March 2013

Yo Gabba Gabba Live!

The marquee event of the month came in the first week: We all went to see Yo Gabba Gabba! live! Considering the cost of the meet-and-greet tickets and the fact that Annika had seen it before plus Lukas was too young to really appreciate that part of it, we got regular (but very good) seats for a Tuesday afternoon show at the San Jose Civic downtown. It was so awesome! High energy, a great mix of their best songs, DJ Lance coughing and apologizing to Muno (who said, “It’s okay!” in character), Annika old enough to enjoy it even though it was loud, Lukas absolutely enthralled, and going home with some good merch and wads upon wads of the tissue-paper streamers they shot out of cannons at the end. Really, really fun experience for all of us. 

At the park

So with nicer weather and nothing to do on many afternoons, we spend a lot of time at the park adjacent to the library. It used to be somewhat relaxing for me, but these days it’s just nonstop. Annika tends to find a kid or group of kids and just take charge; she’ll play along with whatever game is going on, if there’s one in progress, but if there’s no leader, she is IT. While she’s bombing around playing lions or whatever (and occasionally coming to me in tears to report someone’s failure to act right), I just trail after Danger Baby -- he figured out how to do the slide all by himself in about two tries, he can climb onto things that are at his chest level, he is fearless, restless, tireless and pretty much terrifying. 

Our Little Raja At Table

Lukas is a picky eater. Mercurial in his tastes (one day he LOVES blueberries, the next day he’ll happily accept the first one, only to crush it between his fingers, crying, while he looks right at you), sensitive to how often a thing is served (the main course today shall not be served fewer than three days hence or it shall end up on the floor mit force), prone to weeping if the food displeases him (which it nearly all does), fond of the bait-and-switch (eating nearly an entire box of expensive yuppie toddler munchie things in Target, then steadfastly refusing to ever tolerate the sight of them again once you’ve bought three boxes of them). He likes to be fed, to be coaxed, to be jollied into eating; if your attention wavers, that food’s going to the floor. And in case it’s not clear already, I’ll be straight: His meals are a righteous pain in my ass. R. is really good at getting him to eat; I am bad, and getting worse. I feed the boy a variety of things I think he might like, or that he has liked in the past; I buy the expensive yuppie organic whatever, to make myself feel better about all that processed crap he’s eating (like Jammy Sammies); I count Snapea Crisps as a vegetable; I broke down and bought a few more cartons of baby food because hell, at least those have protein. And the results are utterly inconsistent and utterly frustrating, on top of which I resent the way I’m reduced to scuttling around trying to find something he might like at every single meal, exactly as if he were a raja just being picky on purpose to mess with his underlings. Of course it’s all complicatedly mixed up with his allergies -- so I can’t just give him some of Annika’s pasta or a cut-up hardboiled egg or whatever like I used to do with her -- but really it’s just that each kid is a pain in the ass about something, and this is his thing.

Holidaze

Two big calendar events this month: St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. March 17 fell on a Sunday, and we were invited to a house party at Annika’s little friend NM’s. They had tons of food & drink and a bouncy house for all the million little kids. It was a good party, but mostly we trailed Annika and Lukas around keeping her out of meltdown and him out of danger; I think that’s just the way parties go at this stage of our lives (which was why we got a babysitter so we could go alone to the housewarming party of R.’s colleague the following week -- best decision ever! heh.). Then Easter was on the last day of March, bringing with it new clothes, egg dyeing, a special box for Annika from Mamalah, and of course, a big Easter egg hunt that morning! Lukas was pretty good at finding eggs, but had no clue why he was doing it; Annika, on the other hand, was almost as psyched as she is on Halloween or Christmas, and found some fairly trickily-hidden eggs. In the sorting afterward, she gave him the eggs with bunny grahams inside, and kept all the ones with chocolatey treats -- she’s very careful about his allergies, and as ever, proud to be the big kid who’s allowed to eat treats. On another note, we’re relatively sure this is the last year she’s gonna buy the Easter Bunny business -- she asks such pointed, probing, logical questions (the kind of questions I didn’t think to ask until, like, college!), and our coverall “It’s magic!” answers aren’t going to satisfy her much longer. Sharp mind, that one! 

