~monaloca~

I haven’t been updating the blog much lately because we’ve been busy – even moreso than usual. Besides being in escrow for a new house (story and photos to come at a later date), we’ve had two weddings in two weekends. The most recent was Brian and Jen’s, and since it was on the coast in Half Moon Bay we decided to use the occasion for a small getaway with the girls.

Melina was thrilled at the idea of spending an evening with princesses and immediately latched onto our friend Cassandra, the “purple princess” (yes, dressed in lovely, shiny purple). She also liked the “white princess” (bride Jen), her first Shirley Temple, a plate full of french fries and fried chicken (the food was Peruvian), the fire pit outside, and most of all, the series of cakes shaped like gifts wrapped in white with blue bows.

Nalani enjoyed the fire pit and new faces for about 40 minutes then took a really long snooze strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn. She also liked staring out at the ocean, as did Melina. Before the wedding party we walked along the coast looking for mermaids. I was half joking about it, and didn’t realize until our way back to the hotel that Melina really thought we’d see one. She was pretty bummed that we hadn’t, and at age three didn’t seem to care when I told her they’re even more elusive than whales.

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Long before Nalani was born, our friends the Yamadas gave us a couple free passes to the SF Zoo. They expired at the end of June but with at least eight months to spare we figured we had plenty of time. As human nature usually dictates, we waited until the last minute to finally trek over the bridge and to the coastal, wind-blown corner of my favorite city.

Melina’s highlights from our visit included two ant eaters as big as her and a polar bear – neither of which we have at the Oakland Zoo – and the flamingos, probably because they’re pink. I always love to see penguins, also something we don’t have in Oakland.

Nalani slept through most of the outing. One day soon she’ll start to enjoy zoo visits, too!

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We celebrated Melina’s third birthday with a Pink Party in the Park. The night before the big event I asked which of her pink dresses she was going to wear, and she paused briefly before saying, “I think I’ll wear orange.” In the end she chose dark pink – as opposed to what she calls “real pink” or light pink. Her friends and their parents also didn’t disappoint, wearing everything from salmon pink to deep maroon and red.

We ended up with a large crowd and spectacular weather. Melina was a little confused when friends from different parts of her life started to show up. She’s not used to having school friends and playgroup friends and neighborhood friends – not to mention her cousins – all in one spot.

Big hits of the day included the train in the playground, pink cream cheese for bagels and pink and red fruit, a yummy banana cake in the shape of a flower, and of course a pink flower pinata! It took 15 kids and at least five adults taking multiple turns over 20 minutes (and some slits I made in the cardboard the night before), but the pinata finally cracked while still hanging from the tree. Kai was proud to deliver the final blow.

Cousins and grandparents joined us back at the house after the big event, and by the time everyone left Mina was 100% wired and 110% tired. We were able to get her to bed by 7pm, which is unheard of these days. But not before one final attempt on her part to have another cupcake, in the Melina version of uber-polite: “Can may I have a cupcake please?”

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Melina’s first words the day after her birthday were “Is it still my party?” While her pink party in the park isn’t happening til next Sunday, we had a fun-filled, extra long weekend leading up to her day – itself full of special treats. It’s no wonder she thought the fun would continue well into the week.

We started her big day with a walk to our neighborhood cafe with Kendall and her mom, where both girls got pink donuts. Melina barely touched hers but loved the idea of it. We then had a play date at the park with Connor, a nap (which she took with surprising ease), and the thing she’d been looking forward to most: a princess pedicure with Lily.

Melina had been talking about pink toenails for a week, but when we arrived chose orange instead. Lily, whose favorite color is orange, chose sparkle pink. 20 minutes after we left Melina looked at her toes and said “I want sparkles!” Next time, babe. We topped off the day with dinner and ice cream at T-Rex with Lily’s family.

Earlier this weekend we drove down to SJ to visit with my parents and play at Happy Hollow. Melina had a blast on all the kiddie rides and was really bummed she couldn’t ride the roller coaster. (She’s too short.) The day before we took an impromptu visit to Livermore to picnic and visit our favorite winery with friends. Melina and Kanoa enjoyed the bocce ball court, and we adults enjoyed the ease of a family-friendly winery, especially one with wine as yummy as BoaVentura’s!

