Monaloca

Kai is celebrating his fifth birthday in stages. Grandma and Grandpa Weiss started things off a week ago when they babysat Meli so Joey, Kai, and I could see “Horton Hears a Who” in the theater. Then we all dined on Zachary’s pizza polished off by a mini-cake with five tall candles. On March 25, his actual birthday, we made cardamom French toast at our house in the morn, then his mom hosted a small family gathering at her place, serving: Guess what? Zachary’s pizza and cake! Later this month she’s also taking him to Disneyland for the first time.

Kai’s big five-year milestone is that he’s just started to read, and for real. He was spelling simple words at 2 1/2, then his interest waned as he was able to “read” all his books from memory. He’s now able to sound out entire beginning reader books (like “Hop on Pop”), and recognize basics like “the,” “him,” and “and.” Watch out, kindergarten!

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Isn’t it funny how family tradition plays a role in how we celebrate holidays? Suli’s mom (aka Sapna) says her husband always laughs at the Hindi member of the family hanging stockings at Christmas and hiding eggs at Easter. She does this because her parents – new to America with two young daughters – did 25 years ago.

We celebrated Easter with my folks and sis/family in San Jose. My folks had fun showing off their grandkids at church, and the kiddos enjoyed multiple Easter baskets, all lined up carefully on the brick fireplace. It felt a little like Christmas all over again. When we were back in Berkeley Joey commented that it was a little weird for my sister to put the baskets there. “What, does the Easter Bunny slide down the chimney now?” I said of course she put them on the fireplace: That’s where my parents put ours when we were growing up. I thought it was perfectly normal until yesterday. And after all, why wouldn’t the Easter Bunny use the chimney?

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Who says babies don’t talk? We might not be able to understand them, but on a St. Paddy’s Day play date Meli and her friend Suli engaged each other in animated conversation. We tried to catch it on video, but as soon as the camera came out their attention shifted from each other to the lens staring down at them. Maybe next time.

Melina is also on the move. She now does a full crawl, though getting from point A to point B often involves a combo of scoot-crawl and sit-up-in-the-middle moves. As if on cue, she also started pulling up on furniture (with varying degrees of success) the day she took her first real crawling “step.”

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Melina’s baby-hawk (baby mohawk) days are long gone, and now her long locks are starting to fall over her eyes. I finally found plastic barretts at Target, but the other day decided a pony tail poses less of a choking hazard and is super cute in a Pebbles Flinstone sorta way. (The little girl will probably hate me for this when she’s older.)

Kai was equally excited about the new ‘do. When Meli and I picked him up from preschool yesterday, he spotted us first and came running out of the classroom. “Lynn! Come here! Can you show Miss Shannon Melina’s ponytail?” We interrupted late-day storytime for a show-and-tell of Kai’s sister’s new fanciness. She loved all the attention – she always gets a kick out of visiting Kai’s current and her future school – and Kai loved showing off “his” baby.

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One year is starting to feel like it’s just around the corner, and suddenly Meli looks more like a toddler-in-training than an infant. I’m already getting nostalgic about babyhood’s passing, though my little girl is more fun each day and I love watching her grow. Melina’s nine-month update:

Move. These days it’s all about gross motor skills. Melina’s still not quite crawling, though she desperately wants to and is quite apt at moving around a room, by rolling, when she wants. She spends a lot of time rocking back and forth on all fours – or, er, threes: One leg is usually pinned under her butt and when she finally pulls it out she falls flat on her belly. Then when she tries to crawl on our wood floor she ends up going backwards. Oops. She can army crawl a few inches forward on the rug, and has also started trying to pull herself up on furniture. Today when she was settling into a nap I walked in to find her sitting upright (and a looking a little shocked about it) in her crib. A first for the Jelly Bean!

3/7 Update: She’s officially doing the army crawl to move across the room. Also close to crawling, but who knows, she may find this oddly more efficient. Watch a li’l video.

Eat. At daycare the teachers always ask us to “Please bring more food for Melina.” Yup, our little girl loves to eat. Her current favorites: Finger foods! Especially pear, pinto beans, salmon, cheese, and little chunks of chicken or turkey. I haven’t let Dada give her salami just yet. She also likes yogurt mixed with fruit. No intense dislikes, but she tends to give tofu back to me or drop it on the floor.

Talk. Meli finally picked up the “mamamama” sound, which of course touched me to no end even though her use is still pretty indiscriminate. We’ve been practicing “da” for dada, “ma” for mama, “bro” for bro bro, and “ka” for kitty cat. Like a true Rapoza girl she babbles a lot (it sounds like she’s telling us a story), and often will talk herself to sleep.

Play. Meli’s favorite activities include rolling around on the floor, banging two blocks or stack cups together, swinging at the park, going on walks (either in the stroller or Ergo), and taking a bath (amazingly, she doesn’t mind her brother dumping water over her eyes). She also loves to cuddle with stuffed animals and sometimes tries to turn pages of board books, and has recently discovered one of her brother’s old play kitchens. Most random favorite toy: Any sort of water bottle. Play dates and groups have gotten much more interactive. These days it’s as much about the kids “socializing” as the moms.

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