Sunday on Ice

Every once in awhile I get an idea for something to try with Annika, and this month it was ice skating. They have “bucket sessions” at Sharks Ice, which is when you can use a stack of plastic buckets for balance at one marked-off end of the rink during open skate, so we went, leaving Lukas and Daddy to hang out watching basketball on TV. We rented skates and made our way onto the ice -- my first time since about 1989, so while I was OK on my own, I was very glad of the buckets to stabilize her! About 10 minutes in, it looked like this was a big fail -- she got frustrated and started to break down. But then she decided she wanted to try again, and we got a couple of unsolicited but helpful tips from a few kids a little older then she is, and by the end, she really didn’t want to leave! So it ended up being a fun outing, but it’s kind of expensive and a long-ish drive; I think we’ll wait awhile before we try it again. 

Briefly: 

--SBDC Spring Repertory Concert: The more advanced dancers (ages 10 and up, it looked like) from her dance school put on a show at the theater where their recital will be in June, so I bought tickets and Annika and I went together to the matinee performance. Once again, this kid’s theater manners were awesome -- she liked the music, and loved pointing out kids she knew from the school. It was a lot of fun! 

--Brown Bear’s visit: Annika’s class has a teddy bear, which goes home on the weekend with one kid at a time; the kid is supposed to take pictures of where they went and what they did with the bear, paste them in the Brown Bear notebook, and return the whole bundle on Monday. On our weekend with Brown Bear, he went to dance class with us, and then to the hair salon (haircut store); Annika wrote it all up herself, and both she and Lukas were very sorry to have to give BB up after his stay with us. 

--Birthday party independence: Annika was invited to a school friend’s princess birthday party at her house -- and the invitation specifically said we could drop the kids off and pick them up at the end! This is a major development, because the kid-birthday-party culture around here is very much 1:1 parent:child attendance up to a certain point. I had no idea what point that would be, though -- so it was nice that the invitation made it clear, heh. A year ago, I’m pretty sure she would have wanted me to stay with her, but she’s more independent now and it turned out she was super-excited to go it alone. Yay!

Lukas says ... 

The little guy’s verbal development is out of control, he’s learning new words all the time, but there are a couple worth mentioning: 

--cloud, bird, more (moah), kitty (kiggeh!, which applies to all animals equally)

--He says please and thank you! Especially thank you, which sounds like “Dek doo!” or “Dek dough!” And he waits for your “You’re welcome!” before he’ll stop saying it. Beyond hilarious! 

--If you say “There’s a party in my tummy!” and/or “Party, party!”, per Yo Gabba Gabba’s song “Party in My Tummy,” he’ll light up, lean his head to one side, and squeak out “Yeaahhhhhhhhhhh!” I’ve got a couple instances of this on video -- to miss it would be a crime. 

The Quotable Annika

--cha-ching S’s: her description of dollar signs

--in re: Grandpa’s email about the 59th anniversary of him joining the Army (I read the email to her, which led, as these things tend to do, all the way down to the atomic level of explanation to Annika): "But what is army?" "Did Grandpa have to get shooted at?" "Is he still in the army?" "What is Red River?"

February 2013

Annika’s first dentist appointment

We finally got around to calling the cousins’ beloved pediatric dentist, so Lukas and I took Annika to her first dentist appointment. They sent a personalized booklet to us in the mail so she’d know what to expect (she likes us to read that one to her at bedtime sometimes ... funny kid!). The guy turned out to look like Mr. Rosso from Freaks and Geeks, and he was really nice, gentle and low-key. All is well in the tooth department; she handled the whole thing like a champ, and the main news is that she has two loose teeth (the bottom center ones), so now she’s all excited about the Tooth Fairy. 

New words for Lukas

He’s added quite a few: car, bird, button, cup, milk, cracker, Mommy, belly (with rubbing!), elbow, thank you, blueberry, corn, car, whoa!, zipper, book, moon, teeth, baby, down, sock, hat (goes on) head, and many more. Of particular note is how much he loves cars (this excited, wondering “caaahhh!” whenever he sees one; the way he can turn any object into a car to play with) and balls (“BAH!”, he’ll shout, often with an enthusiastic chucking motion of the arm; again, anything can be a ball, as far as he’s concerned), and the way he shouts “Daddeh!” when he hears a footstep on the stairs or any sound outside that might be a person. 

