Oh dear - once again it's been months since I've written anything in this blog. I guess this is an attempt to get started again.
Today, Rosa said two things that made me say to myself - if I was still blogging, this would go in the blog. So I'm at least going to record them both here and now, albeit without any cute accompanying photos.
Normally I wake up to Rosa either calling "Mama!", chattering about firemen going down poles or other thoughts running through her mind, or occasionally just crying. Today, despite it being too early (6:10 instead of at least 6:30), I got up right on the spot because she made me laugh out loud. I think I was already a little bit awake and either Jeff or I must hvae made some noise rolling over or something and Rosa says in a singsong voice: "I hear you Mama! Mama, where are you???"
Then later in the day when Jeff got home from work and was headed toward then den with his laptop, Rosa chased after him saying, "I check my email!" I'd never heard her say that before, but apparently Jeff had, since she learned it from him!
Hopefully more blogging will follow after this tiny attempt to get started again!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Zoo, beach, and more
Two Saturdays ago, we went to the much-hyped Golden Gate Mothers Group East Egg Hunt. It was at the zoo, which is always a favorite, so I knew it would be fun no matter what. As always, we started with the giraffes, then headed over to the children's zoo/farm area. Rosa had a ball working as a farm-hand!
She also really liked talking to the sheep! (Most of the sheep were out in the yard, but these few were in the barn. I'm pretty sure they all get to go out and wander around most of the time.)
Then, at the appointed hour, we went to the Easter Egg Hunt. Somewhat strange event. They were blasting old pop music, which was sort of odd. But they did have age-specific jumpy castles, which was great, and also a marionnette show that absolutely captivated Rosa... for a few minutes anyway. They announced that the Easter Egg Hunt would be starting shortly, then did a countdown. 10 - 9 - 8... 3 - 2 - 1! About a million kids descended on a what looked like a decent-sized bit of lawn covered in plastic eggs. But whoosh! All the eggs were gone in literally about 45 seconds. I jumped in a grabbed one (from a kid with about 10 who was going for #11) and put it in front of Rosa. She enjoyed picking it up and opening it. But what an anti-climax. Good thing the giraffes and the sheep were so cool.
Well, the zoo wore Rosa out. I drove home, and I saw Jeff turn around and start snapping pictures. He actually caught Rosa in the act of falling asleep!
The next day was a lovely sunny day, so we headed out to Ocean Beach.
We put our toes in!
Rosa spent about 15 minutes pouring sand back and forth from one hand to the other. It was the longest we had seen her sit still and focus on something pretty much ever!
Beach walking with Mama.
Beach walking with Daddy. Daddy is so silly. Who else in the world walks in the ocean in their business shoes and socks. At least Rosa helped him roll his pants up!
This past Saturday was Rosa's buddy Lina's 2nd birthday party. Here's a very short video of everybody dancing.
The party was in Lina's dad's warehouse / workshop. He had built a swing for Lina that hung from the rafters, probably at least two stories high. Rosa LOVED the swing.
And finally, a self-portrait early one morning, not long after waking up.
She also really liked talking to the sheep! (Most of the sheep were out in the yard, but these few were in the barn. I'm pretty sure they all get to go out and wander around most of the time.)
Then, at the appointed hour, we went to the Easter Egg Hunt. Somewhat strange event. They were blasting old pop music, which was sort of odd. But they did have age-specific jumpy castles, which was great, and also a marionnette show that absolutely captivated Rosa... for a few minutes anyway. They announced that the Easter Egg Hunt would be starting shortly, then did a countdown. 10 - 9 - 8... 3 - 2 - 1! About a million kids descended on a what looked like a decent-sized bit of lawn covered in plastic eggs. But whoosh! All the eggs were gone in literally about 45 seconds. I jumped in a grabbed one (from a kid with about 10 who was going for #11) and put it in front of Rosa. She enjoyed picking it up and opening it. But what an anti-climax. Good thing the giraffes and the sheep were so cool.
