Monaloca

Nalani loves books. Her new thing is to act out the book as it’s read to her.

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It took 18 months, but I can now say Nalani is consistently communicating with words, including a few phrases and of course plenty of gestures. (Knocking on the front door while saying “GO!” when she’s ready to leave is my favorite. “Cheeeeese!” for both the camera and the food is a close second.) Melina is thrilled that Nalani now calls her something like a name. “Melina” comes out “Nana,” but with a little bit of a “y” sound so it’s really more like “Nya-nya”. It’s especially funny since some toddlers in Nalani’s class call HER Nana. Kai is simply “Ka.”

Other favorite words include “shooooz!” (again, when she’s ready to head out the door), “gho” for ghost, “Doc Choc” for her stuffed dog, Dr. Chocolate, and of course “baaachie!” for her little blankies, which, thanks to Melina, we all now call “bachies.” Last week Teacher Jessie excitedly told me that Nalani asked for “More Cheerios” at snack time. The teachers gave her so much praise for the full phrase that she didn’t say another word until “bye bye” when I picked her up that afternoon.

On the printed word front, Nalani adores “Mr. Brown Can Moo” by Dr. Suess and asks for “Moo” just before bedtime each night. She also loves Maisy books, “Go, Dog, Go,” and all our pint-sized Suess board books. Melina’s first favorite book was “Hop on Pop.” I’m happy my girls like Suess! Much like her big sis, Nalani will spend up to 30 minutes pulling books off the family room shelf and then flipping through them, one at a time.

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A work friend of mine recently commented on the crazy kindergarten girl fashion she’s seen at her son’s school. This led to me detailing Melina’s past week of self-chosen outfits, and then starting to chronicle the really fun ones in pictures. Lots of layers (pants under skirts, long shirts under sundresses) with tangentially matched patterns (hearts with stars, stripes with polka dots) and textures (somewhere M acquired a faux-fur leopard skirt, for one) are all the rage with the “I now dress myself” set.

For Melina, the late 2s and early 3s were all about pink. The late 3s were a hard time to get her dressed in anything not jammies. (My “day jammies” argument for leggings never worked.) At age 4 I am thrilled to report she indeed dresses herself every morning, and many mornings without a fuss. Having her pick outfits the night before helps. Reminding her that I also pick my outfits the night before (no lie) doubly helps. Following the fashion sense of her friends is definitely part of the equation. I don’t think I started on this until sometime in grade school.

What’s more, Nalani has suddenly started showing preferences, and she’s barely 18 months. One recent morning she went through three outfit changes and they weren’t because she made a mess. She refused the dress I picked out (granted it was corduroy, perhaps not comfy enough?) and was fine with outfit #2… until she noticed one of the matching dresses she has with Melina. She brought it to Joey, who caved and changed her.

Nalani also picked out her second pair of shoes back in September. We had just had her feet measured when I turned to Joey to ask what style we might get. “Don’t ask me,” he said. “She’s already picked for herself.” And there she was, holding a pair of purple toddler sneakers, saying “dat.”

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We had a jam-packed kickoff to the holidays last weekend, all leading up to trick-or-treat festivities on Monday night. The fun began with a pancake breakfast and haunted house at Melina’s preschool. It’s a huge annual event but somehow we’ve missed it every year since Kai was two. The kids all had a blast, and Nalani even got to see her daycare buddy (and Suli’s sister) Tejal. It was so out of context that both girls just stared at each other blankly.

Sunday we spent down in Livermore, for what looks to be turning into an annual pumpkin patching and wine tasting expedition with the Markel-Macks. This year Karen and Jennifer and families joined us. The weather was stunning, an absolute perfect high-70s with an ever-so-slight breeze. The kids had fun riding with pumpkins in wagons and running through a hay bale maze at G&M Farms. Then we all had fun picnicking (along with several bottles of wine) at Fenestra. To make it an even fuller day, we gave the Hindmarshes a call and stopped by their place for an impromptu visit. The kids played non-stop with Uncle Alan, who Melina says is “even sillier than Daddy or Miss Lisa.”

Monday morning Nalani and I joined Melina on her preschool parade around the block, then caught a glimpse of a surprise pinata when we picked her up that afternoon. For the culminating event we headed to the Schultzes for a moms group potluck and trick-or-treating extravaganza. James had four (yes, four) types of home-brew on tap. All delicious, as was Tracee’s homemade pumpkin ice cream.

While we carried Nalani along for trick-or-treating last year, this was her first full experience of the big candy ask. She got a kick out of all the decorations, and even a silly haunted house set up by a bunch of teenagers. Her vocabulary started to include the word ghost (“gho”) a few weeks ago, and by Halloween night every decoration she saw was “GHO!” here and “GHO!” there, much like all holiday lights became “TREEEEEE!” for Melina when she was the same age.