Baby kisses

The little guy’s been a hugger for awhile, but this is the month he figured out kisses, and blowing kisses -- it is so sweet, and so cute! Actual kisses he mostly gives to his family, but he’ll blow a kiss to anyone: The palm slapped to the mouth, the loud smooch, and then the wave -- he does it pretty much whenever we leave anywhere (like to the room at large when we leave the gym, as if they’re all his adoring fans). 

The ways we entertain ourselves ... 

If we’re not at the park, we’re having some sort of loud fun at home. For example, the horses game in the dining room one evening. Both of them had finished their dinners, so I let them muck around a little before we went up for baths. Annika requested “horsey noises,” which I made by slapping my hands on my thighs, and added more noise by also tromping my feet (it was pretty loud, sounded like a whole herd of horses to me). The two of them chased each other around the dining table, shrieking and laughing and changing direction randomly. For once, we stopped at just the right time, before somebody started crying. Yay! 

Annika is reading for real (and other developments of the mind)

Somewhere in the last month or so, Annika has made the leap to real reading (as opposed to just recognizing certain words or guessing from pictures). It’s more than a little bit amazing to watch her world expand like that, and we are so proud of her! Also, she’s full of curiosity on so many subjects: wildlife games (like pretending we’re all lions, and killing & eating whatever a given animal eats -- “Want some of the zebra’s mane, Daddy?”), facts about the Presidents (and Hillary Clinton), counting by tens and twos, cultural practices (the red envelope under the pillow for Chinese New Year -- which is a real thing -- leading directly to the heart underneath the pillow for Valentine’s Day -- which is her invention); etc. She did get benched in her tumbling class at the community center for messing around and not paying attention because she was entertaining some other kid (O THE TEARS! O THE AGONY! O THE LESSON LEARNED!), but at school, her teacher, Ms. Varsha, told me she loves doing her workbooks now, and that she’s the best writer in the class. Awwww! And she’s already a published writer -- she finished her first book (a handwritten, illustrated hardback), entitled The Animals Get Together, and has started on another. Big times for our smart little girl! Speaking of which ... 

Registering for Kindergarten

We registered for real school this month! She’ll start at our neighborhood kindergarten this August -- five days a week, uniforms, the whole bit. It’s a little bit crazy, and impossible to believe it’s time, but time it is. We are pitching it as an exciting new adventure for a brave, big girl, and she does seem to be excited for it. :-) 

Lukas miscellany

--He graduated to the wooden high chair this month. He was plenty big enough, and we needed to get that gigantic swing chair out of the dining room, but mainly I was hoping, as with all things, that it would help with the changeover to eating real food instead of baby food, but ... so far, not so much. He does seem to like his new, higher perch, though, so there’s that. 

--When he is not committed to any particular activity, he has a Circuit of Parental Annoyance and Troublemaking that he’ll do over and over again: Attack the DVD player on/off button, investigate and remove something from the recycling, pull up the heat vent cover from the floor, pull the dishtowel from its wire rack on the door under the kitchen sink, grab a package of the batteries we store in the GD refrigerator door. Repeat. Change order, just for kicks. Repeat until bodily snatched up and put in the pack n play. 

--We bought removable gates for the bottom of the stairs and the hallway between kitchen and entryway; with both engaged, the bathroom, laundry room and guest room doors shut and the pocket door to the kitchen closed, he can more or less be contained within one area. But do not get comfortable; he can knock the gates down if he tries hard enough, and one thoughtless partial closure of a door can ruin the whole plan. 

January 2013

A secret birthday mission

My birthday was on a Sunday this year, so we were all at home. With Lukas down for his morning nap, I read the newspaper (a rare treat!) while Annika and Daddy snuck out for a secret mission. That afternoon, we had presents (which she was so excited about, especially since there were cake pans and decoration tools in the mix) and the results of the secret mission, a fantastic chocolate cake with writing and roses on it. Altogether a very good birthday, thanks to my little family. :-) 

