Christmas 2008

Keya and Eila catching snowflakes :)

Christmas grocery shopping

Eila- walking the dog with Grandad

Christmas Day family walk in the woods

Big kisses a the water fountain from Auntie Bindi

Eila reading her favorite holiday book - Toot and Puddle

Got it! (There's really nothing better than a Trader Joe's balloon)

Greetings from Bart and Lauren on Christmas Eve

We had the family together with not an ill person in sight this Christmas- it was absolutely glorious! We had the bar set particularly low for what would constitute a good holiday this year after everyone was in bed with the stomach flu last year. It was great to all be together and the 3 girls (Eila, Keya and baby Cimeren) opened a ton of gifts and played together with great fervor for the entire week. We had La la (Lauren) and Bart with us for Christmas eve and day which was very nice for us all and particularly great for the kids given how much La la LOVES kids. Eila had some good times with her grandparents during their week visiting. We went to Glen Echo park with them, to see the Brookside Garden light festival and just hung out and played.

Big news of the day is that Eila is now stringing words together - so for the first time today I heard- "Thank you Mommy" and "More beans please" and "Happy Birthday YaYa (Keya) and Mommy". It's still not either of our birthdays- but it remains one of her favorite things to say.

Holiday prep...

Making green eggs and ham...in rainboots of course

Riding with Kaelin in the fancy new auto Eila built

Exchanging gifts with Kaelin

Decorating the tree

Designing ...

Little ladybug

Not for long...she mastered (un)zippering long ago

Eila is getting ready for Christmas and trying to kick all of the colds we have been battling for the last 6 weeks. We have high hopes of a healthy Christmas this year (last year was a disaster we try not to remember). We had a gift exchange with Kaelin and made pizza all together - rolled the dough, spread the sauce and sprinkled the cheese and mushrooms...all good fun for toddlers! We did a little photo op with a missed ladybug Halloween outfit. We have been getting ready for lots of cheer...we decorated the tree and enjoyed some hot cocoa. Eila is awaiting her holiday visit from Gigi and Grandad this weekend....she says "oh boy". Eila's other favorite thing to say now is "me too" and "Happy Birthday"- its super sweet, although its not anyone's birthday around here. New favorite foods- raspberries and green beans sauteed in olive oil (not bad choices for a toddler, but I'm sure we'll be back to pasta and cheese soon).

Gobble, gobble...?

Eila (in her ninja outfit) back at home hanging out in her cabinet hide-out with Paddington

Visiting Grandma Ila in LA

Elise (standing left), Kiran (sitting) and Eila (standing right)
at the California Academy of Sciences

Eila and her papa at the Japanese tea gardens in SF

Eila and mommy in the Japanese gardens

Eila and cousin Sarah (Rah-rah) at the Albuquerque zoo

Eila and aunt Biddye looking at the hippos

Eila and aunt Lisa at the Albuquerque zoo by the choo-choo

Eila's casita at the Sante Fe Children's museum

Bigger than life xylophone at the Sante Fe Children's museum

Eila hanging out with/on Tito

Eila made a voyage westward this Thanksgiving (virus) season and spread her joy and germs to all. Since she was sick she is actually didn't gobble anything in the past few weeks, but despite the lack of eating she has still been having lots of fun. We first stopped to see aunties Lisa and Biddye and cousin Sarah. Eila adores them all and has a special affection for her cousin Sarah who dotes on her A LOT. Eila loves Biddye's dogs Tito and Alvin and really enjoyed her visit to the Albuquerque zoo. If you ever go to Albuquerque, don't miss the zoo- it is fantastic. We also had a fun day in Sante Fe, which was gorgeous and enjoyable playing at the Children's museum outdoor park. Next stop was Northern California to see cousins and auntie and uncle. Eila had just seen Elise and Kiran in August, so they were all fast friends again. We had turkey and celebrated the holiday and visited the California Academy of Sciences (also fantastic) and my favorite hang out spot- the Japanese Tea garden in Golden Gate Park. Eila, Kushang and I sipped jasmine tea together and relaxed over the coy pond. The last stop was in Los Angeles to visit Grandma Ila and Uncle Ron. We make it every 6 months to let the namesakes catch up with eachother. It was a very nice visit and the weather was beautiful 70's and sunny as usual. Now we are back home getting ready for the holidays...

We love hot cocoa!

I gave Eila her first taste of sinful liquid chocolate and she was hooked! Now she keeps saying...tcho tcho (cocoa) over and over. I think I just had a huge lapse of judgment as a parent.

Life at 1 and a half...

Eila is 18 months and as busy as ever. In terms of her growth and development - she is amazing. Her greatest strength is in the motor department...she is faster than I am and can climb just about anything. She is a thrill seeker. I'm afraid in a few years I'm going to have a rugby player or sky diver on my hands. She also is communicating a lot more and has over a hundred words. I'm not sure the general public would understand the majority of them, but they are consistently there. She is now singing along with her favorite songs and loves to fill in the blanks with the stories... if you read a book and pause she'll proudly tell you the next word. She is now "big" she says and has gained up to the 25th percentile - it's all muscle. She is tall according to the measurements, but I'm never sure how close those are to reality given the wiggle factor. She is super lovable and extremely social.We are lucky beyond words.

"O" is for October and Orange and Oooh ...

We did the pumpkin patch fall get out and celebrate the leaves and crisp cool weather and the hot apple cider thing last weekend and we all loved being in the great outdoors. Eila played in the hay barn, rode a pony, went down an enormous slide with her papa sitting on a burlap sack, and picked out a beautiful pumpkin for our front porch. The tractor (her new favorite thing in the world) was the highlight. We rode out to the pumpkin patch and back in a tractor pulled hay-filled trailer, which was thrilling of course. We also spent some time with cousins over the weekend and Eila and Keya dressed up as a bumble bee and a Giraffe and partied and danced at the Silver Spring festival.

Maine-ia

Pumpkin patch in the backyard of the vacation house in Maine

Feet in the sand for the first time!

Celebrating Keya's Graduation from potty training school

Blowing dandelions

With mommy on the beach

With the family

With Keya at the beach

Lala's wedding

Ring around the rosie at the wedding

Michael, Granddad and Bindiay at the wedding

Lauren and Bart's just after the vows

Seaweed!

With papa at the beach

Walking to the beach with Keya

Hanging out with papa

My favorite new puppy dog- Tessa!

We got back from our family vacation to Maine a few weeks ago and I've been a bit lazy getting to the blog, but finally here are some pictures. We went to attend Eila's godmother Lauren's wedding to Bart and we spent a week in a rental on the beach just outside of Portland. The weather was gorgeous and perfect and Eila had a blast with her cousins Keya (3y) and Cimeren (9weeks). My parents were there too, so we had some good times with all of us together. Since we returned we went to Kaelin's 3rd Birthday in DC and have been otherwise hanging out and enoying the change in the seasons. I love the Fall...Halloween is just around the corner. We have 3 costumes awaiting little Eila. Choices choices! Elections are on our doorstep as well...time will tell where we are headed. We are hopeful for a return of sanity.