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Every day on the way to preschool Melina asks me, “Mama, is it spring? We need to look for birds and butterflies.” I’ve been saying yes for two months, but at last the weather’s caught up. With spring comes outdoor playdates and birthday party season. (Our three kids, plus most their friends. Funny how that works.)

Warmer weather has also coincided with Nalani’s new smiles. She started smiling right on queue, at one month old. Mama, Dada, sis and bro can all elicit super smiles, though Daddy would say he gets more than anyone. Must be his goofy side.

Nalani also sometimes gets this really funny worried look. The first time I saw it was as we were wheeled out of the hospital when she was just over 24 hours old. And when she’s upset the red spot between her brows gets bright pink.

Melina and Kai continue to be great big sibs to little Nalani, though Melina still has moments where she’s not quite sure what to do. When we arrive at preschool in the morning I always have Nalani in her carrier, and inevitably end up setting it down to push Mina on the swing or sit down with her at the snack table.

Within 20 seconds of setting down Nalani a swarm of tiny two- and three-year-olds surround her and peer into her carrier as she sleeps, slowly opens a tentative eye only to close it again, or stares at them in a half-curious way.

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I don’t remember how long we waited to take Melina out and about, but we didn’t wait more than a day with Nalani. By four days old we’d walked her down the street to Actual Cafe not once but twice, the second time with her in the sling and me braving it with both girls and no Joey. (We did have neighbors Rachel and Kendall to help out.) We’ve also had plenty of visitors, both family and friends, and have loved all the dinner foods and tasty treats people are bringing. It’s great to have a stocked freezer for when Joey returns to work later this week.

On Saturday we took the whole family to Raycer’s third birthday party, then on Sunday we took our first “big” family outing, to the Little Farm in Tilden. Melina had fun feeding the goats and watching the cows while Nalani snoozed in the sling. We all enjoyed a picnic on the grass then headed to Elmwood for some ice cream.

Back at home, Melina continues to copy Mama and gets a little bent out of shape when she can’t do any more than kiss the real baby. The other night she grabbed the nursing pillow, strapped it around her waist, and stuffed her baby doll (also named “Alani”) under her shirt. Then she laughed and said, “But I don’t have any milk!”

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Easter’s been in the air at our house since I pulled out the baskets and plastic eggs a month ago, well before St Paddy’s Day hit. The peek-a-boo spring weather of late March helped with our spring spirit, too, but turned to cold rain by the time Easter Day actually arrived.

No matter: We had fun coloring Easter eggs with Lily and her mommy last weekend while the two dads poured concrete around the new sump pump in our driveway. Then for the big weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Weiss, and cousins Lucas and Noah joined us for a huge egg hunt at Willard Park. Luckily the rain stayed away til later, and all the kids got tons of candy loot except for Lucas, who was so upset he couldn’t get ALL the yellow eggs that he refused to take even one.

Melina was a little hesitant at first, too, but because of the human-sized bunny leading the eggstravaganza. “I don’t like him! He’s scary” she said over and over…. At least until the bunny shouted “Ready, set, go!” into a loudspeaker for the two-and-under crowd, and I quickly thought to say “Hey Melina, there’s CANDY in those eggs, why don’t you go put some in your basket?” Suddenly she was out of my arms and running across the field with the rest of her friends.

Kai and Melina also got some fun toys from the bunny: tutus (which they’d been asking for), funky sunglasses, and bubbles were the greatest hits. Well, and the candy. I think they would have been almost as pleased with one huge lollipop each, and nothing more. Though Melina continues to carry her basket and loot all over the house, and counts her candy whenever the mood strikes. So far she hasn’t eaten anything that’s wrapped, but I caught her sneaking an M&M yesterday. Too tempting!

This morning Meli woke up saying “Kai told me I could have all his candy.” When did he tell you this? “This morning.” But he’s at his mom’s house. Maybe you dreamed it. “NO, he TOLD me I could have it. Then he was sad.” I bet he was.

