Another transition

Tomorrow is Grace's last day of daycare because she starts preschool next week. I am so excited about her new school, but I'm a little wistful that she's moving on and leaving the comfy environment of her daycare. She's the youngest of a gang of 2 year olds that are turning 3 and moving on in the fall - we just got lucky that she got into the her new school now. It's the right time in many ways, and her favorite daycare friend will be in her class at the new school for the first few months. Nevertheless, I know she will miss Emawee and Evie and Dywan and John (the one she can pronounce) and her other friends as well as her teachers, Suzie and Kee-wen. The kiddos are a little pack, calling hello and good-bye to each other as they come and go, giving one another hugs, and talking about each other at home. She also loves her teachers, giving them big hugs and talking about them a lot, asking where they are and what they are doing.

There will be new friends, traditions and beloved teachers at her new school and all the ones in the future. I'm confident she will adapt quickly and love it. But this also means leaving behind a happy little community, one that she will remember and miss more than she did her Boston school. She will return now and then when her new school has vacation, and I'm glad she will have a familiar place to go. Tomorrow they're going to make her favorite breakfast and have a good-bye party. Change is good, especially this one, but I dread pick up tomorrow and having to say good-bye.

Nana weekend

Last weekend Grace and I took a quick trip down to San Marino to visit Nana. Steve was on call all weekend (again) so we decided it was a good chance to visit Nana and have a little girl time. Grace and I left after school/work on Friday and despite sitting on the runway for a while before takeoff and it being well past bedtime by time we got to the hotel, she was a champ. There was a fair amount of running around like a wild child at the airport, but she got her energy out at least. I had forgotten how exhilarating it is to drive on LA freeways - man, the 210!

How did parents travel with kids before all this gadgetry?!

Saturday morning, Grace was confused and woke up at 4:15. I could not convince her to go back ot sleep. Granted, I'm pretty lucky that this so rare, but I was pretty wrecked because I didn't get the three hour nap midmorning. Once Grace was up for the second time, we picked up Nana and headed over to Julienne's, our favorite lunch spot. We did a little shopping and met up with "Aunt" Peggy, Nana's friend. Back at Nana's we played with Peggy and the kitty cats, read books and had some outrageously fabulous desserts for dinner.

Waiting "patiently" at Julienne's.

Looking for kitties.

Night-night, Nana.

Sunday, we just spent more mellow time with Nana - hit the carousel, had lunch and spent more time looking for the kitties. "Where Siam go? Where Kwala go?" As soon as she would find the cats, she would come running back to me to hide and then take off to find them again. And again and again. It was such a nice, mellow weekend. Thank you, Nana - so good to see you!

King sized bed and a stack of books. The life.

Shopping fatigue.

She was soooo excited to ride the tiger.

She just loves, as she calls it, the "ring-around."

At the airport on the way home, I invented the greatest travel game ever. Grace loves to run around and wander away and climb on everything in sight (I was just waiting for her to go running out past security). So, to keep her burning energy and more or less moving in the direction I wanted her to go, I bought a pack of M&Ms and would send her to touch a wall and come back or walk past the next set of chairs, etc., and then she would get an M&M. Try it, my friends with young travelers. It kept her entertained and moving for at least half an hour and would have continued if I let her have a full package of chocolate.

Sadly, we lost the camera on the trip down so all I have are a few not stellar shots from my phone. The good, and very surprising, news is that they found the camera and actually made an effort to contact me and return it. They sent the camera up on a flight on Monday (ha - an unaccompanied electronic; that one's for my dad) and I got it back. I'm still shocked. Shout out to SkyWest/United Express.

Oh, and can I say one more thing? I was amazed at how kind strangers were, going out of their way to ask if I needed help and grabbing Grace when she tried to run off. I have traveled alone with Grace several times, but I guess there's something about a two year old taking off on the tarmac that makes strangers lend a hand. You always hear stories of people who are so annoyed to see kids travelling, but people were genuinely kind and concerned. Maybe because it was such a short trip... hope this doesn't jinx our cross country trip next week!