Pre-K social networking

On Annika’s school days, we got into the habit of staying for a little while to play on this piece of lawn out front with whoever’s parents would let them stay too; they usually play “Fire,” which consists of finding all the twigs and hunks of grass they can pull up and putting it in a circular pile and pretending to light it. One frequent playmate in this little playgroup was Neve (aka Niamh), along with her little brother, who’s a couple of months older than Lukas. Over a few days of this, their mom and I became casual friends, finding out that both girls would be going to the same school for Kindergarten this fall (yay!), and that led to us having a couple of playdates (first at our house, then at theirs, then a Saturday evening thing with a few other families their family knows). Annika still gets incensed and teary when other kids won’t do what she wants or exactly the way she wants them to do it, but she’s getting a lot better, and she LOVES to be around friends her age, so this has been a great development for her. She’s also getting better at striking up conversations and playing with kids at the park; one day, inspired by a series of picture books we’ve been reading about a little girl named Lulu who likes to call herself Ladybug Girl and recruits pals into a Bug Squad, we took along four headbands with pipe-cleaner bug antennae that we’d made (entirely at her direction, of course!) and she had her own Bug Squad formed up in minutes. It was hilarious -- a rotating cast of young bugs, chasing around this older boy (about 10 years old) who was the “big scary dragon” that could only be defeated with sand and fire. 

Expanded family = expanded vehicle 

So, we finally had to cave and buy a car that seats more people and hauls more crap than either the old Civvy or the Prius were capable of: a 2013 Toyota Highlander hybrid. Black-on-black and loaded with features we were kind of forced into if we wanted certain ones we’d gotten used to with the Prius (keyless operation, back-up camera, etc.), it seats seven, is beautiful, and has turned out to be a real pleasure to drive. It is my ride, primarily, because of the two carseats and the lower gas mileage (so R. still drives the Prius to work). We didn’t need three cars, so with a certain sadness, we had to sell the 2000 Civic (which we bought new in 1999, after a drunk driver crunched the rear end of R.’s old CRX while we were sitting at a stoplight in Sunnyvale). It went to a very nice family, who wanted a good, reliable, but un-flashy first car for their 17-year-old daughter, so we feel like we did the right thing. 

Siblings entertaining each other

Lukas is finally getting old enough to be some kind of companion to Annika, and they both love messing around together. We developed a game called FunBall, in which we all stand around in that sunken living room kicking various balls around (the pink soccer ball, a tiny basketball, some plastic balls that came with a game Lukas got for Christmas, etc.). Annika dodges my kicks, and Lukas mostly intercepts and redirects -- there aren’t a lot of rules except for NO AIR on the kicked balls. Sometimes, DJ Mixmaster Lukas will go over to the baby swing chair and turn on the lullaby music, then stand there dancing to it, and Annika will join in with dancing and singing. Or, messing around up in our room, Annika will invent something like a dragon that breathes fire (there’s a theme, yeh?), demonstrated by the handful of red and yellow drink stirrers she stuffed in her mouth, and run around chasing a laughing, shrieking Lukas. 

Words, words, and more words!

Lukas is expanding his vocabulary by the day. A lot of it still sounds like “ka” or “ba” or “ga,” but he’s clear on his context and with repetition he is speaking them more clearly as well. He gets a lot of reinforcement -- all three of us cheer like maniacs when he masters a new one! So here’s some of what he added in January: 

--Whazzat?

--bath

--shoe (which goes on: foot)

--brush (which you use on your: head)

--stars

--ball

--bread

He also understands a LOT of what we say, e.g. O’s (aka Cheerios), sleepytime, bathtime, naptown (I’ll say “You ready to go on down to Naptown?” and he’ll nod vigorously and say “Yeah!”), and gets so many more word-based concepts (like shoe/foot, which he demonstrates on the changing table with his own little shoes and in the entryway with Annika’s shoes, and brush/head -- he’ll pretend nearly anything is a brush and do a brushing motion on his head). 

THE QUOTABLE ANNIKA

--Matter-of-factly re: a set of directions given by the female voice of my turn-by-turn app: “That was a lot of words, girl.”

--Approvingly, re: R. saying he needs a haircut: “Daddy looks like Jonathan on Property Brothers!”

--In high dudgeon, re: my parenting: “You are the baddest, yuckiest one on all the seven continents!”

December 2012

Lukas has words! 

The little guy got a lot more verbal all of a sudden. He’s got a good handful of words as of this month, including: yeah, cracker, more, and of course nah and dada. He makes a sound that is clearly his word for Annika, although it’s kind of hard to render here, but still no mama. Aww!

