From the monthly archives:

September 2014

Buddies

by Papa K on September 16, 2014

Over the past month we’ve really seen Maile and Lauren start playing together as friends more and more. It’s awesome to watch. Lauren will follow her sister to the end of the earth (and mimic her moves every step of the way). For her part, Maile has been great with her little sister and really is starting to enjoy involving her in games and all types of playing pretend.

Sisters brush teeth together

Sisters brush teeth together

Sisters make a new bed in mommy and daddy's room and pretend to have a sleepover...

Sisters make a new bed in mommy and daddy's room and pretend to have a sleepover...

And, of course, sisters dance!

(Click here for the video.)

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Fun with tissue paper flowers…

by Papa K on September 15, 2014

On Sunday while Daddy was watching some football, Mommy and Maile did an art project where they made these beautiful flowers out of tissue paper.

Maile and her tissue flower creations...

Maile and her tissue flower creations...

Afterwards she created an elaborate wedding ceremony for Christine and I…

Maile's version of a wedding ceremony

Maile's version of a wedding ceremony

And, of course, the flower girl!

And, of course, the flower girl!

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Embracing Her Inner Gaga

by Papa K on September 14, 2014

From the beginning, Maile has had some Gaga in her.

Today she put together this ensemble – which definitely reminded Christine and I of her Maile Gaga namesake…

Lady Gaga eat your heart out!

Lady Gaga eat your heart out!

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Chopped

by Papa K on September 11, 2014

After school yesterday, Christine took Maile to get her hair cut.

We had the following text message exchange:

Chris: “We are cutting Maile’s hair. She wants it short.”

Matt: “What does short mean?”

Chris: “Like a bob.”

Matt: “For real? What is driving this?”

Chris: “I have no idea. We walked in and she said she wanted it short.”

And then I got the picture:

Maile with her new short hair cut!

Maile with her new short hair cut!

I love it. And she does too. I’m still not sure why she did it – I imagine this is the first, but not the last time I will ask that question!

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Good-bye, GG Irv

by Papa K on September 8, 2014

I suppose if, ultimately, this blog is going to be something that Maile and Lauren come back to in the future, it should be a record of the good days, the fun (and funny) days, but also the sad days. Today was one of the sad days.

This morning GG Irv passed away. We were very lucky that we were able to share both Maile and Lauren with him over the past five years … and especially, just three weeks ago when we went to Chicago to visit with him one last time.

GG Irv, once a great story teller, was largely silent by the time the girls met him – but they still had this great connection with him. You would have thought going into a nursing home and seeing a wheel chair bound man that didn’t really talk much might have frightened two little girls – but that was never the case for neither Maile nor Lauren. I like to think his eyes sparkled a bit when they were around and there was certainly a lot of love filling the room while they romped around and explored or played the latest game of interest with GG Bea.

I’m headed to Chicago tomorrow for the funeral so we decided to tell the girls tonight that GG Irv had died. We asked around a bit how best to do this and received some good advice, but mainly what you would think – be honest, go slow and do your best to answer the questions that inevitably will come. I had a few tears when I sat them down – I think that was confusing to both girls.

For some reason Maile had in her head that people died when they reached 100 and she knew GG Irv wasn’t 100, so she wasn’t clear how this had happened. We told her that sometimes people die when they are 100 and sometimes they die when they are 94 like GG Irv. She was curious about how it happened and where he went. She was sad that she couldn’t see him any more, so we talked about memories and pictures. That gave her the idea that we should draw a picture of GG Irv so we could remember him – so after we put Lauren to bed, Mommy, Daddy and Maile sat down and drew a picture of GG Irv using a picture Aunt Julie had emailed us a couple days ago.

GG Irv by Maile Girl

GG Irv by Maile Girl

GG Irv by Mommy

GG Irv by Mommy

GG Irv by Daddy

GG Irv by Daddy

I honestly don’t think I would have thought to have done something like this if Maile hadn’t suggested it – but it felt good to do – the best I felt all day in fact. So thank you Maile … and good-bye, GG Irv.