Yosemite: part 2

Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the Wawona and the birthday girl played and exhibited her 2-ness by insisting on doing things herself, voicing strong opinions and being the cutest little girl ever. After breakfast, we headed down the Mariposa Grove at the south end of the park for a walk among the giant trees and in the remaining snow. Not, apparently, recalling the endless snow that marks winter in Boston, Grace was delighted to tromp around in it, jumping and slipping and giggling. We checked out the big trees and saw a group of Czech Hell's Angels. Then we packed back into the (warm) car drive back to the Valley.

Grace slept on the drive and woke up just as we got to the famous Tunnel View. She posed for pictures, but didn't look too thrilled...

Two year old Grace on her second birthday/Mother's Day.

Amazing we have been a family of three for two years! Long days, early mornings, and years that have passed in an instant.

Next, we went down to Bridal Veil falls (the falls on the right from Tunnel View - when it's windy, the stream blows out from the hillside, looking like a bridal veil). Peak waterfall season and all, everything and everyone got drenched on the trail to the base. The water was gushing along the path, our feet were soaked and by the time we got to the base, we could hardly look up and were completely wet, which Grace thought was hysterical. Well, Steve and I did, too, really.

After not sufficiently drying out, we hit the trail to Mirror Lake. This was one of my favorite spots from our last trip, even though my ankle was broken, not sprained, when were there (what, you didn't think I wouldn't mention it again?)

In this one, Grace had just called over to Steve, saying "Sit down, Daddy, and we talk."

We hiked back down to the Valley, had lunch in Curry Village, and hit the road for home. It's still kind of novel that heading "home" means following the signs to San Francisco.

Tired kiddo.

Birthday dinner.

Dance, dance!

Last week, the CAS was open late for members so Grace and I had a girls night out while Steve was working late. We had tacos on Irving, then went to see the new Snakes and Lizards exhibit. Grace, however, was taken by the music playing in the atrium. So she had a spontaneous dance party. She wasn't the only one, but she was certainly the cutest and had the best moves. As Great Aunt Mary would say, "she has a boogie in her bum bum!"

Yep, another one... she started back up when the music started again. I'm shamelessly posting two vids of my sweet girl dancing because her grandparents will watch both videos even if no one else does.

Talks with Grace: funny what?

On our way home from SFO last night, I got a call from someone at BUR about our lost camera (another tale, hopefully one with a happy ending). Grace asked who I was talking to, and I answered "someone at the airport." When I hung up the following ensued:

Grace: I want to talk to the airport.
Me: You want to talk to someone at the airport? You’re a funny bean!
Grace: I not a funny bean!
Me: No? Are you a funny lovey?
Grace: No!
Me: What are you, then?
Grace: I a funny baby!

Yosemite: part 1

Update 5.13: Okay, I'm so mad. Blogger has been "down" for the last day or so and it appears that although I posted this with photos, and it was up as posted yesterday, today it has reverted to an earlier draft. Grrrrr. I might be able to fix it after I return from our weekend sojourn to see Nana.

Since Grace's birthday fell on Mother's Day and Steve has been working insanely much, we thought it would be the ideal weekend to head to Yosemite. Steve and Grace had been talking about the trip for weeks, and Grace was ready to see "wafaws!" (waterfalls, not be confused with wafos which are waffles), but didn't want to see any "beeers" (bears).

We headed up Saturday morning, and Grace was a trooper about the four hour car trip. Steve and I had been there only once before, camping in the snow in March, and while I remembered being amazed, I had forgotten how overwhelming that first view of the valley is. We parked and headed up to Lower Yosemite Falls. My ankle had been sore in anticipation of the weekend, and going back almost to the scene of the "walk it off" incident only increased the pain (I broke my ankle on the Upper Falls trail in 2006, leading to a second break a few months later and the bad summer of crutches and fall of PT). Eventually we made it, around an hour and half a mile later because Grace needed to inspect every insect and twig and didn't believe in staying on the path at all. So chilly and windy at the base of the falls that we couldn't even get any pictures (the spray will soak you). But an otherwise gorgeous day.