Annika’s school Winter Show

Annika’s class at school put on a winter show (on a Wednesday, midday), with songs and a little skit. They all had to wear red clothes and a Santa hat -- it was so cute and hilarious! They sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town, I’m Getting Nothing for Christmas, and Rockin Around the Christmas Tree, then performed a skit based on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (which they also sang) -- and Annika was Mrs. Claus! She even had lines! Awesome! Afterward there was a potluck (this time, she and I had made cookies -- no more mashed potatoes), then we went home. 

The Nutcracker, parts 2 and 3

Annika’s dance school (SBDC) had a Nutcracker Tea Party to raise money for their production, so of course I bought tickets and she and I dressed up to go to it. Held in the largest studio room, the party featured tea sandwiches and treats, plus appearances by all the major characters in costume. We got some pictures with them, and I reassured Annika that the Rat Queen was just a teenage girl in a costume, not a real rat (“Because there’s no rats that are that big, right, Mommy?” she asked, dubiously). Lots of fun for the two of us!

Then, in Texas, we went with Mamalah to the big professional production at Bass Hall -- and it was absolutely gorgeous! It was a great day out for the three of us, going to Fort Worth for lunch (with Uncle Rusty) and then the matinee performance. I was so proud of Annika’s theater manners, and we all had a wonderful time. 

Action baby

There’s rapid improvement in Lukas’s walking, although he’ll still drop and crawl for speed; meanwhile, he’s learning a lot of new baby skills: 

--Clapping: Anytime someone claps or says “Yaay!”, he breaks into a huge grin and claps along. 

--High five: He understands the phrase and will lay a solid fiver on anyone who holds up a hand. Next we gotta teach him knuckles and the Sauce Five. 

--Games with balls: Roll a ball over to him, he’ll roll it back. He might try to throw it. He’ll definitely chase one. Fun! 

Decorating the tree

Traveling for the holidays or not, we always have to get a tree, so we took the ol’ Civvy to the tree lot and the four of us picked a tree (“I’m thinkin we got a winner here, Daddy!” Annika declared). She helped R. with the lights, then we all put on ornaments, including the ones she and I made out of empty Nerds boxes wrapped like presents (a note on that: She wrapped a couple via her own tape-intensive method, then asked me to show her how I was doing mine, and after ONE step-by-step tutorial, you couldn’t tell hers from mine. It is AMAZING how she picks up skills.). And then, of course, we spent the rest of the time the tree was up guarding it from Lukas’s attentions ... heh. It’s like having a large and really determined cat in the house. 

Grandma & Grandpa visit

The grandparents parachuted in a few days before we left for Texas, and this time, it really took both of them to keep the kids covered -- Annika with her constant, imaginative games and dictatorial play style, and Lukas with his Danger Baby antics (plus he would lead Grandpa, especially, on lap after lap around the house, walking and clutching Grandpa’s index finger). When we got back, the fun resumed where it left off, with Christmas II, featuring all the presents from Santa, grandparents and us, and a visit from the cousins, with Annika spending the entire day in the tutu Santa brought her. Lukas’s presents ran largely to push toys and other baby stuff, while Annika’s included the tutu, a cheerleading outfit (her request!), a baby doll, several books, art stuff, jewelry-making stuff, Play-Doh, and Yo Gabba Gabba Live! tickets for the whole family (that’ll be in March). But the marquee event of G&G’s visit was ... 

The Lion King

Months ago, Grandma & Grandpa bought tickets to see The Lion King at a theater in San Francisco as a special gift to Cousin A and Annika. We had seen the movie as a family, so we knew she could handle it, and her theater manners are good, so we knew she’d love the trip. I ended up tagging along as tour guide for the semi-complicated outing, getting everyone to the Caltrain station, onto the train, into the city, to a restaurant for lunch, and to the theater; then they went and saw the show while I shopped downtown. I met back up with them, and both girls were so excited from the performance -- glowing eyes and breathless retellings of the story, questions about how exactly things were done, etc. They both had an amazing time -- so much fun on their special day with their grandparents! Annika may never stop talking about it. :-)

A Texas Xmas

Since we didn’t go last year (newborn!) or the year before (alternating-year schedule), we went to Mamalah’s for Christmas. Uncle J. picked us up from the airport on a humid, tornadoey-looking 80-degree day, and we set about protecting Lukas and the house from each other as soon as we got there. It was a relaxed holiday, with family cuddle time in our bed every morning, chill time with Mamalah (Annika spent a lot of time in her room, dancing to Nutcracker music Mamalah played on her iPhone), decorating the tree Uncle J brought to the house, A Christmas Story on the TV while we made a turkey, and -- of course -- a dramatic temperature drop to 16 degrees with snow that actually stuck for several days, over a nice layer of ice from the rain that had been falling already! So now Annika thinks it always snows in Texas, heh. She liked the snow a lot more this time, though -- stayed out there with Daddy or me, making tiny snowmen, collecting icicles, throwing snowballs, for longer than even we wanted to. The day before we left to go back to California, the four of us went to Ft. Worth to have dinner with Uncle R and Aunt E; both kids were beautifully-behaved, and it was a really nice visit. 

