Crawling for the Caterpillar

Run time - 1:55

Lil' Swimmer

Mather started a ten week series of swimming classes today.

The classes are one hour long. The first fifteen minutes are spent acclimating to the water, playing with toys (rubber ducks, balls, rings), and socializing...


Then all the kids get together for song time. There's a wide selection of nursery rhymes, each with their own splashing, kicking, floating, dipping and bouncing choreography. Then the babies split off from the bigger swimmers for their "lesson".



For the most part, it's all about getting the kids comfortable in the water. Mather will learn how to kick and float. There's even a little dunking action to the tune of Ring Around the Rosy "... we all fall down!"

Mather had a good time and we're looking forward to next week's class.

Conversations with Mather II

Back in January, we posted a video entitled "Conversations with Mather", where we coaxed a bit of murmuring and cooing out of Mather. At the time it was pretty cool. She has a bit more to say now.



Run time - 1:01

This really is a new development -- as of the past four hours. Over the last few months, her vocabulary has certainly grown from those first few murmurs. She grunts, squeals, screams -- just about anything to get attention. But this is distinctly different. For the first time, she's saying "words" with distinctive vowel and consonant sounds (though not really a clear stop and start). We are hearing something like her speaking voice for the first time.

It all started earlier this evening, around 5:30. I was preparing her dinner of green beans, apricots, carrots and sweet potato while she was playing on her mat. From the kitchen I started hearing this repetitive babble unlike anything she had ever said before. The fact that elements are reminiscent of "dada" was not lost on me (especially since all I really wanted for my birthday was for her to say "dada"...). Naturally, I made of point of calling back to her every time she said "dada".

This new conversation was relentless. She kept talking nonstop for about 15 minutes (pausing only rarely to catch her breath) until I finally fed her dinner. Once she was out of her high chair, the babble started up again. She hardly lets me get a word in edgewise!

I'll get that clear "dada" out of her soon enough...

Turning Thirty

Emily has carried on my childhood tradition of apple pie for birthday breakfast.
This one was her best ever!

This past Sunday, June 10th was my 30th Birthday. As it is, gray hairs are creeping in at my temples and my knees have already creaked for a few years. So while I don't feel completely changed, it does seem like a symbolic passage, particularly since the Friday before was my last day at work. I've entered a new "era" in my life.

To celebrate the day, we invited a whole lot of friends out to Golden Gate Park for an oyster barbeque. Even die-hard vegetarian Mike, who hadn't eaten meat in 13 years, voluntarily took one oyster to show his solidarity (he turns 30 this November...).

We had a great time in the park; while the sun never quite conquered the fog, it was pleasant. Mather had a good time rolling around on a blanket and entertaining all passers by.

Thanks to everyone who made it such a special day! Extra thanks need to go out to Bob and Tina who stayed after everyone left to haul things back to our apartment, and Kim and Nabil for driving Emily and Mather home when our own car was too heavily loaded!

It may be a long time before I celebrate a birthday again -- I can't see getting excited over 31.

Other New Adventures

On Monday, my office moved from downtown San Francisco to Half Moon Bay. I am now a commuter (or, rather, a reverse-commuter as more people commute into San Francisco). Half Moon Bay is 30 miles South of San Francisco. It is a beautiful coastal community and the locals are very friendly.


For those who don't already know, I work for a small accounting firm. I've been with them for seven years. I am an administrative assistant who occasionally moonlights as an accountant. The owners of the company live in Half Moon Bay. Some of my co-workers already lived on the Peninsula and a few of my co-workers have relocated to the Coast. There are three of us still living in San Francisco and, fortunately, we are being given a travel stipend to help with our new costs of commuting.

This week was all about finding the best travel route. From our location in the city (near the East end of Golden Gate Park), there are a million and one ways to get to the freeway. So far, all of them take 15 minutes, but I still have some more experimenting to do. Once you're on the freeway, there are two options for getting to Half Moon Bay - Highway 1 (along the coast, very scenic) and Highway 92 (over the hills, mildly scenic and curvy). The drivetime has been almost identical every way I've tried it - 45 minutes... about 5 minutes longer than my bus & train commute into downtown.

I'm glad to no longer be at the mercy of public transportation. However, I'm not thrilled by the environmental impact of being a solo commuter. Hopefully I can work out some carpool days with my fellow S.F. resident co-workers. That would also give Daniel weekday access to the car when he needs it for grocery runs and Mather-tending errands.

I've really enjoyed my four-day weekends with Mather these past seven weeks. With Dan now home full-time for the summer, I will probably be taking Friday's off and working a 4-day week.

Next up, Papasan's big 3-0!

Lucky Number Seven

Today is Mather's 7th lunaversary!

Highlights for the month of May included cross-country travel, a baseball game, trips to the park, playdates, sleeping through the night, swinging in the toddler bucket swings (with lots of padding to keep her steady in the seat), and good eats!

This is the best tasting toy, now that I've covered it in bananas!

"Hand"made guacamole, anyone?

I'll feed myself these lovely carrots, thank you very much.

Sweet potatoes make great face cream!

Please sir, may I have some more?

On the horizon for June... Papasan's 30th birthday and daddy daycare!