Well, the zoo wore Rosa out. I drove home, and I saw Jeff turn around and start snapping pictures. He actually caught Rosa in the act of falling asleep!
The next day was a lovely sunny day, so we headed out to Ocean Beach.
We put our toes in!
Rosa spent about 15 minutes pouring sand back and forth from one hand to the other. It was the longest we had seen her sit still and focus on something pretty much ever!
Beach walking with Mama.
Beach walking with Daddy. Daddy is so silly. Who else in the world walks in the ocean in their business shoes and socks. At least Rosa helped him roll his pants up!
This past Saturday was Rosa's buddy Lina's 2nd birthday party. Here's a very short video of everybody dancing.
The party was in Lina's dad's warehouse / workshop. He had built a swing for Lina that hung from the rafters, probably at least two stories high. Rosa LOVED the swing.
And finally, a self-portrait early one morning, not long after waking up.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
21 months
First of all, "umm" is done. Hooray! That went quick. It was cute, but glad it's over.
It's been a long time since I wrote - yikes! As I think I said in a previous post, I threw my back out for about a week, but thankfully feel completely better now. And I've just been too exhausted at the end of every night to even consider sitting down with the laptop. But I got the dishes done quickly tonight and it's still early so here we are. Rosa is 21 months old today, and I felt like this was an auspicious occasion to get caught up (with a long post and lots of pix and videos)!
We've been doing a LOT of fun stuff since I last wrote. Here comes quick descriptions for all the outings where I managed to take pictures. By the way, at least on my computer, the videos DO work, even though they all look black until you hit the play button (and wait a little bit for it to buffer).
We went to the "Little Farm" in Berkeley with a neighborhood playgroup. Rosa's first experience with live farm animals! Cows, ducks, goats, piggies! Unfortunately I was so taken with the experience that I didn't pull out my camera until the ride home. Rosa and Mateus both had a great time and passed out instantly in the car.
After the Little Farm trip, we went to a storytime about farms.
We've been trying to do a big nature trip at least once a weekend for the last 3 weekends and it has been great! By nature I mean a place where we can be away from cars, off of pavement, and not at a playground (we get plenty of that during the week). We went to the arboretum in Golden Gate Park last Saturday. The highlight for Rosa (based on what she continues to talk about) were the 3 squirrels that we stopped and watched (and who stopped and watched us) for probably 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure they wanted Rosa's apple. I'm not sure what Rosa wanted from them...
Soon-to-be-Mama Eva came along on this trip.
Daddy found Rosa a beautiful, huge pink flower... that had fallen on the ground - for real!
Daddy does take a lot of the pictures, so here's one documenting that he was on the trip too!
The next Friday, a bunch of kids from the neighborhood went to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito. We had never been, so we tagged along. It was fantastic! Our first stop was the stream, with fishies, froggies, and sticks!
Then the kids climbed this cool hill that had a tunnel through it (Rosa is super into tunnels right now) and stopped to ride the giant lizard. Don't know the girl in the middle, but that's our friend Paxton at the end.
Then there was this cool maze of woven sticks... as you'll see, Rosa has entered a new phase where if something seems cool and forbidden, she tells me to go away when she thinks I'm going to spoil her fun.
It was a hot day, and I was more than happy to keep feeding Rosa "beeps."
And the following Friday afternoon, Rosa was in heaven - she got to hang out with her two best buddies that she talks about constantly - Peter and Ember (who didn't want to ride on the tire swing).
This was another Saturday "nature" trip, this time to Stern Grove. Rosa found a tap-dancing stage (I think it was a covered fire pit).
About a month ago, Jeff started building towers with Rosa, usually after dinner. In the beginning, it was Jeff building and Rosa knocking down. I knew that Rosa was doing more building lately, but one morning, I was cleaning up after breakfast and came out to find this tower that Rosa had built! I know there was no tower at all before breakfast, so Rosa did it all herself. Pretty good!