Annual checkups 

We scheduled both kids’ annual checkups at the same time, so we took the whole fam down for the fun. Both were in excellent general health, and:

--Annika is 43 1/2” tall and 39.5 pounds, a big increase in height over the last year. 

--Her eyesight is perfect, and the nurse doing the hearing test said Annika can “hear all the way to San Francisco,” which was especially good to know, considering my own not-great hearing (I’m hoping it’s not genetic!). 

--Lukas is still long and skinny for his age, but they did not give us a hard time about it this visit. 

--We made an appointment to see an allergist for him a few days later, which confirmed he’s allergic to milk and eggs, both of which he’s likely to outgrow in the next couple of years, but meanwhile we have to be careful what he eats. 

--All four of us got shots; Lukas had his 12-month vaccination series and the first of two flu shots, Annika got her last vaccinations needed for school, plus a TB test and the nasal flu vaccine, and out of solidarity, R. and I got our flu vaccinations via shot as well (though we could’ve opted for the nasal spray). Annika is psyched that she won’t need another shot till she’s 11 years old; there are no more vaccinations till then, and she can do the nasal spray for flu every year in the meantime. Yay!

The Quotable Annika

Her, breathlessly, leaping around with hands in claw shape: “Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!”

Us: “What’re you doing?”  

Her: “Playing hyenas!”

The Quotable Annika

On childrearing and other concerns:

“I have to find somebody good to marry with.”  

“Well, sure, when you’re a grownup --”

“I know! But I’m telling you, I have to make good decisions. It will have to be somebody who’s nice ...”

“Somebody kind, yeah --” 

“And who knows how to deal with kids.”

“Uh huh, that’s --”

“Yell at them.” 

[me laughing for about five solid minutes]

Twirling around in a homemade superhero eyemask:

“I have to wear my eyemask!” 

“Why’s that, hon? So nobody can see your eyes? They don’t know your secret identity?”

“No! So they can’t see that I have eyebrows!”

November 2012

Lukas is one!

Our little moosh, the tiny smoosh, is already one year old! We didn’t manage to do a proper birthday party for the bro-hammer -- not least because of the general chaos of getting all the windows in the house replaced and everyone being thrown off their routines, plus an inability to schedule a bunch of friends to get together right before Thanksgiving -- but we did celebrate a birthday breakfast at M&H’s house on Sauce weekend, and when we got home, he had presents and a tasty vegan chocolate cake (more on that below); he tried to grab his “1” candle while it was still lit (see below re: Danger Baby). It’s astonishing how fast this year went; I was constantly behind on or unaware of the things I was supposed to be doing (like transitioning to self-feeding ... um, when do the books say to do that?) because it was just so hard to believe we were at that point already. Ah, well, that’s being the second kid -- less focus, but more fun, for all four of us! So here are some facts about the tiny man: 

--He is finally -- FINALLY -- sleeping through the night. It took a couple of rough nights of letting him cry it out (and by “cry,” I mean “scream his face off like he’s being murdered with scorpions”), but for months he had been getting me up and out of bed four to six times every single night, and for my own mental health and the safety of us all, that HAD TO STOP (I mean, I felt like I was hallucinating from tiredness; I couldn’t speak a complete sentence half the time; I did stuff like let pans of water boil dry on the stove and do an hour’s worth of grocery shopping before I realized I didn’t have my money with me ... like all the time, this  kind of thing was happening). But it was like magic, once we stuck it out -- and things are so much better since we did. Go little baby!