Nalani also caught on, more or less, to the trick-or-treating ritual. At one of the final houses she stopped at the top of the stairs to fetch a candy out of her pumpkin then tried to give it to the woman handing out candy at the door. For her part, the woman was pretty eager to get rid of the big stash of candy in her bowl, and eventually Nalani agreed simply to take rather than to share. It was very funny, and struck an odd light on how bizarre this tradition is and what it teaches our children at the core, even if we don’t intend to teach them anything but to simply have fun.

Halloween has also evolved. In a new twist for our generation of kids, the Great Pumpkin now makes a visit a few days after Halloween to trade the vast bulk of candy for a little gift. (The kids pick their favorite 15 or so pieces to save, and the rest go to Pumpkinland.) Melina had all sorts of questions about the Great Pumpkin: How big is he? How does he get into the house? He’s part of Santa’s team, right? And without a lot of larger cultural context was a little scared after putting the bag of candy out last night. But all was well when she awoke to a brand new purple unicorn waiting for her in the candy bag’s place.

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For years I’d been thinking how fun it would be to head to New England in the fall. A visit with Todd at his Vermont country home, a quick tour of the city I fell in love with at age 14 yet never managed to re-visit, and famous fall colors awaited. About six months ago I realized this was the year. Melina starts kindergarten next, and Nalani still flies free before age 2. The first week of October off we went, just Joey, the girls, and me.

For a fuller view of our adventure, see our New England photo album.

Our trip proved to be one of the best vacations I’ve had in several years. And I mean vacation. We didn’t expect it, what with the hustle and bustle of Boston (not to mention the shoe-box-sized hotel room, with just two full beds, a porta-crib, a small TV, and the miniest fridge I’ve ever seen), the two very small children (we decided to skip Melina’s naps on non-driving days), the time difference, and the oodles of things I personally wanted to see. But somehow it all worked, and better yet managed to rejuvenate and at moments even relax us. Being “just us,” and just four of us, helped. Nalani being too young to engage in bickering bouts with her big sis also helped. And being a new place for all of us, with plenty of fun things to check out, pushed it over the edge for me. On to the highlights…

Melina realized a love of statues. It started with the bronze representation of the Make Way for Ducklings set in the Public Garden. (She sat on each of the nine statues, posing for a photo on each. Then sat on Mrs. Mallard for a good 20 minutes while Nalani climbed on and off the baby ducks. ) From there it just took off. In Boston and the other New England towns we visited there’s sometimes a statue at every turn. Not so in California. She wanted to know who each one was (George Washington and his horse in the Public Garden, and no it doesn’t say the horse’s name; a metallic man sitting on a bench on Blackstone Street; Molly Stark with a babe-in-arms in Wilmington) and kept asking me, “What’s inside them?”

For our super touristy activity, we took an 80-minute Duck tour of the town in an amphibious vehicle with a guide wearing a jester’s suit. I’d thought Melina would get a huge kick out of a car that also goes on the water. She liked it ok, but the real benefit was to Joey and me, who were able to get an overview of the city with our small children seated next to us in a vehicle instead of dragging slowly behind as we walked. Joey wanted to visit both Cheers bars. The original inspiration on Beacon Hill was much more authentic, both to the show and as a good ole’ pub in which to hang out. Melina got a root beer in a bottle at each, and got to hang out at the bar on a stool at Beacon Hill. We also rode the T to visit the Children’s Museum.

We did a quick, er, “tour” of the Freedom Trail. Not really a tour so much as following the red line (Mina in the stroller and Nali the Ergo so we could actually get some speed) and quickly looking at graveyards, building exteriors, and monuments along the way. We made it from the Boston Commons to Paul Revere’s House in the North End, conveniently located down the block from the Italian restaurant where we had early, white-tablecloth dinner reservations. (Limoncello – delicious and authentic in a SF North Beach sorta way. And both girls were angels.)

I got Melina to go into the Paul Revere house with me just before it closed. Our first in-depth look at a historic site! I was excited to take in all four or so rooms of the 17th century home. Melina took about three looks at the enormous hearth with its blackened floor and large pots, and the tiny furniture (that’s what she remembered after we left “Mama, why was the furniture so small?”), and decided this was the house of a witch. There was no getting her upstairs, no matter how much I tried to reassure her.

After two full days in Boston, we picked up a rental car and headed out of town. We stopped in Concord for lunch and a quick stroll amongst the small-town pumpkin displays and early fall colors. A perfect, crisp-but-sunny New England fall day. We pulled up to Todd’s just in time for dinner (and complete with a recent projectile vomit from Melina, who, we now know for sure, does get car sick when she tries to read on windy roads). The highlight of our Vermont visit was chillin’ with Todd (and super dog Maggie), in his cozy house on his gorgeous 10 acres of hilly land, just outside a small town that unfortunately was badly hit by Hurricane Irene in August. It was great to see how much the residents of Wilmington (Todd included) have pulled together to rebuild their town and their roads. As Todd put it, nobody waited for the government, people just got to work and are still working.

