Less than Twelve Parsecs

It's a bit unnerving to get out of the house for a walk during enforced social distancing when you have young kids (4-6) who are crazy energetic but forgetful and would not easily tolerate face masks. How do you keep them away from passersby without constant nagging? Today, we had a brilliant approach: short-leash kite flying! What you need: - small kite, 5-6ft long handle-to-tail (see bottom of post) - windy day - kids. It worked out wonderfully, every person instinctively gave us a wide berth, trying to avoid a fluttering kite tail in their face. The kids had a natural constant reminder to stay away from others - they don't want their kite all tangled up! Plus I've had the most fun with kites as I've had in years - thank you,  Aeolus ! Here I am with Fae, we were flying the story kite for the first part of the walk, until Gaius's original kite got its wing broken and we swapped with him: The kites are geniusly simple, from a Kiwi Crate we ha...

2-weeks-old infants are good at three things: eating, filling up diapers, and sleeping a ton. If you're lucky, that is. Most are overqualified in some department and not the others. Fae is pretty solid at all three, if you count 2-4hr stretches as good sleep. I do, given Mara woke up every hour for her first year of life. But the one thing she truly excels at is eating. Well, nursing. She's a total champ at this and takes significant pride in her skill, to the extent that she'll show you her moves anytime. And we do mean anytime... Pick her up? Fists in mouth, right away. Diaper change? Grunt and chomp on fingers! Try to burp her? She grabs your thumb and sucks on it with all her fluttering-tongue tricks.  She'll even do it from a distance! After a looooong and thoroughly sweet diaper change (Greg turns every single one into a story-telling special time), Fae will gauge Mommy-distance either by smell or hearing and project a sharp, loud "Aaah!...

Mara is about to turn 6. Just a few more weeks until the happy date, but she's already there mentally and physically. This summer she went: Kayaking at camp - first in her age group to kayak on her own without an adult during this whole summer, according to her camp instructors Biking on mountain trails - yes, she started biking with no training wheels after several months of sparse strider bike rides, and is so smooth at it now! Stand-up paddleboarding ( SUPing at Shoreline Lake ) which I've personally never even attempted. Greg got his opportunity to try it for the first time just this week, same location, with his coworkers. Horseback riding on Wizard who is a 30yo mare at Garrod Ranch . She can read piano music and play several songs with two hands on it - whenever she's patient and rested enough :-). She figured out the notes of "Doe, a Deer" and wrote them on sheet music one afternoon. Can swim end-to-end in the pool at swim class in a bunch of dif...

This year we enhanced our tradition of Giant Spider Web decor for Halloween: bigger, better and more interactive, plus a large spider that was so easy to make out of our set of Crazy Forts construction toys  (instructions below). The Web We reused last year's technique to build an even bigger web, this time in the middle of the yard. This way kids could go on both sides of it. I fully expected some child to get caught in it, literally, but to my surprise they were quite good at going through without pulling the threads. Any casual tugs were inconsequential because the plastic wrap is elastic enough. Both kids were enthralled by the setup and spent about an hour or two giggling, running through and inventing games around it (see the video at the bottom). Mara and Gaius discovered they could push croquet balls through different segments of the giant spider web (alternative direct link to the video: https://goo.gl/photos/BnyERcAbWD2cPVCZ9 ): The Spider We re...

Here is Mara, who drew our US family as spotted snails. They are holding hands because they are on the road. There is Daddy, Mommy, Sister and Gaius, then Grandpa and Grandma and MeeMee and PaPa. Here's a better view:

Mara: I want to make Icecream! Greg: I don't know how to make icecream, Mara. Mara: Ask the Internet how to make icecream! Greg: What's the Internet? Mara: The Internet is somebody that teaches people how to make icecream.

Sea otters in Monterrey Bay are so very special. The species was almost extinct after being hunted for the outstanding coat, but thanks to recent conservation efforts the population is finally in the rise. We went to visit their home in Elkhorn Slough , and got to see their slough-mates as well. Here are some snapshots and fun facts we learned from our naturalist guide. Meet our little "Otter Spotter". When Mara saw an otter in the water, she held her Otter Card way up high to let everyone know, and pointed to the animal so we can see it. We needed to be very quiet because otters are sensitive to sound. Irina, Otter Spotter Mara and the Otter Card Sea Lions: - Very social, like to pile up on each other - One of them was giving an important speech to the other as we were taking photos - Unlike seals, they have little ear flaps! - They have large front flippers so they can climb on rocks and piers - All the ones here are males; all the females are on ...

Books: Title: Penny Simkin's  Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn Tags:   during pregnancy, birth process, medical reference Great reference book throughout pregnancy and especially near the end when a lot more weird stuff starts to happen to the mom. The tone is matter-of-fact rather than baby-ish/cutesie/condescending, as we found in plenty of other books on the topic. We used this to get mentally prepared for the birth and having a tiny baby in our inexperienced care. Our copy has a lot of 'ear marks'. We mentioned this book in a small note on the 'aftermath', which apparently nobody seems to discuss until you're actually going through it. Title: Baby Knows Best  by Deborah Carlisle Solomon Tags:   RIE, respectful parenting, teaching focus  Based on Magda Gerber's teachings, RIE parenting started in LA and is followed by a bunch of celebrities, here's an instructor's perspective . It is also very close to the philosophy ap...

Gaius has been making three signs for several weeks: 1. Up (he does a variation of it with both arms) 2. Tree 3. Lamp Mara recently noticed that Mommy will point at a street light and make the " Lamp " sign, which caused some long Mommy-Mara conversations where we disagreed. She says those are " Lights ", not " Lamps ". Mommy believes we can use the same sign for something that produces light. The matter is still open. Today, Gaius and Mommy were on a walk to buy milk. Gaius loves trees. And lamps. Whenever he sees a big tree he'll "bring it up" in conversation by making the sign. When he sees a street light he does the cutest "Lamp" sign: right arm up high, then curls the wrist toward his eyebrow. ASL sign for: Tree ASL sign for: Lamp You can see in the pictures (source:  www.babysignlanguage.com ) that the two signs are quite similar, especially with a baby's lack of precision. Because of that, sometim...

We spent our Christmas Day out near Muir Woods this year. We caught a perfect day at the Golden Gate photo spot on the way to the Woods, yet didn't seem to capture any good photos with us and the bridge in it. Still, had a great time chasing Mara around. At Muir Woods, we realized others had had the same idea, so parking was impossible. Greg had to bite the bullet and drop us off. Luckily we got on the main path right on time for their guided tour. We learned five life stories from the Redwoods: - Support your Community : redwoods "hold hands" with their neighbors through their flat root system - Stand Tall : tallest living organism. - Surround Yourself with Family : when stressed, trees spawn clones of themselves; after the mother tree dies out a "family circle" remains in its place. - Live in a Cool Place : redwoods are very choosy on where to grow: wind, fire, weather, temperatures, humidity, all have to be juuuust right. - Have Thick Skin : ...