One of our favorite parts of our annual New York trip is our play date with Tanner. Long time readers might remember the cuteness overload the last time these two got together in the Big Apple. Maile and Tanner are exactly one month apart in age, so it’s always fun to check in and see how they are progressing.
Things started off with some sharing issues (basically they both wanting to play with the same toy at the same time) and we had to remove a horsey from Tanner’s room since it scared Maile, but after about 20 minutes the two started to warm up to each other. Given that they are both hapa too, by the time we headed out for dinner, it felt like we had twins on our hands!
Tanner (20 months) and Maile (21 months) - yes, they are holding hands - more on that below...
At the restaurant they were running all over the place so we taught them how to hold hands. (Dad note: I realize Maile is a bit young to be holding a boy’s hand, but Tanner seems to be an upstanding young gentleman – daddy approves.) They took right to it and spent the rest of the evening dragging each other around. Chris caught a bit on video – a little bit dark, but really, really adorable…
And yes, that’s Tanner going in for the hug on Maile. Those who know Maile, know she is a pretty affectionate little girl. Tanner puts her to shame though in that category. (On second thought, maybe that hand holding thing wasn’t such a good idea… 😉
We can’t wait to see Vanessa, Tanner (and hopefully Tyler, who was traveling for work) again really soon.
Woops - we got the kids mixed up!
That's more like it...
(Click here for the video.)
A couple weeks ago, we went to Target and Maile Girl picked out her potty.
Since then it pretty much sat in our bathroom unused. Maile would eye it nervously every once in awhile, but mainly ignored our entreaties to take it for a spin. That is until tonight. I was doing some work on the computer when I heard an excited yell from Christine. Maile was ready to give the potty a try!
With her bunnies keeping her company, Maile Girl tries out the potty for the very first time!
A short time later, Maile actually tried the potty out bare-bottomed, no actual potty was made, but definitely a first step! (Sorry, no pictures, we had to draw the line somewhere…)
(Click here for the video.)
Love, love Jake's teddy bear. I hope he doesn't mind...
We went over to Jake’s house today to help him celebrate his first birthday. Chris took this great video of Maile playing with Jake’s teddy bear while we were there. I think it’s a good example of how Maile’s language is starting to develop a bit more – she still mostly says one word at a time, but she’s starting to string the thoughts together and you can almost have a conversation with her. And she is picking up new words very quickly (I have no doubt I will shortly be posting a video of her saying something inappropriate that came out of Mommy or Daddy’s mouth. Odds are on Daddy.)
(Click here for the video.)
We were in a silly mood – perfect to set the stage for Grandma Jill and Grandpa Mike’s arrival tomorrow!
(Click here for the video.)
When your pacifier is out of reach ... Super Maile is there!
A few months back we were visiting Harold and he had this great cape. I found out that it was actually made by a local designer, Gabriela Amaya. I contacted her and she made custom capes for Maile and her cousins. Pretty sure that for whatever reason, I never posted pictures of Maile in the cape before – it is challenging because she is so fast when she is wearing it…
Sorry so blurry, Maile is just too fast when she is in her super gear...
All in all, it’s good to have a super hero around the house – even if she sometimes gets a little lost on the way to her rescues…
(Click here for the video.)
Chris is in New York again this week – so it’s just Maile Girl and I holding down the fort in SF. Things go pretty smoothly now. Although I have to admit to it being pretty exhausting. If I don’t hit the sack by 10:30 PM, I’m absolutely beat by the end of the next day. Last night I actually fell asleep reading a book to Maile – she woke me up by pulling my eyes back open – good times.
In any event, thought I’d share an example of what Maile sends to Mommy every morning. We get one back from Mommy too. Maile looks forward to them every morning.
We’re counting the days until Mommy comes home on Friday (that’d make it 2 more as of this writing!)
(Click here for the video.)
… just kidding! I like the rain. You don’t need to go anywhere 🙂
On Sunday, Daddy took me out for a bus ride and long walk home. He didn’t bring an umbrella so when it started raining, we got a little wet. I didn’t mind at all – ever since Hawaii, I like splashing around in the rain.
(Dad note: I do blame Maile’s current sniffles on this outing in the rain – but look how happy she is – how could I say no? BTW – I made this video fully on the iPhone using the new iMovie app. I used it to merge two clips and it was incredibly simple and fast too. Highly recommended.)
One last thing, my daddy was nominated as a “top daddy blogger” by Circle of Moms. Kind of cool (and since I give him all the material, I believe it reflects positively on me too 😉 Go vote for us (it only takes a few seconds): http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/daddy-blogs?trk=t25_daddy
(Click here for the video.)
On Saturday after I woke up from my nap, Mommy and Daddy told me we were going on an adventure. We jumped in the car and drove for a long time – we even went over the big bridge – and ultimately we ended up at this enormous store. The biggest store I have ever seen! (Dad note: it was Super Target).
The store was awesome. I ran up and down all the aisles. I got a few presents and Daddy got shampoo. My best present was new shoes! At first I told Mommy I wasn’t so sure about them, but once I got home and tried them on, I knew they were awesome. I think they make me faster. I spent Sunday running all over the house just testing them out – Daddy caught a little of it on video. Don’t I look faster?
(Click here for the video.)
In the craziness of March Madness, we never posted our Maile Minute from this month.
One of these months we are going to move away from focusing on Maile eating, but for now its the easiest time to actually get her in one place for 60 seconds. Keep an ear out towards the end for Maile’s newest phrase (courtesy of Mommy): “Oh boy!”
As always, click here for previous Maile Minute entries.
(Click here for the video.)
Maile's 2011 March Madness Bracket
We wanted to make sure we got this post up before the games start tomorrow afternoon. We know a lot of you rely on Maile’s March Madness picks for your own pools (she did have Duke last year after all!)
This afternoon, Maile and I sat down and worked on her bracket. Maile Girl is not one to go conservative, she picked some big upsets in the early rounds: Wofford over BYU, Temple over San Diego St and Georgia over UNC (it’s in her blood, she can’t root for the Tar Heels).
Her Final Four is: Syracuse, Duke, Kansas and Pittsburgh. She has Duke beating Pittsburgh in the championship game.
Here’s how she did it…
(Click here for the video.)