It's been a long time since I wrote - yikes! As I think I said in a previous post, I threw my back out for about a week, but thankfully feel completely better now. And I've just been too exhausted at the end of every night to even consider sitting down with the laptop. But I got the dishes done quickly tonight and it's still early so here we are. Rosa is 21 months old today, and I felt like this was an auspicious occasion to get caught up (with a long post and lots of pix and videos)!
We've been doing a LOT of fun stuff since I last wrote. Here comes quick descriptions for all the outings where I managed to take pictures. By the way, at least on my computer, the videos DO work, even though they all look black until you hit the play button (and wait a little bit for it to buffer).
We went to the "Little Farm" in Berkeley with a neighborhood playgroup. Rosa's first experience with live farm animals! Cows, ducks, goats, piggies! Unfortunately I was so taken with the experience that I didn't pull out my camera until the ride home. Rosa and Mateus both had a great time and passed out instantly in the car.
After the Little Farm trip, we went to a storytime about farms.
We've been trying to do a big nature trip at least once a weekend for the last 3 weekends and it has been great! By nature I mean a place where we can be away from cars, off of pavement, and not at a playground (we get plenty of that during the week). We went to the arboretum in Golden Gate Park last Saturday. The highlight for Rosa (based on what she continues to talk about) were the 3 squirrels that we stopped and watched (and who stopped and watched us) for probably 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure they wanted Rosa's apple. I'm not sure what Rosa wanted from them...
Soon-to-be-Mama Eva came along on this trip.
Daddy found Rosa a beautiful, huge pink flower... that had fallen on the ground - for real!
Daddy does take a lot of the pictures, so here's one documenting that he was on the trip too!
The next Friday, a bunch of kids from the neighborhood went to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito. We had never been, so we tagged along. It was fantastic! Our first stop was the stream, with fishies, froggies, and sticks!
Then the kids climbed this cool hill that had a tunnel through it (Rosa is super into tunnels right now) and stopped to ride the giant lizard. Don't know the girl in the middle, but that's our friend Paxton at the end.
Then there was this cool maze of woven sticks... as you'll see, Rosa has entered a new phase where if something seems cool and forbidden, she tells me to go away when she thinks I'm going to spoil her fun.
It was a hot day, and I was more than happy to keep feeding Rosa "beeps."
And the following Friday afternoon, Rosa was in heaven - she got to hang out with her two best buddies that she talks about constantly - Peter and Ember (who didn't want to ride on the tire swing).
This was another Saturday "nature" trip, this time to Stern Grove. Rosa found a tap-dancing stage (I think it was a covered fire pit).
About a month ago, Jeff started building towers with Rosa, usually after dinner. In the beginning, it was Jeff building and Rosa knocking down. I knew that Rosa was doing more building lately, but one morning, I was cleaning up after breakfast and came out to find this tower that Rosa had built! I know there was no tower at all before breakfast, so Rosa did it all herself. Pretty good!
I posted this video because I was thrilled to have captured Rosa's version of counting 1-10 on video. She's only missing a few numbers!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Ummm
Rosa has her first bad speaking habit. She now begins every utterance with "Um." As in "Ummm... big truck!" "Ummm... straw straw (strawberry)!" "Ummm... siren!"
Jeff finds it cute. I find it cute too, but I really want us to not encourage this. I've been trying to pay attention to how I talk and have found a few "um"s in my speech, but nothing too egregious. I've heard a few as Jeff talks too. Hopefully it will pass quickly!