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We had a pretty mellow week off between Christmas and New Years. Joey had to work most of it, so Melina and I spent our time on play dates, triking around the neighborhood, and heading to story time at the library. On New Year’s Eve we had dinner with Raycer and his family, then headed to a grown-up house party near our home. Melina lasted til almost 11pm but was begging for her bed by then. What a rare thing! We also checked out the Lawrence Hall of Science last weekend and stopped for ice cream in Elmwood on the way home. Melina got strawberry pink to match the pink in her dress.

Big sister moments: Melina’s expectedly ambivalent about Mama’s belly growing with her little sis. She still says “hi” to baby and gives her kisses more often than anyone. But she’s now taken one of Grandma and Grandpa’s baby gifts as her own. She found the fleece ducky sleepsack in the baby’s drawer and first wanted to use it on her dolls, then decided “it’s soft, it has duckies” and carries it around like a second security blanket. She sometimes takes it to bed with her, and other times she lifts up my shirt and places it on my bare belly saying “baby’s cold.” What a caring big sis! We’ll see what happens when baby arrives.

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We had a busy Halloween weekend, and now have a house full of candy to keep us sugar-high for weeks if we so choose.

The fun began Friday morning, with Melina’s preschool Halloween parade. As I dressed her as a ballerina that morning she was already giddy and kept saying “I wanna be ballerina in parade!” She barely sat still for me to do her pony tails, but did insist on adding three pink barrettes. I think she was tired from all her excitement before we even walked out the door.

Joey and I both took her to school that morning and walked with her and 60 other wee ones as they paraded up and down the block, collecting candy from merchants along the way. The two-year-olds held onto a rope the whole way, most of them wide-eyed with all the activity.

Meli’s teachers let her wear her costume all day – she was thrilled! That evening we had neighbors Max and Kendall (and their parents) over for pizza, cookies, and Halloween videos. All the tots wore their costumes, but Kai decided he was just a “student” in his school T-shirt. Kai was also the only kid to pay attention to “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” but they all enjoyed a Dora Halloween special.

Not surprisingly, by Saturday Melina seemed a little Halloweened-out until Kai started talking up trick-or-treat and all the candy. We double dipped on Halloween night, first stopping by Max’s house for a party with popcorn and cider, and then going to friend Lily’s house in the hills for a potluck party and trick-or-treating with play group friends. The kids all collected so much candy their pumpkins were almost too heavy for them to carry.

Melina spent the latter part of the party emptying all her loot from her pumpkin into a bag then back again, at least 20 times. She did ask to have a tangerine she’d collected, but didn’t try to eat a single candy until Sunday morning. I don’t think she knew exactly what it was.

We polished off our Halloween weekend with a Sunday Dia de los Muertos celebration at a neighbor’s house. And now, on to Thanksgiving!

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We’ve been gearing up for Halloween for weeks now, starting with reading nightly Halloween stories (somehow, we own close to 10!) and deciding on costumes. Melina knew right away she wanted to be a “ballerina like Isa” in her Dora Halloween book. After I bought her pink leotard and tutu she decided she wanted to be the green princess ballerina from another book, but then got excited about pink all over again when she got to try on her costume.

Last weekend Grandma Weiss brought her annual Halloween cookies to decorate. Melina ate frosting and shook sprinkles on the counter while Kai decorated. They both had fun. We also took Grandma and Grandpa with us to the pumpkin patch, where Meli and Kai decided to pick several baby pumpkins each instead of one bigger one.

This weekend we attended two jack-o-lantern carving parties, one after an impromptu invite from one of Melina’s friends at preschool, and the other at her friend Lily’s house. Mom and Dad did all the carving while the kids had fun playing. Maybe in a few years they’ll chip in. After all the carving fun at Lily’s house, Meli and Lily took turns snapping pictures of each other with Lily’s camera (aka her mom’s old camera, now thoroughly dented). I wonder if any turned out?

Finally, not to leave Halloween in the dust, but we’re already gearing up for Christmas too! The other day Melina insisted on wearing her snowman jammies for nap. Joey told her “That’s fine, snowmen and Santa are coming soon!” She woke up from her nap asking “Where Santa Claus? Daddy said snowman jammies Santa…” I had to explain that Santa comes after Halloween…. and Thanksgiving… and Mommy’s birthday… I’m sure she was thoroughly confused.

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