The girls loved playing with Maggie and exploring the house and land, including it’s swing that’s been hanging from a tree for who-knows-how-long. Melina had a blast playing the Cyclone! pinball machine Todd hooked up in his basement, and staying up late to eat dinner with the grown-ups on Todd-time (i.e., 10pm). Nalani, as usual, stuck with her own routine. We also got to see some early colors, one of our reasons for traveling in the fall. Todd said the season seemed to be later than usual this year, and also seemed to be less intense, maybe because of Irene. We still got a muted quilt of red, gold, and yellow woven into late summer green, most majestically from a scenic chair lift ride up to the top of Mount Snow. Nalani didn’t appreciate THIS attraction in the least. So little so that she threw a full-fledged tantrum, complete with head-banging screams, the entire 25 minute ride back down. (Fortunately, she was attached to me in the Ergo.)

Our plane ride home was much less eventful. And once we walked through our own front door Melina got to stop saying, “Daddy you keep forgetting we’re not going home, we’re going to the hotel!” whenever Joey used our resting spot for the night as a metaphor for home.

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At a year and a half our spunky little girl is full of love, hugs, and squeals (including what we call her her frustrated pterodactyl screech). She still loves routines, and asks for night night time by 8pm each night. She was the only one of us to adapt to east coast time in the week we were away. (Melina, Joey, and I just stayed up late and slept in. Nalani’s clock must be tied to the sun.)

She waves and calls bye bye to Kai and me when we leave the house each morning, and knows that shoes come off when we get into the house each evening. The other day I had to circle the block several times before finding parking in front of Melina’s preschool, and each time we passed the school Nalani let out a half-panicked, half-confused yelp.

Nalani has Joey’s temperament to a T. She is totally chill, goofy, and music- and fun-loving the majority of the time… until she’s not. There’s no slow warm-up with this girl; it’s all or nothing. She’s been throwing full-fledged tantrums for over a month (Joey says she’s more stubborn than him), and also has frequent moments where she she needs to do what we call a “reset” (basically pout and take a breather without interruption) when little things don’t quite go her way.

She’s also testing limits, including pounding a toy on the glass doors to Melina’s room even harder when I told her to stop. (I took away the toy. She got another. I took her into another room. Problem solved.) She loves to play, and loves being outside. She says a toothy “cheese” for the camera, tries to snap her fingers, attempts to repeat a good half of our words, and follows Melina’s every move – when she’s in the right mood.

Happy year and a half, baby girl!

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At 17 months, our baby girl is finally talking! By talking I mean real words and phrases, consistently. She’s been chatty for months, and real words have come and gone, but at last they’re here to stay. Favorites include bird/birdie (for the bird pics in our kitchen and her room), up, mo (more), chee (cheese) bye bye, tho tho (thor thor), car, boo (blueberries), do’or (doctor, for her Doctor Chocolate stuffed dog), and maijie (Maisy Mouse), plus several body parts (like hands). She can also point out a half dozen body parts including nose, eyes, and opu (belly).

She’s also made a friend at daycare, or rather, he’s made friends with her. Since she can’t express her feelings yet it’s hard to tell, but we know from teachers that Jameson constantly calls for “Nani,” always wants to sit by her, touch her hair, and give her hugs. And that sometimes – but not always – she’s actually happy to have the attention.

As the third child she’s constantly wanting to keep up. When Mina and Kai did somersaults in the family room, Nalani threw her head down and tried one herself – several times. (Joey freaked out and thought she was going to break her neck.) Last week I took all three kids to the dentist. After watching her big bro and sis sit on the chair, Nalani decided to climb in herself when they were finished and picking out stickers. She even let the hygienist brush her six and two-half teeth and squirt water in her mouth.

For Melina’s part, she’s started swim lessons again with Emma, but is still warming up to the new class. The teacher let go of her for a few seconds during the first class, and it took her by surprise. (“Mama, I sank.”) We talk about how swim lessons are so she learns not to sink, but it’ll take some time and some work – for her to learn and also for her to find the words to express exactly what’s making her nervous and how we might make it easier. In the meantime, I’m proud of my big girl for getting in the pool (almost) each week.

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Nalani loves to follow the big kids around and join in wherever she can. She and buddy Maya (Emma’s li’l sis, just three weeks older) can hold their own at just about any playground we head to for play group, and have both become masters of the big kid slide at one favorite park.

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Nalani loves to dance. She has four moves: flapping her arms around, stomping her feet, attempting a twirl (only when copying sis), and bopping up and down on her knees like she’s doing here. So far she only does one move per dance, but I’m sure the combo act is coming soon.

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Today we took the girls to the Monterey Bay Aquarium – a first for Nalani. We invited Lily and her family to join us, because as Joey said, “They like fish.” (More to the point, Tracee and James dive.) But they enjoy the big tank and jelly fish as much as we do, and in fact were with us on our last visit two years ago.

Nalani loved the one million gallon fish tank above all else. At one point she lounged on her back right at its edge, and stared up at the school of sardines racing by. All three girls loved the touch tide pools and Melina and Lily had a blast in the splash tank. Next time I’ll be sure to spend more time watching the uber cool jelly fish, and we’ll also find a better spot for lunch!

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