Jeff finds it cute. I find it cute too, but I really want us to not encourage this. I've been trying to pay attention to how I talk and have found a few "um"s in my speech, but nothing too egregious. I've heard a few as Jeff talks too. Hopefully it will pass quickly!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Two
Two. Two babies. Two girls. (Rosa's exclamations upon seeing the double stroller I bought for the new share care.) We finally took the plunge and started Rosa in a share care (one nanny takes care of two kids). I had been wanting to do that for a while, but had been hesitating just out of inertia, and also a little worry that Rosa wouldn't nap well, or wouldn't eat well, or something wouldn't go well with one babysitter looking after two kids. But after having some playdates recently where Rosa got one-on-one time with another kid, and then couldn't talk about anything else for weeks (Max. Boy! Max! Chair. Boy. Max!), I realized she is just craving a little buddy to play with during the days while I am gone (and probably the days while I'm here too!). So after a little bit of effort, we have hooked up with another family, and today was the first day of the share care. Needless to say, Rosa was in 7th heaven when I got home. It took her a little while to warm up to everything this morning, but by the time I left, she barely noticed. And when I got home, the two of them were romping up and down the hallway screeching with delight! I don't have pictures of them together (not sure what the etiquette on this is, and haven't asked the other mom permission yet), but hopefully I'll have some soon. They are just too cute.
The sad part is that we said bye bye to our previous nanny who had been taking care of Rosa for the past 15 months. But we will have her come watch Rosa periodically on nights and weekends to keep her in Rosa's life.
The other big deal that's gone on lately is that I threw my back out (as in couldn't stand up or walk!) last Saturday. It was so painful and so strange to be instantly debilitated. But by now (4 days later) I can at least walk, albeit slowly, but relatively painlessly. Can't say the same for sitting yet.
It happened as we were getting into the car after a really fun rainy morning out at some dunes by the beach at Fort Funston. Here's Rosa in her new alligator rain boots and ladybug rain jacket.
Fort Funston is a big dog park. LOTS of doggies...
Rosa saw this branch from afar and announced "Neigh Neigh!" I looked around for a horse, and eventually saw what she was looking at. I put her on it to ride it.
Shoulder ride! Hopefully this is not what caused the back pain, because we do this all the time.
Last time I posted, I said my camera battery was mysteriously running low more than I expected. Recently I took some videos of Rosa on the merry-go-round at the playground. When I got home and downloaded them, I was disappointed to find that they were time-lapse shots (taken 1 frame every 20 seconds) instead of continuous video. Turns out Jeff has been doing some long-duration time-lapse experiments of clouds lately and didn't put the camera back on standard video... explains the low battery!
So here's some more merry-go-round video. Not as cute (in my memory anyway) as the first one, but pretty cute still. Rosa see what the boy is doing...
And guess what Rosa wants to do!
The sad part is that we said bye bye to our previous nanny who had been taking care of Rosa for the past 15 months. But we will have her come watch Rosa periodically on nights and weekends to keep her in Rosa's life.
The other big deal that's gone on lately is that I threw my back out (as in couldn't stand up or walk!) last Saturday. It was so painful and so strange to be instantly debilitated. But by now (4 days later) I can at least walk, albeit slowly, but relatively painlessly. Can't say the same for sitting yet.
It happened as we were getting into the car after a really fun rainy morning out at some dunes by the beach at Fort Funston. Here's Rosa in her new alligator rain boots and ladybug rain jacket.
Fort Funston is a big dog park. LOTS of doggies...
Rosa saw this branch from afar and announced "Neigh Neigh!" I looked around for a horse, and eventually saw what she was looking at. I put her on it to ride it.
Shoulder ride! Hopefully this is not what caused the back pain, because we do this all the time.
Last time I posted, I said my camera battery was mysteriously running low more than I expected. Recently I took some videos of Rosa on the merry-go-round at the playground. When I got home and downloaded them, I was disappointed to find that they were time-lapse shots (taken 1 frame every 20 seconds) instead of continuous video. Turns out Jeff has been doing some long-duration time-lapse experiments of clouds lately and didn't put the camera back on standard video... explains the low battery!
So here's some more merry-go-round video. Not as cute (in my memory anyway) as the first one, but pretty cute still. Rosa see what the boy is doing...
