As you know, on Thursdays I like to click back through the archive and see what was happening on this day in history. Tonight my first stop was January 15, 2013 and I found a keeper right away – Grandma and Papa Boston meet Lauren for the very first time…
First meeting between Lauren, Grandma Jill and Papa Mike
One year earlier – and we have this smile of Maile’s lighting up your day…
Just a Maile smile to start your week...
And the year before that? Some silliness with Maile and her dollie in the stroller…
And we end our trip with this one…
I love you, daddy. I love you too, Maile girl.
A good day indeed.
Google came out with a new Translate app today that has a cool feature where two people can have a conversation in different languages and the app acts as the translator. So person #1 speaks in English and the app translates into, say, Chinese. Then person #2 speaks in Chinese and the app translates into English.
I thought we’d have some fun with Maile and try it out – she’d speak Chinese, I’d speak English.
As you can see, we had a little trouble from the start. Either Maile really doesn’t know Chinese and this whole thing is a farce – or perhaps Google’s technology just can’t understand her high-pitched voice. Or maybe she was just goofing too much. Any way you slice it, the app had some trouble with Maile Girl’s Chinese…
And the difficulty absolutely slayed Maile…
(Click here for video #1.)
(Click here for video #2.)
(Click here for video #3.)
She just keeps getting older and older – right before our eyes!
Maile's Kindergarten School Picture (5.5 years old)
And here’s the previous three years…
Maile's school picture for 2013 (4.5 years old)
Maile's School Picture 2012-2013 (3.5 years)
Maile's First School Picture (2.5 years)
I don’t blame her really, they do kind of look like shoes.
And don’t worry, for those of you who later get to enjoy a home-cooked meal from us – we threw both measuring cups in the dishwasher 😉
(Click here for the video.)
I stumbled on this video from January 9th, 2011 and it cracked me up…
My goal for this weekend is to find this book and teach Lauren the same. Stay tuned.
(Click here for the video.)
With Daddy
With Mommy
The only one missing is one with her sister where she is likely hitting her because she isn’t getting her way 🙂
Christmas and birthdays means lots of … boxes. Which as we know are typically much more fun than the gifts that came inside them 😉
Evidence submitted:
(Dad note: The Lauren shrieking at the end when things don’t quite go her way is a nice addition to her two year old arsenal.)
(Click here for the video.)
One last post about our trip to Hawaii before we return to San Francisco.
Lots of fun with Grandma and Papa Hawaii, Uncle Steve and, especially, Katie and Emily. It continues to amaze that despite the language gap, it really doesn’t seem to matter – the girls communicate with shrieks and giggles. They run all over, inside and out, splashing, swimming, laughing, creating fun projects with Grandma, coloring, playing games, dancing, singing – it’s a really nice way to end the year and start the new one.
Grandma Gail and Papa Cal with their girls, Emily (6.5), Maile (5.5), Lauren (2), Katie (8.5) - all in their homemade shirts 🙂
Thank you Grandma and Papa for a wonderful visit!
Today was Lauren’s second birthday! Will cover the festivities here in San Francisco a bit later this week, but before we left Hawaii on Friday, we celebrated Lauren’s birthday with Grandma and Papa Hawaii and Katie, Emily and Uncle Steve.
Yes, Lauren, that present is for you!
Mommy made the cupcakes and the rest of us took care of eating them ... after Lauren, Grandma and the girls blew out the candles.
As the video shows, Lauren hasn’t quite mastered blowing the candles out yet … maybe next year!
Per tradition we took a picture of Lauren in her kimono in front of the kadomatsu.
Previous kadomatsu pictures are here and of Maile here.
(Click here for the video.)
I thought I’d write a post about each of our girls tonight on New Year’s Eve. Lauren’s is here.
As for Maile – 5.5 seems to be the time where she is starting to figure out that even if she can’t do something right the first time through, with a little practice, she might actually figure it out. This is a beginning of a big change for her – she still needs to work at it, but it’s starting. We see it as the wheels on reading slowly, but surely start turning. And this video of her hula hooping is a good example – she makes it look so easy, but it didn’t start off that way.
The hula hoop is fun for me to think about – there was a time when I could hula hoop a bit. I try it now and it’s a disaster. Just a reminder that Maile is nowhere near the peak of the things she’s going to be able to figure out and do – such a fun ride to be part of as she starts to figure things out.
And while 5.5 has certainly brought its fair share of attitude and fights, Maile is still an absolute charmer – able to light up a room with her smile and her friendliness.
A big ol' Maile smile alongside some shave ice is a good way to end 2014!
(Click here for the video.)