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A Saturday with Lauren

by Papa K on September 7, 2014

Saturday was one of the dad/daughter days that you hope (and your pretty sure) you’ll remember 5, 10, 20 years from now. It was nothing significant from a milestone perspective, just a full day that Lauren and I spent together. (Christine and Maile headed out on their own adventures.)

I’ve done this many times with Maile, but not quite as much with Lauren. She’s getting to the age where its possible now and its fantastic. We started off at a new gymnastics class – which was great and I’ll blog about it later this week most likely. Then we walked home and had some lunch. Then Lauren conked out for an epic nap – which allowed me to watch the Stanford/USC game (not happy with the result, unfortunately).

And then we headed down to swim class a little bit early and just ran around on Crissy Field for awhile. That was definitely the best part…

My little San Francisco girl

My little San Francisco girl

Lauren is at this great age where she seems to kind of know what is going on, she imitates us all the time (I had her running all over the field throwing her fist out and yelling “Let’s Go!”), but the best part is that she is just smiling and happy 95% of the time. Sure she gets frustrated sometimes, but her general take on the world is that everything rocks and she just wants to get after it (and that typically means run and climb and try everything in site – especially if her big sister is doing it.)

In any event, Lauren with Maile is amazing on a daily basis – but it was fun to get Lauren solo for a bit. Mental pictures of it all – a good day, indeed.

One more time...

One more time...

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#TBT I Can’t Sleep

by Papa K on September 4, 2014

Lauren hasn’t been sleeping well this past week. We’re not really sure why, but in looking back in the blog, we found that apparently Maile had similar issues at basically the exact same age (20 months)…

Hi Daddy, I can't sleep.

Hi Daddy, I can't sleep.

The main difference? As you can see in the picture above from March 2011, Maile was already out of her crib (what Christine and I affectionately refer to as the “worst parenting decision we’ve made so far”) – while Lauren is still in her crib. She just cries until she tires again or we take pity and go get her.

(The other difference – no pacifier for Lauren – she never really picked it up. And no bunnies either. Same belly though.)

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Lauren’s new thing is to join me in the bathroom in the morning and watch me get ready. It’s pretty cute – she often sits on her little step stool and watches for a bit while I shave or shower. Last weekend I decided it was time for her very first shave…

Teaching Lauren the basics ... with a q-tip :)

Teaching Lauren the basics ... with a q-tip 🙂

(Looking back – we did Maile’s first shave right around the same time – Maile was a couple months older.)

(Click here for the video.)

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Let’s Roll

by Papa K on September 2, 2014

Remember those roller skates we got Maile for her birthday? Lauren uses them more than Maile does right now. And there is no doubt in my mind that Lauren will learn how to ride the scooter before Maile. She literally has no fear when it comes to this stuff.

Check me out - this is going to be fun!

Check me out - this is going to be fun!

Daddy, can you tell Mommy to let go? I got this.

Daddy, can you tell Mommy to let go? I got this.

Seriously, let go.

Seriously, let go.

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Labor Day Weekend Bubble Fun

by Papa K on September 1, 2014

For the family reunion we picked up this awesome bubble wand that makes huge bubbles. The girls love it, so on Saturday we headed out with Grandma and Papa to have some bubble fun.

Woah. That's a big bubble!

Woah. That's a big bubble!

I think I can reach it...

I think I can reach it...

... no, no, I can reach it!

... no, no, I can reach it!

Papa is IN the bubble!

Papa is IN the bubble!

All smiles playing with the bubbles :)

All smiles playing with the bubbles 🙂

We also used it to play around with Instagram’s new Hyperlapse video app – makes some pretty cool videos (although I really should take the extra step and set it to some music – next time!)

(Click here for the video.)

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