Less than Twelve Parsecs

We made it past the very first month and a half with two kids! Time to hand out the awards, in order of merit - but really, it was a very close call! Feel free to jump to the category you'd like: The "Big Sister" Award The "Turn the Hardest Month into the Fun Month!" Award The "Least Effort, Best Results" Award The "Best Duo" Award   The "Big Sister Award" goes to Mara,  for taking in stride all the changes to our family by doing what she does best: Cause havoc in the postpartum hospital room, to entertain everyone. Come happily to take Mommy and Daddy home from the hospital. Baby Gaius too, if we really must, she conceded after some deliberation - he is cute, we'll keep him! Interact with baby Gaius on early mornings, when both parents just want to lie down. Or just ignore him and play around, it's not like he's going anywhere.   The "Turn the Hardest Month into t...

Two Christmases ago Mommy and Daddy were finding out, right on the 25th, that they were going to have a baby! This year, Mara marked the 25th as the first time she ever showed an interest in using the bathroom like a grown-up. We were roaming around the kitchen, when she grabbed her diaper and said "Pee!". I asked her if she would like to do it in the bathroom. With a wide nod of the head, Mara grabbed my hand and walked with me to the large bathroom upstairs. We had gotten a potty a long time ago, just to make sure we would have it at the right time. This was it - we got it out of the closet. Mara tried all sorts of ways of using it, none of which involving a "pants down" approach. We figured that will come in time. For now, enjoy the Safe-For-Work snapshots: It kinda looks like a rocking horse. Maybe with my feet inside? Ok, this must be it! What do you mean we should take the pants off next time? So you guys just sit here fo...

It's that time of the year. Invasion of pumpkins everywhere, and I can't say I dislike it. All sizes and shapes and color variations to fill your senses, it's an explosion of orange on haystacks. Day #1 Our very first immersion was in a fancy Glass Pumpkin Patch that happens annually in Los Gatos as a fund raiser. Mara was quite interested in the little creations and immediately picked them up and handed them to daddy.  That's how you pick pumpkins, especially acorn-shaped ones. Grandpa was visiting that weekend, so Mara gained superpowers and got to see some of the high pumpkins up-close. Some of these creations were quite pretty. What ended the visit was reading the $2700 price tag on one of the larger pumpkins, which made us do some risk-cost estimation and head out soon after. Day #2 After Sunday Ultimate Frisbee we stumbled upon another fundraiser pumpkin patch nearby. Full of real pumpkins in all their unbreakable glory.  Mara pointe...

One year and five days. This is when Mara and I had our first real conversation. Our very first disagreement as well. We were driving home from daycare and I had brought out one of those books with one object on each page. For the past week, Mara had been saying things like "up" , "aaah-pun" (apple), "baa" (ball), "bye-bye" , "wohh" (roll, for the balls rolling). We were at the page that so conveniently places a colorful ball and a green apple next to each other. "That's a ball" , Mommy points at the ball. Mara silently acknowledges with her eyes. "This is an apple" , I point at the next page. "Aah-pun!" Mara proudly exercises her new skill, pointing at the apple. I wait for her to turn the page as usual, but it doesn't happen. She is still looking. Her finger moves to point at the round green apple on the page: "Baa!" . I am puzzled. Technically, she is right, an ap...

One day before her first birthday, Mara said her first word that was two distinct syllables. Two days before, Daddy had lifted her high in the air so that she could reach two gorgeous apples in our apple tree. She picked them herself off the branches. The look of satisfaction on her face was priceless, as she was holding both apples in her arms. For an idea of the scale, it looked like a grown up person holding two giant watermelons - must have taken quite an effort. Back to "Milestone Day before Birthday": Mara decided for the first time to steadily walk for longer than five steps. She took four steps and reached a garden hose; then she stared at the new obstacle in front of her. Daddy came closer and moved the hose out of the way, after which she continued walking. She did several walks like this, seven steps or more, over the course of the next ten minutes. When we finally got our cameras ready she was already tired. Half an hour later, we all go indoors. Mo...

This past month (9 months so far!) we started using more pieces of our cute RIE wooden furniture for kids, now that Mara is more steady on her feet. Large Climbing Structure This is Mara's first time trying to use the large wooden climbing structure and ramp. She just went to it and started climbing with confidence, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Little Chair Stool We love the little stools that came with the baby table, we've used them before as mini tables on their own by placing various toys on top. Mara would love to crawl between them to pick up each toy and place it on the carpet. She would play this game for long periods of time. This particular video was from a few weeks ago, one morning when Greg was letting me sleep in. He chose to feed Mara some spaghetti and rice (what, you don't eat that for breakfast?!) and brought a stool out as a sitting device for the first time. Disclaimer: The RIE philosophy says that it...

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.