Wii Play Games on Christmas

My dad and Chris take to the lanes...

Taking a break from the usual Mathery goodness, I just wanted to post some photos to prove that my parents took part in - gasp! - playing a video game. This was the first time in their lives. They gave me a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, the revolutionary game console system predicated on movements over button-mashing. The Wii comes with a game disc with miniature versions of various sports, including golf, bowling and tennis. The game controllers, called "wiimotes", are motion sensitive and you hold them in your hand and move as if you were playing the real sport - swinging a tennis racket or a golf club, throwing a bowling ball, etc.

...and the court.

My father has spent his life as an intensely competitive person, and it didn't take long for that intense look to come across his face as he found one more avenue with which to best his children. And best us he did, at least in the bowling (my brother-in-law posted the best score, but dad beat both Elsa and me). He also scored a couple wins over me in tennis (though I've come back strong). My mother was even induced to pick up a controller long enough to channel her father through three holes of golf. She even admitted to liking it afterward.

Mom lining up her shot.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas ransomedoff fans!

Today was the big day, Mather's third Christmas but the first one where she really participated. She was delighted to see all the stuffed stockings this morning.

And all those presents under the tree!

It was a full Ransom house for Christmas this year. Elsa, Chris and Cora came to join us from New York. Cora is now five months old and super-dooper cute. Here she is, posing with the Christmas stocking that I knit for her!

And here she is again, with GrandFather and Uncle Daniel...

And here she is opening her first Christmas gift, with only a tiny bit of help from her Dad.

Whereas all the help that Mather needed was her new chopsticks to help her bust into the big gifts under the tree!

Perhaps it would have been a little quicker with my new poultry shears - watch out!

Ah, the sweet sound of success... or is that the clunking of the horse and rider? (check out the cool new socks - not knit by me) This kept her occupied for quite some time while we continued opening gifts.

These are pretty cool too. Chris drew caricatures of the family to hang from a mobile above Cora's crib. Here are the three of us:

Another big winner was a tiny picnic set that Nanna picked out for Mather. And she got new gloves - she opened 4 or 5 presents all while still wearing them. Her first inclination was to look around for her bicycle helmet because Dan wears gloves when he rides his bike.

Cup of tea anyone?

Bicycling with Mather

I've always joked that I was born into a bicycle the way a Mongolian child of the steppe is born into the saddle -- riding from birth. My father is an ardent cyclist and used to carry toddler-aged me around on a rear-mounted bike seat, even in snowy Boston. Learning to ride was one of the pillars of my childhood, and I was very proud as a child to have never needed training wheels. To follow up on the analogy, when I'm on a bike, it feels like a natural extension of myself, supposedly the same way a Mongolian horseman feels about his steed.

With our move out to the Sunset, it became a much longer trek back and forth to Mather's daycare, which was still in the Haight. She and I would take the train together in the morning, but Mather would often lack patience on the train ride back home, when it was getting dark and she was tired (ie, she would throw a fit in front of all the other train passengers. Not fun.) So we were thinking about alternatives...and a bike seat seemed like the way to go. After all, I can ride nearly the entire distance between our house and Mather's daycare in Golden Gate Park, which is pleasant, and the girl certainly loves to go fast.

I bought a rear mounting bike seat and had the bike shop install it (I certainly didn't trust myself to the task!). While I was there, another dad with his daughter -- about four -- was buying her a new bike helmet because she had outgrown her old one. He heard me talking to the mechanic about children's helmets and offered me her old one -- for free! It fits Mather perfectly, and she's very enthusiastic about wearing it (sample dialog: "Daddy has helmet, Mather has helmet!").

Riding with a passenger does take a little getting used to. I don't typically talk while riding, but Mather talks the entire time ("bumpy!" or "I see stars!" when we're riding at night). She also kicks me in the posterior from time to time. I guess she wants me to go faster. I also ride much more carefully than usual. I don't take big risks when I'm riding by myself, but I do cut corners and I go pretty fast. Not when I've got Mather. It's a leisurely ride. But it's fun, and she loves it. And it sure beats a temper tantrum on a crowded N Judah.

Momily Knits

Momily's knitting circle friend Jenny commented on Mather's knit hat in the last set of photos. Since Momily is too gracious to toot her own horn, I thought I'd quietly jump in here with photos of three of her creations.

This is the first hat she knit for Mather, when she was still learning how.

This is Mather's custom-made Raggedy Ann "wig" -- a knit cap with yarn woven in and out to make "hair".

Mather's favorite, her "stripey hat". She's got a serious interest in all things striped, and all things purple, so making this hat was the obvious thing to do!

Thanksgiving in Las Vegas

The three of us took off to Las Vegas/Henderson, NV for Thanksgiving with Grandpa Cary and Sheryl. Cary made a fantastic turkey, and Sheryl mastered a vast array of sides for a great Thanksgiving meal. Em and I found a little time to sneak out at night and hit the blackjack tables -- unfortunately, the tables hit back -- and we also found a great Henderson playground for Mather to show off her new "apple shirt" (she's been asking to wear it seemingly every day since we got it).

"This way!"

Yes, she did try to go down the "bumpy slide" as well.