--He is Danger Baby. As I said before, we never really bothered babyproofing the old house for Annika ... but now all we do is try to keep Lukas out of trouble. His first word was “no,” which he says as “Nah!” or “Nah nah nah!” ... right before he does, again, whatever it was you said No to. And laughs. He’s devious about it, too -- he’ll back off a little, wait for your attention to waver, act like he’s content to do something else, then BOOM, back at it. Gaaaaahhhh! Of prime concern is the stairs; his speed and agility on the climb are amazing and horrifying. If you can’t see him from where you are, you know he’s a-climbin. Again, dammit. 

--He seems to have an allergy to whey. That’s milk, butter, cheese, and every food that contains any of the above. We discovered it over time -- he’d get these terrible red patches with clear, raised welts all over his face wherever the offending food touched him, and if he’d eaten enough of it, it would affect his breathing (thus the ER visit in October). It took a long time to figure out by process of elimination what was causing this, and it’s gotten tangled up in the process of transitioning to people food (we’re going broke on that stupid baby food and expensive toddler snax), but we’re figuring it out, and meanwhile, we have reasonable hope that he’ll grow out of it (apparently most kids do, before they turn 5). So for now, we just take care reading ingredient lists, and bring Benadryl wherever we go. 

--He is a sweet, merry, charming, smart little thing -- a lovable baby guy all around, and the perfect person to complete our family. 

Election 2012
Our polling place is in some neighbors' garage two blocks away, so we took both kids and walked over on the morning of November 6. We did our civic duty, got a big long strip of "I voted!" stickers, and took some pictures to mark the occasion. We were jumpy all day long ... but since things went our way, we felt better as returns started coming in, and let Annika stay up long enough to find out who won. Yaaaay! 

School Thanksgiving party

Annika’s class had a Thanksgiving potluck on the Tuesday before, and even though she doesn’t go to school on Tuesdays, she wanted to do this, so I got roped into making mashed potatoes (I didn’t see the other half of the sign-up sheet ... I’m in the kitchen peeling and chopping potatoes, because I have a rep to protect and could never just do instant, while some people were just bringing, like, juice or napkins -- slackers!). We managed to get there just barely on time (toting Lukas, because little bro gets toted everywhere we go) with the crock-pot full of mashed, and the kids (wearing construction-paper turkey-feather hats) did a little performance of a song, followed by each one of them saying what they’re thankful for (Annika: “I’m thankful for my mom and dad because they bring me to school to learn!”). It was cute and adorable and I got to eat a bunch of homemade Indian food (that’s what I love about Thanksgiving: tradition and diversity all at once, it’s everyone’s holiday!). Good times!

Thanksgiving

It was a skinny Thanksgiving for us this year, but a great one nonetheless. At the last minute, Tom accepted our invite, so we did have a guest to appreciate the stellar turkey, dressing and potatoes -- it all just seemed to come together this time, even the deviled eggs. Annika helped in the kitchen (she can peel eggs as fast as I can!) and generally had a great day; we got to watch the Macy Day Parade together while the turkey cooked, Lukas took two long and well-timed naps so we all got to actually eat together and he was in a great mood, and we got everything cleaned up and put away relatively early so we could go to bed. The leftovers were amazing, too -- Annika even requested turkey sandwiches (a rare departure from her preferred all-pasta, all-the-time diet, heh). Very thankful, indeed. 

The Nutcracker

Annika’s dance school does a production of The Nutcracker each year, and she wanted to see it, but we’re going to be in Texas during it, so we figured we’d miss it. But then we went to her DeLor friend Shotaro’s birthday party (at Airborne, heh), and his mother told me that his older sister was in her dance school’s Nutcracker, which was being performed in Mountain View on Thanksgiving weekend, then got us tickets! So Annika and I dressed up and went to the show -- her theater manners were perfect, she followed the story, and only got upset when it was over (“That was TOO SHORT!”, she complained, as we waited for Shotaro’s sister to emerge from backstage after the show so we could give her flowers). She wanted to buy several of the costumes (“Do they have a gift shop, Mommy? We could buy the costumes there!”), and declared she wants to be in a performance herself. Altogether a really fun day together, and she’s excited to see a different production of the ballet in Texas this Christmas. 

Walking!

Big milestone for the Lukas-man: He’s been walking holding onto stuff for a couple of months, but on November 26, he took his first unsupported, solo steps! Yaaay! R. was home to finish the exterior painting, so we both got to see it (and of course got it on video). When Annika got home from school, we did it again -- all three of us cheering like maniacs, him with the biggest goofy smile. Now he’s walking everywhere; he usually drops after a few steps to crawl because that’s still faster, but since he’s realized he can see (and reach, and eat, and destroy) a lot more at his full height, he’s appreciating this walking thing a little more every day. 

