RIP Peepers the zebra finch

Gianna found our finch Peepers belly-up in her seed dish this morning. She kept pointing at the bird "Mẹ! Mẹ!" I didn't know what to say. Peepers was obviously dead with her spindly legs sticking straight up in the air, so I told her the truth. Peepers is dead, the angels took her to heaven (to be reunited with her late husband, Sam, as Dan pointed out). Gianna seemed disturbed and confused, but didn't cry. She really liked to watch Peepers eat seed and jump around. Although Peepers was a messy old pet that couldn't come to Germany anyhow, I will still miss her. Tonight when I came home, even though I knew she was dead, I habitually listened for her peep-peep and was greeted instead by silence. So sad. I buried her in a large clay planter, the same place that I buried Sam, who also died when the ground was frozen!

On to more pleasant matters, last night was Dan's company Christmas party at the Ritz Carlton in Manhattan. My friend Georgie baby-sat Gianna so Dan and I could attend. Parties are always good at the Ritz; I'm a huge fan of the desserts. OK, I was too busy this year to buy a new outfit, so I unimaginatively wore the same one from last year, the horror! I'm a mom now, so I'm letting myself go ;-) Gianna was a good girl for the babysitter, but must have really missed us. This morning she was all lovey-dovey and gave both me and Dan a kiss on the cheek! What a treat. She has never kissed me before and has only given Dan a few tiny pecks. But these kisses were real smackers! We will have to go out more often.

And finally, we had some significant snowfall today that turned into a nice ice storm. Gianna had seen falling snow before, but never got a chance to go out and play around in it. My work let us go home early, so I picked up Gianna, put on her Colonel Klink snow boots, and took her outside for some play in the snow. But she was miserable. Snow is not her thing, not yet. I'm with her, I'd rather be in hot and humid Hanoi than winter in the Mid-Atlantic. Maybe we will get a real snow storm that warrants breaking out her snow pants before we move to Frankfurt.