Are we home yet?

Last Saturday we took Lady P along with us for dinner at the home of our dear friends in nearby Manhattan Beach. She slept in a travel cot while we ate, and afterwards we scooped her up and hoped she'd stay asleep as we drove home.

During the short drive we kept our voices low, hoping the whimpers we heard from the back seat were sleep sounds. But as we backed into the drive, we heard a very distinct 'Home' from little Lady not-asleep-at-all P. And when I carried her into the house, she said it again.  'Home'. Loud and clear.

I was glad to hear she thought so. And glad that when I put her down in her own cot she fell straight back to sleep. In her first 18 months on this earth she's probably slept in more different beds and clocked up more travel miles than I had in my first 18 years. It's nice to know she feels so settled, and knows where home is.

It's safe to say, Lady P fits right in here. She spends her entire weekend on the beach - not to mention several afternoon strolls there during the week - and has almost mastered putting on sunglasses. A true LA beach baby.

She thinks this is normal

Need privacy, must wear shades. Gah! Upside-down!

And us? Are we settled? It's been six months after all. TLOML took back to SoCal life like a duck to water. As for me, well, I still balk at the size of the fruit and the sugariness of the bread. But... well, I do have a flipflop tan line.

And I found myself tutting at the lack of parking at Target the other day, meaning I'd have to walk the whole long way across the parking lot (yes, I said parking lot) in the sunshine with my trolley full of discounted cleaning products. And the other day I scribbled the quantities for baba ganoush - something I've been perfecting lately - down and found myself writing 'eggplant' instead of 'aubergine'.

Speaking of cooking, I'm constantly rustling up kale chips or oatmeal cookies, like a good Californian wife and mother. And the other day I got a bill from the Dr and all I had to say was 'are you sure there's a deductible for preventative care?'. Like that's normal.

So yes, I guess I'm at home here too.