October 2012

Annika is five! 

She’s been planning it for a year, and it’s finally here -- her fifth birthday! For the actual day, she and I had a full schedule, to which Lukas got dragged around as usual: We went to “the tea party restaurant” in the Pruneyard for lunch, where she got a special ice cream treat with a candle after the meal, and a gift of a little demitasse spoon from the owner. Then we went to the bookstore, where she got a few more new books, and picked up some food to take home. At home, we had a family dinner followed by a homemade cake with purple icing and a big “5” made with pink sugar, plus of course the 5 candle she picked out months ago from the party store. She got a bunch of presents, including a Cinderella costume, a rake and hoe (for helping R. in the yard), and more books. 

The following Sunday was her birthday party at Airborne Gymnastics. We invited some kids from her old school, and the four- and five-year-olds from her new class, plus the cousins, and it was pretty much a riot -- she loved it! (Now she wants to go to real gymnastics class, which is a whole other thing ... yoicks.) It was a little bit of a weird day, though, because that morning I decided to try some real food out on Lukas -- a little yogurt, some scrambled egg -- and not only did he hate them, but he started having trouble breathing (for reasons we did not at this point connect). It was scary, and eventually we decided it merited an ER visit. I took him, while R. got Annika ready for her party, picked up the cake we’d ordered, etc. Several hours, many texts, and a skipped chest x-ray later (because Lukas seemed completely back to normal), I made it home in time to go with them to the party -- a little discombobulated, but at least I didn’t miss it! 

Anyway ... happy fifth birthday to the most precious little girl in the wide wide world! The baby years are great, but these times are even better. 

Another trip to Texas

Because I am getting up in years, we have come upon my 20-year high school reunion, and I dragged the whole fam onto an airplane to go to it with me. We took Annika to the homecoming football game with us on Friday night; I’d bought her a mum, and though we planned on leaving after the halftime show, the friends I wanted to see showed up late and we ended up staying till it was over. So then Saturday was a trip to an alleged pumpkin patch, with a hayride, a bouncy house, some dubious farm animals, etc., the highlight of which, for Annika, was dashing around the place with her new friend Audrey (my good friends’ daughter, who’s only a few months younger). It was great to see everyone with their families, and I was proud to show off my bunch, of course. Saturday night was the adults-only thing, where we all mostly talked about our kids. Heh. We also got to spend some time with the folks, and then headed on home to Cali. 

Halloween: The Second Most Important Day of the Kid Year

Annika had been throwing out Halloween costume ideas since Nov. 1 last year, ranging from “a butterfly” to “a nice witch, not a mean witch -- a NICE one,” to various book/comic book characters, but had at last declared her intention to be a “made-up superhero” -- Super Sister -- with silver leggings, pink briefs, silver top, pink headband, black wig, and brown stompy boots. She drew a helpful illustration, even, and I had bought all of the required pieces here and there. And but then she got a Wonder Woman costume from Mamalah for her birthday, and THAT. WAS. IT. She was going to be Wonder Woman! She got so much mileage out of that costume -- wore it pretty much every day to play in, plus to dance class on the day they said to dress up, to school for the Halloween parade the Friday before, to a little festival at the community center that weekend, and then finally on actual Halloween night. Her commitment to the full outfit was mature beyond her years -- she even wore the wig without complaint. And oh man, the reactions she got everywhere we went! People would shout, “Hey! Wonder Woman!” from across the room, point her out to their kids, ask if she had her lasso, etc. The most enthusiastic cheers were generally from women about my age (obviously!), and the funny thing was that in a sea of princesses and superheroes (which together accounted for at least 75% of all the costumes), she was the only Wonder Woman we saw in all of our travels. Way to think different, little girl! Meanwhile: Lukas, who of course doesn’t know what Halloween is, went as a tiger, because Target had a tiger footie pajama in his size. He pulled the hat off instantly and repeatedly, so we only ended up with like one photo of it, but it was cute as heck anyway. We all went to the cousins’ to go trick-or-treating, feeling that it might be Cousin A.’s last year for this rodeo, and the candy haul was much much better than the year before -- success!