Astrid holding her own shopping basket

Tonight I decided to try and make Vietnamese chicken pho' from scratch. Whole Foods was out of fresh basil, so I went to Ralph's and got some organic basil there.

We had already been to 2 different grocery stores by this time (Whole Foods, and Seafood City), to get various ingredients, so Astrid needed to stretch her legs and walk a little bit. If I'm just getting a few items, I let her hold the shopping basket, which she loves to do.

At first I couldn't figure out why the photos were coming out so fuzzy, like there was a filter on it to make it look soft. Then I realized the reason for it - little fingers smudging the camera lens. Uwe lets Astrid play with the camera to look at photos of herself, and we had just come back from Joshua Tree, where she had been playing with it.

She has her Whole Foods monkey in her basket. (Proceeds go to the Jane Goodall Institute.)Sometimes it looks like the basket is too heavy for her, but if I ask her if she wants me to hold it her answer of course is, "No." So I just remind her to hold the basket with both hands, and she does.

People that saw us in the store would comment what a big girl she was - and Astrid was all smiles.