Growing up with a little of both and the lessons learned along the way
From the category archives:
Yuck. Apples are so gross.
No really.
(Dad note: We’ve been slowly introducing Lauren to new foods. A new one every 3 days or so. So we’ve learned that she really likes veggies – carrots and peas – and is not a fan of fruit. At all.)
(Click here for the video.)
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Last month when we were in Hawaii, we played Jenga a few times and Maile really liked it (and was quite good at it). Sensing we might have a Jenga prodigy (wink, wink) on our hands, we picked up our own Jenga set for Maile’s birthday.
Maile isn’t the most graceful Jenga player, but that might be part of where her skill comes from – she doesn’t overthink her moves, she sees a piece that is a little loose and she snatches and adds it to the top. Definitely our favorite game of the moment…
Plotting her next move...
How high can we go?
(Click here for the video.)
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Maile Girl has finally learned how to “yes” her parents. She’ll agree to something just to get her way and then conveniently forget about it later. For example, we’ll say, “Maile if you watch a show now, you can’t watch another show later.” And she’ll say, “Okay, Daddy, I won’t watch a show later.” Then later will come and she’ll have a fit because we said she can’t watch a show, completely oblivious (so it seems) to the previous deal that was made.
Well, Mommy and Daddy are fighting back, aided by the latest in technology. A quick video of Maile Girl herself making the promise cannot be ignored later on!
We’ll report back and tell you how this goes…
(Click here for the video.)
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That should help get you through the rest of the week 😉
(Click here for the video.)
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Maile’s Aunt Julie is a very accomplished flutist – she’s traveled all over the world teaching and playing the flute. So Maile Girl was VERY lucky to have her deliver Maile’s very first flute (or any type of music) lesson on Saturday.
Aunt Julie brought over this really cool flute made by NUVO. It’s very light and made from plastic type material – but good quality. Aunt Julie said it is a great flute to learn on.
Aunt Julie said Maile was a very good student and she was quite excited about her lips. For her part, Maile Girl got a huge kick out of learning about the flute and playing it.
First Aunt Julie showed Maile all the pretty sounds that the flute could make and played some songs she already knew... this definitely piqued her interest!
Then Aunt Julie showed Maile how to place her mouth on the flute and the proper way to blow air...
Then they put the full flute together and Maile learned about the keys and how pressing them made different sounds...
After that it was just a matter of putting everything together...
... and becoming the cutest flutist ever!
And here’s a video of Maile playing her very first “song” on the flute…
Thank you Aunt Julie! Now we just need you to move to San Francisco to continue the lessons 🙂
(Click here for the video.)
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On Monday, we set out for Maile’s first true Hawaiian Adventure. We made a full day of it – first we did a kayak adventure to the Hidden Valley Falls and then in the evening we took Maile to her first Luau.
Maile did amazing the whole day – she was definitely the right age for both adventures. The kayak was great – Mommy, Daddy and Maile shared one kayak. Maile sat upfront and actually had her own paddle, although she only used it sparingly. We probably paddled for 45 minutes to an hour. Then we did a short hike through the jungle to the waterfall (which was pretty small, but still fun for Maile to discover it). We ate lunch and then went to a swimming hole with a rope swing (which Daddy enjoyed immensely!). Then we hiked back out and they gave us a boat ride back. Perfect amount of time and Maile was a trooper for almost the whole trip (I gave her a shoulder ride right towards the end for a little bit).
As any fan of Dora knows, you need a good map to go on an adventure...
Maile the Explorer ready to go!
... with her trusty sidekick, Mommy 🙂
Maile got her very own paddle for the kayak
This was taken after the kayak leg of our adventure was complete - now we start the hike to the waterfall
We made it!
Maile, Daddy and Mommy at the hidden waterfall
Maile and Mommy on the hike back to the river
Meanwhile, Boots (aka Lauren) was home with Grandma and Papa having her own adventure of discovery with a mirror...
That night we went to our first luau. Again, Maile was a great age – she soaked in everything. I’ve never seen her clap so excitedly and happily for something. And she LOVED showing off her hula skills (hat tip to Mommy for teaching her some moves).
(NOTE: We went to the Luau Kalamaku which was right near Grandma and Papa’s house. This was actually my first luau too, so nothing to compare it to, but we had a blast and I’d definitely recommend it.)
Our luau experience began of course by getting lei'd
... then Maile and Daddy did some dancing on the stage (of course)
Here’s Maile showing off her hula moves…
Mommy and Maile are ready for the show!
Maile loved the luau show and was VERY excited to meet the dancers afterwards
Did I mention how excited Maile was?
Meanwhile, Lauren Girl was having lots of fun with Grandma and Papa - she'll be joining us on our next adventure for sure!
(Click here for the video.)
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We didn’t waste anytime hitting the backyard once we arrived on Kauai last week. Within mere hours of our plane touching down, we had our swimsuits on and the slip ‘n slide setup in the backyard. Maile and I started off by having some races…
While hilarious, we quickly learned a valuable lesson – the tortoise and hare should work together 🙂 (Note: perhaps not the moral of the real story, but in our case, that’s what we learned…)
After our initial races, we realized that things might go better if we worked together...
And boy, did Daddy get me flying down that slip 'n slide!
Lauren and Papa watched from the sidelines 😉
(Click here for the video.)
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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.)
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(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.)
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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.)
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