Less than Twelve Parsecs

In the past 12 days we've had a lot of notches in the calendar: both mommy's and daddy's birthday, Mara's ninth monthiversary (more time outside vs inside the womb!) and mommy's and Mara's name day according to Romanian tradition. So we took a small trip to Santa Cruz for a little optical illusion fun and a surprise hike in the mountains. At the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot Mara got giggly:

Willow likes to hide in laundry baskets and <sarcasm>we can never see her</sarcasm>. But apparently Mara can: Mara got her nails cut, and Elena declared it a Success!. Mara thought this was really really funny. This is just a bit of her laughing:

Mara playing on the floor in the morning. This was taken a few days after she learned to crawl. Mara at a friend's house a few months ago. Probably her first time playing a mini-piano (she'd played large ones before). Mara got to meet a dog named Lucy a month or so ago. She likes dogs a lot. She cried at the end because she couldn't grab the dog.

A few days ago we mixed one of those mushy travel foods with some fine cereal for babies and this is what we got:

As grandpa likes to say: Mara has been working on getting her steak teeth. This past week ended with the second tooth showing at the top front, so we're up to a total of four. Now she can do some really vicious bites. Watch out, puppy, you're no match for her!

These are from a while back from when we took a trip to Seattle (in April) for a few days. We ended up staying in two places, so some videos are from the first place, and some from the hotel (second place). She had just learned to crawl forward the week before. Some tissues on the bed were really exciting She attacks them again  Lots of "broom"ing in this one Mara on the train on our way from the airport Just hanging out with Mommy Our first view of the skyline! We encounter a troll Mara sits on its knuckle A panorama from the Chihuly museum (all glass)  Mara really liked looking up at the glass I thought this was a real plant. Until I saw it was glass We were right next to the space needle Mara happily squeals on the hotel bed Our friends take a photos of us with the Seattle skyline in the background. It's waaay past Mara's bedtime. Mara finds a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

During last month's trip to Redding, Mara went with daddy to the grandparents' hotel room. Someone happened to give her a flower to play with and she shredded it dutifully on the sheets of the bed. By the time mommy came in, there were petals scattered everywhere. And a cute little girl with a huge grin. Happy Mother's Day!! P.S. Thank you, Tammy for taking the photo and sending it to us!

The top few items on Mara's preference list whenever the expression "going out for food" comes into conversation: - people she likes a lot; - a familiar place yet with lots of things to see, hear and feel; - preferably outdoors; - some new and exciting food to taste and smush in her hands. We checked all the above with our outdoor meal this past Sunday in the backyard of our house. We brought out the little table and set it up on our mossy area (we don't have any grass). We let the cat out too, although she was not on the VIP list today with so much other stuff going on. We made lentil soup with a few Chana Masala spices to keep it interesting. We added some quick home-made Chapati-style bread for Mara to munch on and flail in between bites. And we ended in full glory with freshly picked strawberries from our very own backyard. Thank you Buny Vasilca for helping us plant them, it's been a delight going out and picking one or two juicy fruits prett

Thanks to our friend Kim, who stepped up to the challenge when both our phones were completely dead, we managed to capture another "first" event. One of the lunches during the Redding Wedding / Easter weekend happened at this neat little place called The Savory Spoon http://savoryspoon.org. The food was by far the best I've had throughout the entire trip. I also loved the gynormous spoons framing the entrance to the kitchen :-) So it happens that the Savory Spoon had placed some surprise Easter Eggs in their restaurant, and Mara stared at one intently until daddy decided to lift her to the required height. She happily grabbed it and munched away. It had already been deprived of its treasure, but we all know it's all about the hunt anyway.

The setting for Eric and Sarah's outdoors was beautiful, a rustic barn surrounded by huge trees, with a sunny meadow where the procession took place. They had a little fake water mill and a tiny stream that ran under a little bridge next to the barn. We loved the hanging picture frames that let us create real life paintings - if you just stood next to the frame and shifted your point of view you would get an art gallery experience that made you appreciate nature even more. Nothing beats it, really. Here's Mara and Greg next to the stream: There are some very gorgeous photos of Mara during the wedding that the photographers took, we'll share when we can get a hand on them :-) we're excited to see them too.

A few weeks ago we got to see our friend Stephen again at Windy Hill Summit, thanks to Chris and Amanda visiting everyone for the weekend. This, by the way is a very tiny hike up a hill that rewards you with a gorgeous view of the whole Silicon Valley and Stanford, a glimpse of SF, and if you turn around on a clear day the Pacific Ocean. By tiny hike we really mean tiny - about 5-10min walk. But if you get there the right time of year you might even find raspberries along the path, and we've seen bunnies and deer roaming around. Quite a happy spot for us, and it got even happier when we realized Stephen had brought Woody and Lucy for our doggie-enthusiast's delight. Here's Lucy meeting Mara:

As of yesterday, mommy is all quiet. A vicious bout of laryngitis has taken her voice completely for a while. In other words, we're experiencing a whole new sort of mommy-baby relationship. Mommy used to sing to Mara a lot. Instead, yesterday we danced to a phone playing Music Together . It was odd, Mara kept wanting to go to the source of the sounds. I put her down, she checked it out, then crawled to the ukulele and dragged it toward me. Yup baby, I'm aware it's better when I play and sing, I just can't right now. I smile and rap on the instrument's wooden body along with the music. It kinda works, but we soon decide to move on to other things. Daddy is taking over like a champ. For the whole time we were together yesterday evening he was doing a three-fold narration of what everyone is doing: himself, Mara and mommy. Mara seems to accept this change just fine. As long as her epic adventures don't go unsung, I guess. This morning, though, it