Merry Christmas

Last year for Jack's school halloween parade I was a sushi roll. My friend, Jill, showed up as a ginger bread cookie. After I was asked how my pilates classes were coming along I was determined to be something more flattering in 2008. I announced that I would be a "sexy" Christmas tree. I had a whole year to figure it out and, of course, put it off to the last minute. Nevertheless, I felt like I achieved my goal in a Project Runway sort of way. Jill was at a loss as to what to be so I made her "present" costume and we paraded around the school as a team. It was pretty funny. I had battery operated Christmas lights (that you can't really see in the picture) and the star on my head actually blinked. This all came in handy when we went trick-or-treating later that night. Everyone could see me coming a mile away.
Makena was a Flamenco dancer. She wore my authentic Spanish dress! My father (the pack rat) kept it for me all these years and then mailed it to me when we came home with Makena. It fit her perfectly. She thought she was a princess.

Jack was a surfer eaten by a shark. We were going to bloody him up but he was concerned that he might scare the Kindergarteners. He later ditched the shark costume and went out in a bathing suit and rash guard because he could cover more ground in his quest for chocolate.

This was Mak's first real Halloween going door-to-door and being handed candy. She lasted all of four houses before falling asleep in the golf cart between stretches of houses. EM and grandpa drove her around while we proceeded on foot. She woke up the next morning made a b-line for the pillow case and dove into the candy before anyone noticed and could stop her. When we found her, her eyes were pinwheels. She was hooked. She was vibrating from the sugar rush and she had a whopper of a tantrum when we cut her off. She not only ate a third of the bag she actually hoarded some of the chocolate away. I found some under our sheets, under her bed and under the couch. She must have known that this was too good to be true. It was. The candy spent 48 hours in the house before we donated it back to our school, who then gave it away to some local nursing homes. Seniors deserve every opportunity to be jacked on sugar, after all.

Is-a-happy Halloween

3

Makena turned three on the 28th. We celebrated her birthday by taking her and her friend, Willa, to Disneyland for the day. Jack generously offered to take the day off school to help supervise the girls. I agreed and made him promise not to whine and beg to go on the older kids' rides and he held true to his word. He was awesome and a very much needed extra pair of eyes.



Makena has made me replay this merry-go-round clip and the subsequent two for her about fifty times since her birthday. I figured I should memorialize them in the blog.


Makena loved the Dumbo ride. We waited in line two more times so that she could fly again. I did'nt take her on the "It's A Smal World" because that song drives me crazy and If I hear it twice it stays with me for a month. So Pass.


This clip is funny because Makena accidentally bumps into someone while moving and dancing and then bows, as if apologizing, and then runs into Jack who stands there obliviously devouring a churro.

It was a great day. I think Makena spent all of ten minutes in the stroller, otherwise she was running left and right taking it all in. She had a great day.

Is-a-recovering from the happiest place on earth.

Manatee

Jack's fifth grade class went on a sleep-over field trip to Sea World in San Diego. We checked in at 5PM and were led on a private tour of the park. The kids learned about manatees. Did you know that they are related to elephants? Go figure. I drove a few parents crazy by combating the camp songs the Sea World counselors were shouting out by singing the words I remembered from John Lithgow's book "I Am A Manatee." Jack loved this book when he was younger and it has become one of Makena's favorites too. "From time to time I dream that I'm a manatee, unshackled by the chains of mere humanity..." And on and on I went. I can't sing.

The evening ended around midnight when we piled into the manatee hall and inflated our air mattresses and promptly fell asleep to the glowing ghostly shapes of these sweet mammals. The next morning wasn't so charming or magical. Having to clean up in a public bathroom with the cold water tap spewing three-seconds' worth of water at a time and clothing falling into pools of unmentionable liquids... I even sacrificed my already bad hair to ride the Atlantis coaster (three times.) I was soaked. What we won't do for our children. (And Jack had a great time too.)
We came home really tired only to find Rommel waiting for us at the front door. Who needs field trips when we live in one every day of our lives.

Is-a-manatee lover

Two tu

The last day of being terribly two in a tutu.
Wondering how impossible three will be...

Isabelle

Pink

I'm not quite sure when Makena's love affair with pink began. It crept up on us and has now laid a stranglehold on our world. I think it's karmic payback because I professed too loudly too long that I would never dress my daughter in such a color. For her shower, my friends knew better than to give me pink clothing but then the color snuck into her wardrobe by way of business gifts, hand-me-downs, glitter shoes (thank you Joan) and then the great deals on clothing that I couldn't pass up (I was weak). But the real catalyst for this pink obsession was Pinkalicious, a storybook Makena can't seem to get enough of. She has memorized the first few pages and recites the prose along with me when I read it to her.

She also -- as you well know by now -- has a very stubborn mind of her own and knows what she wants and aims to get it when she desires it. I bought her a new set of crayons and turned my attention elsewhere while she was busy creating. She immersed herself wholeheartedly on paper and on herself! And she pitched a fit when I attempted to intervene with her creative process and suggested that she use other colors.
My bad.

Is-a-pink convert

Splash

Makena's love affair with water began when we she took her first bath with me in Chongqing. As I lowered her into the tub, her eyes were wide and expressing a mixture of shock and pleasure. Until then, she had been expressionless. Her mouth was slightly open and the curves of a smile were forming on her lips. Then quite suddenly she began to thrash and kick her legs in the water. She was so slippery she was hard to hold onto.

It's been two plus years since we brought her home and I have been determined to make her water safe since then. The first session of swim lessons last year, comprised of teaching her to grab the side of the pool if she fell in and of holding her breath. I always new that she could hold it for six to eight seconds so when she launched herself into a hotel pool once, I was counting steamboats on my way to fishing her out when a perfectly coiffed (and fully clothed) woman dove into save her. Err... she was fine but the lady was pissed off by my lack of alarm. Not one of my better days.

This summer, with the help of Makena's swim teacher, she worked on moving through the water. She could almost cross the width of a pool without coming up for air. I didn't know how Makena was going to figure out how to grab a breath, but she did. This is footage of two-year old Makena (a month ago) jumping off the diving board in the deep end. The rest is history.



I'm dreaming of Makena competing in the 2024 Olympics; possibly giving China a run for their money in diving or swimming because this Mei Mei can do anything she sets her mind to.

Is-a-proud.