Last Hurrah

Happy Labor Day!

Bye-bye summer.

Shopping

"Bye-bye! bye-bye!"

"Where are you going, Nina?", we ask as she gathers her purse, hat and shoes (mind you - diaper, no pants, no shirt) and heads for the door.

"SHOP-PING!"

"Nina goes shopping?"

"Yeah"

Of course, real shopping trips look more like this....

Nina is looking fabulous wearing Baka Dragica's 2008 summer collection.

Transitions

On July 15, Nina said goodbye to her teachers and friends in the CIP2 classroom at daycare. She had been in that room for two weeks short of a year. Nina was usually the baby to arrive in the classroom and she developed a special bond with the early morning teacher, Mary Dada. Mary welcomed her each day with music and dancing. But it wasn't all fun and games as Mary was also quick to put her to work - cleaning up the toys or helping to take care of the little babies by bringing bottles or blankets.

Nina and Mary Dada

The Vivacious Patti

The transition into the Teeny Kids Place (TKP) was a little rough. Big tears in the morning during drop-off and really big tears if she saw any of the teachers from her old classroom. A month later she is definitely in the swing of things! She loves being with the older kids and doing all the new activities. Yesterday, I had to drag her home kicking and screaming because she was so enjoying coloring with markers on the picnic table under the shade of the big tree in the play yard.

TKP2 play yard with the incredibly sweet and impeccably coiffed teacher Alla

Another added bonus in the new classroom is that she has been reunited with Christopher (blond boy standing). Those two are peas in a pod! They chase each other around the room, and on a couple of occasions, I have seen Nina just randomly go and give him massively big hugs. That's my girl!

Interactive Mode

There have been so many changes in Nina in the past month or so, I hardly know where to begin. The best I can come up with is that she has now switched into interactive mode. For the past year and a half, we have been trying to figure out what she needs and when she needs it. But now all of a sudden, she can communicate with us. I suppose that this has been happening relatively slowly over the past six months, but somehow it all came together very recently and our relationship feels massively changed. She can tell us what shoes she wants to wear ('cocies' - Crocs), what book she wants us to read ('maket' - Mother Goose book featuring To Market, To Market), when she want to brush her teeth (which is all the time - 'paste, paste' - the dentist is going to love this kid). Also of course, she can tell us what she doesn't want ('no, mama!!', 'no daddy!!'). 'No!' is undoubtedly the favorite word of the moment possible followed by 'mine!'. But on the other hand, she can come over to you, wrap her little arms around your neck and give you the best hug in the entire universe! So completely fabulous!

And look at that smile.....

These are from our annual trip to the Los Altos Art and Wine Fair (last year). Nina was mostly interested in the horse bench in front of the equestrian store (yes, there is an equestrian store in Los Altos).

The space alien with her robot dog.

Finally, here is something else that Nina started doing last weekend. We're super excited about it (NOT!). On the one hand, you've got to give her credit for figuring it out, on the other hand, we are back to square one on the sleep situation. Doh!!

Click to watch the movie complete with Nina's theme song

Bye-bye Ba-ba

It appears that Nina has inherited the sleeping gene from her father. One Saturday, I was already up drinking my coffee, relaxing. I kept checking the clock .... 8, 8:30, 9:00 ... not a peep from the bedroom. Finally, I walk in and this is what I see....

So hilarious, I just couldn't resist with the camera. A few minutes later .....


And here is perhaps the last known picture of Nina with her precious ba-ba.

Since then, all of the bottles have been officially packed away. We started giving her only cups a week or two ago. I thought it would be a major trauma as she has been very attached to her bottle. But no, now she just shouts for "cup! cup!" in the middle of the night instead of "baba!".

Wordle

http://wordle.net/

3 Words

Ok, I have three words for you - "Nini fix bi-see". Subject verb object. Amazing! If you need a translation that is "Nina fixes bicycle". We kept telling her that her daddy was fixing the bicycle, but of course she picked up a tool and ran over to the bike to lend hand.

We had a lovely long holiday weekend. We attended the 4th of July concert (New Orleans Jazz Orchestra) at the outdoor amplitheater at Stanford. Picnic and music - boy, that is what summer is all about!


Nina's favorite buddy Hannah has her birthday on 4th of July (imagine fireworks every year just for you!). Last weekend she hosted a party in the park and of course Nina was there to help her celebrate.



Finally, picking daisies......

Earrings

Wow! Has it really been a month since the last update? Time flies. Nina has been up to all sorts of adventures these days. One of her favorite things lately is to wear my earrings. We hook them over the top of her ears and then she gently shakes her head so she can feel them jiggle. She thinks she is fabulous! Sometimes she wants the necklace and bracelet too. Although lest you think she is a complete girly-girl, her second favorite thing to play with these days is rocks!


But really the massive change in the past month has been in her talking. She can say an absolute ton of words (of course, you mostly still need a translator as her pronunciation is not quite there yet). Sometimes she just wants you to go around naming things so she can try to repeat the word. Even more exciting is that she is starting to put words together - like "mama shoes", "bye-bye daddy". Yesterday when I dropped her at daycare, I set her up at the toddler sized breakfast table and gave her a banana. She replied "tank oo, mama". Melted my heart.

