Mommy teaching Maile about Bocce. Or is it Maile teaching Mommy?
On Sunday our neighbors hosted a day long bocce tournament at the local bocce courts. (Yes, there are local bocce courts right down the street from our apartment. Who knew?) Apparently this is a tradition that the neighbors have been doing for years – they hold tournaments on the Sunday of Memorial Day and Labor Day to bookend the summer. In addition to some serious bocce, there was a ton of great Italian-inspired food.
Maile Girl was fascinated by the rolling balls. She stared at the game for so long that I’m pretty sure she has it figured out. Do they offer scholarships for bocce?
Last week we started a new bedtime routine with Maile Girl inspired by her friend Harold. Basically, instead of holding Maile and feeding her the bottle, we let her feed herself in her “milk” chair. We showed her a few times that the chair was where she got her milk and she took right to it. Now when she wants milk at night, she often just crawls over and gets ready. (Or maybe she just like the pedicures Mommy gives her…)
The fact that Maile is starting to feed herself combined with the move to regular milk (from breast milk and formula) has made the whole feeding process much easier. Now if she can only figure out the potty training thing
(Dad note: how about those rock and roll jammies too, right?)
First a story. We knew Maile was getting pretty close to walking. We were nervous that she was going to take her first steps when Christine was in New York -or- last weekend, when I was in Boston. Neither of us wanted to miss this big step (pun intended). Maile Girl bided her time and then yesterday, when we both got home from work, Maile gave us a big present. We were playing with her in the living room and I decided to pull her walker a bit away from her. She stood teetering a bit and then all of a sudden Maile took her first tentative steps. Probably 3-4 the first time. But they were definite steps. Christine and I were so happy that a) she walked and b) she waited to do it in front of both of us at the same time. Very cool to share the milestone as a family.
In any event, no video of those very first steps – just something we’ll have to remember for ourselves (fascinating concept, right?) But today, Maile and Hannah were playing outside (the weather has been beautiful) and I managed to catch some walking on video. Enjoy!
On Saturday Maile and Mommy went to meet the latest addition to the San Francisco crew – Oliver. Oliver is the son of Lisa and Alex.
When Maile Met Oliver
During the visit Mommy learned a valuable lesson…
Maile isn’t quite ready to hold babies yet What caught Maile’s attention? Oliver’s cat, Furio. (Yes, Furio has his own blog. And 746 fans on Facebook. Which is just ridiculous.)
Here, kitty, kitty...
Then Allison showed up and the focus was back on Oliver again. The first of many fights over Oliver ensued…
Maile: So what do you think of Oliver? Allison: He's pretty cute. Maile: Just remember I met him first.
Allison: What do YOU mean you met him first? Maile: Just saying, I've got dibs. Allison: What are dibs? Maile: Not sure, but I've got 'em.
Things got a little ugly from there, but we managed to get everyone together for a final group shot…
From Left to Right: Alex, Oliver, Lisa, Stephanie, Allison, Keo, Maile and Mommy
You be the judge, but I think my mommy is messin’ with me here. You really think she can’t open these things?
(Dad note: Did you notice the use of the “open” sign at the beginning? Maile Girl is so good at signing, apparently she has no need for the spoken word… maybe, we need to start pretending we don’t understand her – like Mommy is “pretending” she can’t open the bottles.)
When Daddy came home from work today he told me to get my jacket because we were going to “SFO” to go get Mommy. Yay! (Apparently, “SFO” is where they keep the mommies. Mental note, next time I’ll just make Daddy take me there straight away.)
When we got to SFO, I realized I had my work cut out for me. Luckily, I brought my trusty walker to speed things up.
Maile: "Daddy, this seems like a pretty big place. Maybe we should split up?" Daddy: "No, Maile, we are not going to split up."
Baggage claim area is clear, Daddy. No Mommy to be found.
SFO was pretty big. Just when I had given up hope, guess who walked around the corner!?
So happy to have my Mommy back! Happy day!
(Dad note: Special thanks to Megan for help with the signage…)
Excuse me, Maile Girl here. Just wanted to chime in. I miss my Mommy. And even though Daddy keeps telling me “go to sleep, wake up, go to sleep, wake up” – I’m not going to sit idly by any longer. I’m a little girl of action.
So I hatched a plan.
First, I booted up the computer Daddy gave me and figured out how where in the world New York is.
Maile: "Daddy, what's the site I see you on sometimes with the maps?" Daddy: "Google Maps?" Maile: "Thanks."
After I few clicks, I was able to get a line to draw showing me where I needed to go. It was basically as long as two of my hands, so I figured it was doable.
After that I told Daddy I wanted to “go outside and practice walking.” He obliged and we headed out with my walker. After that I was off!
As you can see, I hit a few obstacles, but I will not be denied! Mommy, I’m coming!
(Dad note: Maile walked the furthest she ever has on this little adventure. With that said, this is how far we made it:
Update on Maile and Daddy’s Home Alone adventures… we’re doing pretty good. Still very much missing Mommy, but staying strong. We had grand plans to use our new iPhones to FaceTime chat – unfortunately two things happened:
1) We can’t do it at night when Mommy is on the hotel WiFi because Maile Girl gets too worked up missing mommy before bed.
2) For some reason when we try in the morning it doesn’t work on Mommy’s work network.
So we improvised and Mommy sent Maile a video to watch. And watch it we did. About 20 times!
(Dad note: Before Maile jumps in and tells you about the fun day we had on Saturday, just a quick update on our Home Alone adventures. Maile has done great the past two nights. She’s gone down relatively easily and slept through the night. She still misses her mommy very much and can’t wait to see her on Thursday. For all those who asked, Chris is doing okay as well – she’s thinking about us non-stop, but she’s surviving and getting her stuff done in NYC.)
On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy took me to the Nihonmachi Street Fair in Japantown. The Nihonmachi Street Fair is a big street party for the Asian American community. I’m part Asian and 100% American so I qualified no problem (they let Daddy come too, so apparently the rules aren’t too strict).
It was a fun day – we had mochi and walked around to all the different booths. Mommy’s friend Johannah joined us too – it was fun to see her again.
Nah, I didn't have any fun at the Fair...
They even had dragons that made loud noises – mommy thought I’d be scared, but it didn’t seem like such a big deal to me. Kind of ho hum to be honest. I knew there were actually people under the dragons – can’t pull something like that over Maile Girl.
Mommy, I know those dragons aren't real...
There was a band too and Daddy and I went dancing. He’s a fun dancing partner although if I get much bigger he said he won’t be able to throw me around like he does now. I say “suck it up” daddy, I’m not getting any smaller!
Watch out Japantown, here comes a Haole and a Half...
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
Maile’s been listening to Lady Gaga for awhile now and she’s finally starting to get her dance routine down. (Note: I did dub over the music in this video, but she is actually listening to Bad Romance while she is performing these dance moves…)
BTW – While she is listening to Gaga, I think Maile Girl is going a little old school with the floor routine half way through and is channeling one of the originals…
