Less than Twelve Parsecs

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...

We went to a friend's 1st birthday party this weekend, and met some wonderful people. The conversation went to how the mom never shows up in the photos because she's the one remembering to take them usually, and we had the great idea of actually taking group family photos! Here is Mara held by Daddy on the way to the event, all shy and cautious but comforted with mommy's old hat. I guess we can declare this comfy hat some sort of 'family heirloom' passed on to the next generation.

At every health checkup for Mara the nurse measures her head-to-toe to keep track of her height. It's always a challenge to get her stretched out on the table the right way because she will arch and stretch to look at what you're doing. The nurses have their tricks: measuring from some midpoint to foot first, then the upper side and adding up the two. Even so, there's need for a second measurement about once every three visits. Once Mara could turn and go on her fours, the game turned even harder. I can't even imagine how they are going to convince her in a few weeks at the next checkup. In the meantime, we decided to try it ourselves on the vertical axis. Our friend Eileen gave us this very cute growth chart for Mara (thank you!!) and we hung it on a wall in the center of our house. Mara's enthusiasm when it comes to markers has some limits, but those limits are far beyond the horizon. Really, she turns into an instant grabbing machine on sight of any ...

I thought the first time Mara takes a standalone step, without holding on to a large item or person, it would be epic. It its way, it was. I had imagined it would happen one of these mornings, during her playtime. She would look up suddenly with that decisive look in her eyes. All would become silent, except for the clock on the wall which would seem to also measure our heartbeats. Mara would get up to standing, brows furrowed with concentration, then she would ever so slightly lift her right foot up, keeping her weight on the other. A soft drumroll would suddenly be heard out of nowhere as she moved her right foot forward, and most likely trumpets sounding some sort of victory march as she would gracefully land one step ahead of where she was standing a few seconds ago. Now here's what really happened. I was holding Mara in my arms in the backyard, watching the birds flying in and out of the trees. Mara glanced down and noticed a stick on the ground.  A STICK...

We stopped buying toys several months ago when we realized the best playthings you can give a baby are right around your kitchen. For example, these silicone covers by Charles Viancin are gorgeous and highly functional - they seal cover round bowls in the microwave, in the fridge, even in the oven for this lasagna bamboo leaf cover. They were quite fun for Mara to chew on during those heartwrenching teething times. Spatulas and spoons and ladles, whether wooden, silicone or thermoresistant nylon, are all safe to use around food, thus quite safe for the baby to play with (although you might want to leave the knives out of the equation for a while). One of our favorites is a silicone whisk  that is so much fun for Mara to see and handle. She can bang it on counters safely because it has a soft impact, and all the little wires are joining together to make interesting visual effects. Most importantly, every time we see her with it, one of us exclaims: "Mara is into some Whisky...

You might have read before about our cute little dining table where Mara gets her meals most of the time. The table is on two yoga mats to contain the mess, but it relies on the baby to also stay only in that area until we are finished eating. Easier said that done, you would say. Mara is actually pretty good about it, provided that: - she is hungry - the food is tasty / interesting - you can see interesting stuff out the window while eating - Mommy or Daddy is around so she can show them the food bits and/or feed them too - there are no other big distractions, such as other people visiting or a toy begging to be picked up. Given the above, the baby will regularly stay at the table. During every meal, Mara forgets a few times and starts to turn away, but when you ask her whether she is all done eating she turns right back to the food. Two weeks ago, we had an episode when this didn't happen. I won't state what this says about Mommy's skills at cooking that day,...

We spent our 4th of July with various friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. Here's the main look of the day At the farm we made friends with a little goat. On the way to a chili cookoff event, Mara helped Daddy hold the  umbrella . That huge umbrella was tremendously useful to have on a very bright day in California, we were so glad to bring it along! Nose scrunchies as usual And a big crowd gathered here for the Chili. Mara's all-pink attire was completely haphazard: - Daddy had picked up the onesie at random that morning, - Mommy could not find any other hat for herself, and donated it to the baby when our umbrella was elsewhere, - a friend handed over the pink beads necklace which occupied the little hands for a very long time. The evening was marked with a quick walk up the hill from our house, where you can see a magic view of all of Silicon Valley. Plenty of other people seemed to have the very same idea of a 4th of July e...