And guess what Rosa wants to do!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Shoes
I have found that I haven't been taking many pictures lately, which means I haven't been doing much blogging lately. I think the problem has been that I my camera battery always seem s to be running out of charge lately, so I've gotten out of the habit of having my camera with me. Must change that! Because who wants to read a bunch of words without the cute pictures of 20-month old?
We've had a good last couple of weeks, despite Rosa having a cold (new ones every week!) for the last 6 weeks! We went to the zoo with Rosa's friend Ember and her mom back in January, and Rosa still says "Ember, choo choo, douaaache (giraffe)!!!" every single time she sees a giraffe or a choo choo train. She's got a long memory! The zoo was pretty magical to her, especially the giraffes, which were the first thing we saw, and which came up fairly close to us.
We also made it to the California Academy of Sciences, finally(!), after missing the group trip due to a really bad cough and cold. Rosa loved the African savanah (taxidermy) scenes, and spotted a leopard up in a tree that we had to keep coming back to. And in the aquarium section she was literally darting from tank to tank... I wondered if she might be getting overstimulated to the point of being hyper, but she calmed down fine for lunch. Then we took a quick trip through the rain forest before heading out to the parking garage, where I was afraid I had lost the car for several minutes before realizing I was on the wrong floor.
And this past weekend, the definite highlight was a toddler bluegrass concert. We had to wake her up early from her nap (which I am LOATHE to do!), but it was so worth it. When we got there, it took her a little while to warm up and she just wanted to stay in my lap, but by the 3rd or 4th song she jumped up and started jumping around with the other kids. And then she started hugging them! And then she started pulling their blankies away from them (ah hah - now I see what all the hugging was about). Seriously though, she loved it! (what toddler wouldn't?!?) It was one of those sort of magical scenes that you just want to capture and bottle.
And last but not least, Rosa is now finally sleeping in a full size crib! And she loves it. And she slept great her first night and nap in it. She had been in the mini crib that we had back from when we were all sleeping (or not) in the same room at the old place. This crib converts to a toddler bed when she is ready. But ever since that night few days before Christmas when she scared the pants off of us by thumping to the ground in the middle of the night, she hasn't tried climbing out again (knock knock knock).
My last post was about broccoli. Which Rosa hasn't eaten again since my last posting. But I did discover that she loves asparagus! She has eaten that multiple times now (also dripping with butter!). And speaking of which, she loves eating straight butter any time she can talk me into it.
Rosa is also definitely recognizing that writing is something special now. She loves making lines with her "pens" (crayons), and announces "Pens!" whenever she sees handwriting. She learned the number 8 recently, and then at first all writing was "8! 8!" I just got her a placemat with the numbers 1-12 illustrated with animals so she can practice during our (sometimes long) meals. She loves pointing at 8 and saying "8!" but also seems to like 2, 9, and 10 a lot. We'll start working on recognizing letters one of these days. She's also got a few colors down now, and her favorites are blue and orange. Well, now that I think about it, everything is a shade of either blue or orange. Occasionally yellow with help. But since blue and orange are on opposite sides of the color wheel, she's got everything pretty well covered!
So that's the wordy posting. And my renewed intention to take more pictures again. But here is at least something cute to look at that I managed to capture one morning just after we got up. My little mama... pretty good on her feet, considering... (p.s. the video should work even though it shows up as a black screen)
We've had a good last couple of weeks, despite Rosa having a cold (new ones every week!) for the last 6 weeks! We went to the zoo with Rosa's friend Ember and her mom back in January, and Rosa still says "Ember, choo choo, douaaache (giraffe)!!!" every single time she sees a giraffe or a choo choo train. She's got a long memory! The zoo was pretty magical to her, especially the giraffes, which were the first thing we saw, and which came up fairly close to us.