Her first real sentence came a couple of weeks ago. She is really in to dancing and always wants us to put on music ("moosi! moosi! moosi!" - boy it took me a long time to figure out what she was saying with that one). So we were holding hands in a circle and then she wanted the baby doll to join in. "Baby dancy!", she says. We were floored!

Bikes and goats and rocking horses

Hi everybody! Let's start off with our newest transportation mechanism! For the past three weeks, Nina and I have been riding the bicycle to Stanford everyday. It is a leisurely 20-25 minute ride to campus. And so far we have lost only one shoe! Nina seems to enjoy the fresh air although I think she wishes she was big enough to pedal herself. She is even a good sport about the helmet. The first couple of times, putting it on was a bit traumatic, she was prepared to fight to the death not to wear it, but now no problem. "Nini hemmet!" she says.

Nina's next most favorite activity of late is helping to cook ("kuku" or something like that). Whenever we are in the kitchen, she wants to pull up her chair and help (i.e. make a mess). Actually, it is quite nice because it keeps her busy and allows me to get dinner on the table a little easier on those hectic weekday nights.


And speaking of hectic, boy, our life sure feels to be these days. This is the closest thing to a family portrait we have had in months:

Yep, Nina is growing up right before our eyes. Any day now she'll be ready to go off to college .... or at least to the frat parties! Chug! Chug! Chug!

Rancho San Antonio has always been one of our favorite spots to go for a hilly trail run, but some things you don't find out until you have kids - they also have a little farm! Nina was mesmerized by the animals.

They have chickens and sheep and pigs annnd goats!


In fact, I think Nina was remembering the goats when she tried this maneuver:


Or maybe she is just crazy!

Our Southern Friends

Marianna and Yorgos were in town last weekend, and Tim and Jane graciously hosted us for dinner. Yorgos is now a professor at LSU. It was wonderful to see them, and we even managed to have a bit of conversation in between wrangling the two toddlers!

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to pull out the camera until Nina was dead on her feet. When we put her in her pajamas (yes, Christmas pajamas, poor kid) for the ride home, she actually reached out for Hannah's crib.

'Pleeease, I just want to sleep..."

This is a lovely one of Marianna, plus you can see Nina's mass of curls continue to come in.

Much love, Marianna and Yorgos! Come back to see us soon!

Mischievious Girl

We're back! After a crazy month of traveling in April we're all glad to be back home - especially Nina!

Waiting for us at home was a fresh new package from Baka filled with all sorts of goodies! Thank you, Baka!

The girls try on their handmade goodies.

We are looking forward to the next several weekends of relaxing at the homestead. Of course these days no weekend is complete without a birthday party. Last weekend was Bobby's one year birthday bash!

The Birthday Boy. Love those baby blues!

The gang was all there.

Watching a baseball game. "When do you think we'll be old enough to play?"

Here is a fun little sequence. I can't figure out in the first picture if she is looking around for someone to help her or making sure no one is watching. Those are bottles of bubbles by the way.

Not even a challenge.

In other news, Nina's shoe fetish has continued unabated. In fact she has stepped it up a notch......

Watch the video!

Boston

Yay! Congrats Mirko!

Houston Part II: Nina and Lucia

While Bruno was sleeping it off, Nina and Lucia had things to do! There was great fun to be had with the bubbles.....

and the slide....

Although lest you think it was all wine and roses, the girls did get into an occasional tiff.

"Nooo Nina!"

All was quickly forgiven especially when bribed with a trip to the park.

"The park is this way"

Geronimo!

I think there is absolutely nothing cuter in the world than little children holding hands (and barefoot at that). So let's end a few more shots.

Houston Part I: Bruno!

Two weeks ago, Nina headed to Houston to visit her brand new baby cousin. Bruno Jackson DeLuca was born on March 7 weighing in at a solid 8 lb 13 oz! It was great fun to get the family together, and we even managed to get the cousins settled down for a few seconds for a group picture.

The affectionate Nina, the proud big sister Lucia and the baby burrito Bruno

Not surprisingly Nina was fascinated by Bruno. She loved patting him night-night (new word "nigh-nigh"!) and giving him kisses. She was infinitely helpful in feeding him his bottle and replacing his pacifier (after borrowing it for herself for just a minute or two). Actually, I was surprised that she was relatively gentle with him and seemed to know that he wasn't the same as a baby doll. But you definitely did have to watch her like a hawk. Turn your back for a second and the next thing you know there is a pillow on Bruno's face!

"Here, let me help you with that"

Bruno being just a few weeks old was a good sport about it. It fact he slept most of the time.

Blissful Baby

Quick, everybody look... Bruno is awake!

Oh, wait, he is asleep again.

There was no shortage of people to hold this little bundle. Here are proud grandparents for the third time.

Wow, the family is growing!

And finally, we had a special treat with a visit from great-aunt Rebeka (my mom's sister). She came down from Ohio to hold Bruno and of course shower the girls with presents. It was wonderful to see her!