bath is one of my favorite moments of the day. The photos below prove that.

July 27: Spicy but not Spicy.

Two photos of me taken today. The second on was taken in a restaurant in Paris, called "Spicy", on rue de Ponthieu, it was very nice, my Mom gave me some of her food, it was quite good and not spicy at all. So why did they call it "Spicy"?

July 26 (PM): Ice-cream, upside-down.

Here I am tasting an ice-cream cone, but apparently I started it from the wrong side, so my parents were very worried it would start dripping on the carpet, so they took it away from me. In any case, I did not like it so much, my hands got all dirty.

July 26 (AM): My Little Akeelah.

My parents got me a little doll and a stroller, I feel responsible for her and take her for walks once in awhile. Since I had no idea what name to give her, they suggested "Akeelah", which was the name of the main actress little girl in the movie "Akeelah and the Bee", which my parents once saw in a plane and they liked it.

July 25 (PM): I need you all.

The magazine Parents is running a baby photo competition, and of course I entered the race. But to win I need to have a maximum rating and also the largest possible number of "recommends". So please be so kind to go to this link and 1) Give me a 5-star rating and 2) Click on the Recommend button. There is no need to register or anything like that. Thanks!

Please click here to vote for me.

July 25: Running with 1 Croc.

I can tell you it's really entertaining to run around with only 1 croc, holding the other in your hand. You may fall down a few times, but that's fun too, and if it hurts, my Mom or Dad will immediately pick me up and make me feel better.

July 24 (PM): Watching TV with Mishka and Mom.

My Dad brought me a DVD for big babies (12 months and up), it's fun to watch! I started to watch it with my Mom the she went to work and and finished watching it with my teddy bear Mishka.

July 24: I'm happy my Dad came back.

Finally my Dad came back from his USA trip. He brought back his camera in full working order, so I promise many new photos in the days to come.

July 20, 2008 (PM): The Merry-Go-Round.

I had fun today, we met with my friend Ludivine at the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne, and enjoyed the carousel rides. They are great! Below you can see a couple photos taken by my Mom.

July 20, 2008 (AM): I was born 10 years too late.

The title above seems quite pessimistic, but let me explain why I wrote it. Today we went for a walk across Paris. I usually take advantage of walks to take naps, when I'm at home I'm always busy with my toys and running around from the living room to the kitchen and back trying to knock down anything in my reach. So to come back to my story we passed by a restaurant bearing my name "Francesca". It was closed since it's Sunday and in France they like to rest on Sundays. But when we got home we did some Googling and found out they are the precisely the people that caused me such a disappointment when I was born. I was born as you all know last year in 2007, and right then I had to find a domain name for my daily baby diary. I wanted to get the name www.francesca.com but it was taken by a couple who started an Italian restaurant business in 1997, 10 years before I was born... So I had to settle for www.francesca07.com, which is not so bad after all, but still a little worse than the real name. No big deal, maybe a solution would be to introduce myself to people like this: "Hello, my name is Francesca07, nice to meet you". Do you like that idea?

July 18, 2008: I like to speak with Dad on Skype.

My Dad is in the USA to get his repaired Canon camera and we communicate with him daily via Skype. It's free and fun, I love it!

July 16, 2008: I'm learning the Russian Alphabet.

While my Dad is gone this week I keep reviewing the Russian alphabet. I can recognize many of the letters when my Mom reads them to me. Well not all really, but for sure the ones that have the images of animals. We play the following game with my Mom, I show her the image of, for example, a cow, and she says "moo", which is correct, and that makes me smile. By the way, a cow in Russian is "корова" and starts with a "K". You too can study the Russian alphabet if you don't already know it, so I attach a photo of it below. Well really if you want me to tell you a secret, I don't really quite grasp the letters, but rather the sounds more. It's a little confusing as I have alphabet books in Russian, English and French. What I find coolest of all is that cows in all languages say "moo", and cats "miau". Strange that dogs in Russian say "gav", in English "arf" and in French "ouah". Look at this great page I found in Google about the sounds animals make in different languages!

July 10, 2008: I love to hug Mishka.

Below you can see a photo of me taken with my Mom's camera showing me hugging my Mishka bear. I like to hug many of my plush toys, but especially Mishka, he's my favorite. I never go out on a walk without him.

July 8, 2008: The Portrait.

Since we don't have any new photos to show you, I have digged up this photo of me that was taken about 2 weeks ago. The composition turned out quite nice, it's taken with natural light, and my Dad is lying very low on the floor taking the photo. Behind me the walls seem crooked, but that's because what you actually see is a mirror right above the bed. I hope you enjoy this photo.

July 4, 2008: Happy 4th of July Video!

I want to wish all American babies a wonderful July 4 holiday. I dedicate to you the movie below. If you are lucky to have Quicktime installed in your computer, you can watch a better quality version by clicking here. Thanks to Frank Sinatra for his patriotic song and to Aquafadas to gave me their excellent slideshow software PulpMotion.

July 1, 2008: I hate Canon!

I have two reasons for this provocative title. First I found out today that I was not selected as a finalist in the Canon photo competition I signed up for in February (see the entry for February 26, 2008), which is obviously a mistake by incompetent judges. Second, my Dad's brand new Canon camera 1D Mark III started spitting out the dreaded ERROR-99 (miscellaneous I/O error) and it became impossible to shoot. Calling the European office of Canon we found out that the 1-year warranty only works in the USA, that if we want to fix the camera in Europe it will cost a fortune. The web is filled with pages describing the many problems that brand new Mark III's have, it is a shame that Canon does not get its act together. Below you see me calling and complaining to the Canon Factory center.

For the next 3 weeks we will have fewer photos of me than usual, I am sorry.

June 28, 2008: Is kissing bad?

I have a terrible cold today, a runny nose and my ear feels strange. We went to see today my pediatrician at the American Hospital of Paris and apart from a cold he told me I had an otitis which is an ear infection, so he gave me two medecines. How did I get all that? From kissing? From walking barefoot in the park? From a window draft? Who knows. One week of taking awful medecines, yuk!

June 27: Me and Kitty.

Some photos of me and my Kitty with big eyes.

June 26: Glad to see Ludivine again.

June 25: Barefoot in the Parc Monceau.

My Dad took me for an early evening walk to my favorite parc, I loved walking barefoot in the grass.

June 24: I can reach (almost) anything.

I'm getting taller by the minute. You can see me on the photo below, I reach easily any toys and other items on bookshelves, on tables, on chest of drawers. I then can throw those items on the floor, or put them in my mouth, or even tear them to pieces. That's really cool.