We also made it to the California Academy of Sciences, finally(!), after missing the group trip due to a really bad cough and cold. Rosa loved the African savanah (taxidermy) scenes, and spotted a leopard up in a tree that we had to keep coming back to. And in the aquarium section she was literally darting from tank to tank... I wondered if she might be getting overstimulated to the point of being hyper, but she calmed down fine for lunch. Then we took a quick trip through the rain forest before heading out to the parking garage, where I was afraid I had lost the car for several minutes before realizing I was on the wrong floor.
And this past weekend, the definite highlight was a toddler bluegrass concert. We had to wake her up early from her nap (which I am LOATHE to do!), but it was so worth it. When we got there, it took her a little while to warm up and she just wanted to stay in my lap, but by the 3rd or 4th song she jumped up and started jumping around with the other kids. And then she started hugging them! And then she started pulling their blankies away from them (ah hah - now I see what all the hugging was about). Seriously though, she loved it! (what toddler wouldn't?!?) It was one of those sort of magical scenes that you just want to capture and bottle.
And last but not least, Rosa is now finally sleeping in a full size crib! And she loves it. And she slept great her first night and nap in it. She had been in the mini crib that we had back from when we were all sleeping (or not) in the same room at the old place. This crib converts to a toddler bed when she is ready. But ever since that night few days before Christmas when she scared the pants off of us by thumping to the ground in the middle of the night, she hasn't tried climbing out again (knock knock knock).
My last post was about broccoli. Which Rosa hasn't eaten again since my last posting. But I did discover that she loves asparagus! She has eaten that multiple times now (also dripping with butter!). And speaking of which, she loves eating straight butter any time she can talk me into it.
Rosa is also definitely recognizing that writing is something special now. She loves making lines with her "pens" (crayons), and announces "Pens!" whenever she sees handwriting. She learned the number 8 recently, and then at first all writing was "8! 8!" I just got her a placemat with the numbers 1-12 illustrated with animals so she can practice during our (sometimes long) meals. She loves pointing at 8 and saying "8!" but also seems to like 2, 9, and 10 a lot. We'll start working on recognizing letters one of these days. She's also got a few colors down now, and her favorites are blue and orange. Well, now that I think about it, everything is a shade of either blue or orange. Occasionally yellow with help. But since blue and orange are on opposite sides of the color wheel, she's got everything pretty well covered!
So that's the wordy posting. And my renewed intention to take more pictures again. But here is at least something cute to look at that I managed to capture one morning just after we got up. My little mama... pretty good on her feet, considering... (p.s. the video should work even though it shows up as a black screen)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
My child ate broccoli !!!!!
And then she asked for "moi" (more)! I was in 7th heaven. I said, "Jeff, quick, get the camera!" It was steamed so it was nice and soft, and I showed her how to dip the pieces in parmesan cheese ("sheeeez!"). What a happy happy night! No broccoli - and practically no vegetables period - has ever been swallowed by Miss Rosa previously.
Here's the Rosa with the newest electronic singing stuffed animal - a Valentine's Day puppy from Granddad Frank and Nana Anita. She knows exactly how to make it sing, but just chose not to while we were trying to capture it on video. It sings "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" while its ears flap up and down. Thanks Frank and Anita - she loves it!
Here are a few pictures of Rosa wearing a poncho from Grandma Judy. It started normally enough (well, except for the socks on her hands!), and then...
... after the poncho slid down to skirt level and Rosa found a pair of panties for her head, my daughter became a gypsy!
Here's the Rosa with the newest electronic singing stuffed animal - a Valentine's Day puppy from Granddad Frank and Nana Anita. She knows exactly how to make it sing, but just chose not to while we were trying to capture it on video. It sings "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" while its ears flap up and down. Thanks Frank and Anita - she loves it!
Here are a few pictures of Rosa wearing a poncho from Grandma Judy. It started normally enough (well, except for the socks on her hands!), and then...
... after the poncho slid down to skirt level and Rosa found a pair of panties for her head, my daughter became a gypsy!
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