Those cheeks are full of solids!
Things got a bit more exciting for Lauren around meal time on Friday PM – we started her with some solids, specifically a very un-solid rice cereal!
I've been watching you all eat for so long now, it's a pleasure to finally be joining the world of solids!
She took right to it – in fact, on night #2 she practically licked the bowl clean! She eats like a champ and has a very willing helper in Maile Girl…
(Now this is pretty weird, I went back to find when we gave Maile her first solids and it turns out we did it around the exact same time and also during a series of blog posts titled “Weekend of Firsts” – I guess lots starts to happen once the rice cereal is introduced. Here’s the blog post about us feeding Maile for the first time.)
(Click here for the video.)
(For some reason a bunch of things came together this past week and it ended up being full of milestones for both Maile and Lauren. We’ll cover them here over the next couple of days…)
Saturday was Maile’s very first ballet recital! She and her Tutu School classmates performed a recital at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco (a beautiful venue btw).
To say Maile was very, very excited is definitely an understatement. Maile absolutely loved her red tutu that was special for the performance (and especially the heart tiara that went along with it!)
Maile Girl, the Ballerina
They organized the show expertly – our session was 1 hour long and Maile’s group was the last one to go. It was a finely oiled machine with one group waiting while the other group went. Maile loved watching all the other dancers and when it was her turn, she ran right up with her friend Sophie and got right in line without a second though – our girl was ready to get on that stage!
On stage and ready to rock!
I’m including two videos of the performance – one from the actual performance and one from a practice session the week before – it wasn’t so easy to capture the video the day of (plus I was more focused on watching than recording 
Here’s the actual recital:
And here’s the practice session:
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
Maile and I made a new summer mix and this song by Tegan and Sara features prominently. It’s fun 
(Click here for the video.)
Maile and Mommy made pasta FROM SCRATCH this weekend … and it was yummy!
(In fact, I ate it so fast, I forgot to take a picture of the end result
(Click here for the video.)
We received our latest Kiwi Crate and it turned our daughter into a duck!
(BTW – Can’t recommend Kiwi Crate highly enough if you have kids in the 3-5 range).
(Click here for the video.)
Lauren had a big milestone today while Christine and I were at work – she rolled over! Our nanny, Millie, texted us all excited and then later sent along the video proof.
Things I love about this video:
(1) Lauren has been trying this for a couple weeks now, but all of sudden she makes it look effortless…
(2) Once she rolls over, she eats couch for a bit and realizes that the other side isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be
(3) Millie said that instead of napping, Lauren just kept rolling over all afternoon – I think she realizes that she needs to figure out the round trip stat!
(Click here for the video.)
Maile meets Glass
A couple weeks ago we got a pair of Google Glass (is that how you write that?) at the Pocket office. I took them home this weekend to try it out.
We gave them a good workout – Grandma and Papa Boston were in town and we were all over the city. We went down to the new Exploratorium, the Ferry Building, took a pedal cab, headed over to Presidio Picnic, went kite flying and did plenty of goofing around. In the video below almost every picture and video was taken with Google Glass (there are a couple I threw in that Papa Boston took of me wearing them).
My overall impression is that while it is a pretty cool experience to use, I don’t think they are something I’d wear on a regular basis and I see a lot of challenges to this particular form factor being adopted on a wide scale. Some more specific thoughts:
- They were actual quite comfortable to wear – I was aware that I had them on, but didn’t find them uncomfortable and unless I specifically was trying to look at the screen, they didn’t get in the way of my normal interactions with people.
- The screen worked pretty well – it’s pretty small, but for basic notifications (like the score of a ballgame) it works fine. The screen is pretty hard to see in sunlight though.
- I don’t think this would replace me reaching in to my pocket and pulling out my phone for most things – you can get emails on it, but I don’t see that I would use it for that. The primary use cases for me were photos, videos, navigation and quick notifications (scores, weather, breaking news, etc.)
- I did feel a bit ridiculous wearing them around the city – part of that is the novelty factor, lots of people come up to you and ask about them. Everyone was really excited about them though – still, just don’t see this going mainstream as it currently is designed.
- You can judge for yourself in the video above, but I think the perspective is a lot of fun, especially with the girls. There were definitely moments I was able to capture that would have been ruined if I was trying to do it with my phone. I was able to be completely “in the moment” rough housing around with Maile or flying the kite – I liked that aspect a lot.
My friend, Jon, said it best, that there is a pretty good chance we look back at this post in the same way we laugh at the pictures of our parents from the 70′s, 80′s, etc. and laugh at what they were wearing. Google Glass may be my perm.
(Click here for the video.)
Continuing our interview series from yesterday, up next was Daddy! Favorite food? Check. Favorite color? Check.
(Click here for the video.)
Maile is writing more and more. Last night she decided to interview Mommy and I. There are several things I love about this video:
(1) How Maile is sitting.
A very professional interviewer...
(2) The “air” writing when she forgets how to make a letter.
(3) Lauren crying on cue when Maile says she doesn’t know how to write her name.
Part 2, with Daddy, coming tomorrow…
(Click here for the video.)
We went to a birthday party on Sunday for two of Maile’s classmates (both boys). The boys are both really into trains so they had brought their whole train set to the party. They also set up an arts and crafts table. As you’ll see below, it was absolutely fascinating (to me) to watch as the boys went one way and the girls went the other. In fact, my bet is that if you asked Maile if there were trains at the party, she would look at you completely clueless…
(Click here for the video.)