After a picnic we headed up the trail to Vernal and Nevada Falls. We hadn't been to that part of the park before, and although the trail was packed, it was really incredible. Nevada Falls comes out of the side of a rock face. Grace slept for 20 minutes and woke up way too soon, but she loved hiking down herself, spotting squirrels, climbing on rocks and learning about tree skin (bark). It was in the 70s, so after the hike we trekked over to Curry Village for Grace's first popsicle. She was totally a fan.

We headed south on to Wawona where we were staying. By the time we got there, it was an hour to bedtime and a 45 minute wait for the only restaurant, the fine dining room in the hotel. Against our better judgment, we decided to risk it since we were hungry (restaurants, especially linen tablecloth, candlelight restaurants are not currently part of our repertoire). But, despite only a 20 minute nap, Grace was perfect. She learned to drink from a goblet, enjoyed an early birthday book, and ate a giant bowl of fries. She was an angel and you would think she dined in high style every night for her behavior. We were thrilled and amazed and holding our breaths the whole time. We headed over to our cozy room and crashed.

All the pictures here.

Umm, what?

Yesterday morning, I was humming Slipping Through My Fingers, and Grace asked what I was singing. I explained that it's a song about a mommy who is kind of sad because her little girl is growing up so fast. A few minutes later, Steve came in and Grace told him I was singing. He asked what I was singing, and she said "Mommy singing about Gracie."

What?!?! I can't decide whether she really understood or was just saying nonsensical things that coincidentally make sense, as she is sometimes wont to do.

Either way, I have been sort of overwhelmed by her coming birthday (tomorrow!). Two seems like a giant milestone - definitely the end of babyhood, fully on the way to becoming a kid. On Thursday evening we went to the playground and Grace spent a long time going down the big kid slide, yelling gleefully, then running over to the stairs to do it again and again and again. Not a hint of fear, just taking that (15-20 foot high?) slide by force. As I have said before, I don't want to hold her back and I love all the new stages and developments that come with them. But sometimes I do want to freeze time.

Step back and take a deep breath

After Grace had a bath last night, I started getting into her " 'jamas." She decided she wanted put them on herself, or "No, I do ma-sef!" She struggled for a bit, getting her foot stuck but eventually got the pants lined up with only one or two attempted interventions from Steve and me, which were loudly rejected. "I do ma-seffff!"

Then, she picked up her pajama shirt and started pulling it on over her legs and upside down. When we tried to suggest she put it over her head because it was a shirt, she yelled "No! Jamas!" I'm not sure if she was confused because she normally wears one piece pjs with feet or if she just had her own ideas about how to put it on. Once she got the upside down shirt up to her waist, she realized she couldn't put her arms in the sleeves, so she pulled it off. I thought we were at the a ha moment when she would let me help her put her shirt over her head, but boy was I wrong. She turned the shirt around and pulled it up over her legs again, but still got stuck without her arms in the sleeves. She wasn't terribly concerned as she took off to climb into my bed and hide from me behind the pillows (I was not chasing her; in fact, I was exercising great restraint in not chasing her down to put the shirt on properly).

Watching her struggle and try again and be so adamant that she do it herself was a challenge as I'm sure every parent reading this knows. She wanted to learn and do it herself. I wanted to help her, to show her, to guide her as she figured it out. I also wanted her to just get her pjs on so we could move on to eating cupcakes and reading some bedtime stories. But how important is it that a toddler wear her pajamas properly? How important are those extra ten minutes? And how important is it that she figure it out herself, know that I respect her ability to problem solve and master new tasks as well as know that I will help when she needs it or if she asks? I know this is a balance we will continue to navigate and the answers won't always be the same. I often hear parents say that they learn more about themselves from being a parent than they think they teach their children. I so see that as I try to determine what she needs, how much to intervene and how to be patient when she screams at me for trying to get her to put her shirt on over her head.

Eventually, she was playing with Steve while I did something else and he got her to put her shirt over her head... but not without screaming. Oh, we all say that in the long-run, the feisty and strong-willed perseverance is good, but in the near term, in the getting from the car to the apartment with five sacks of groceries term, those same traits will drive us nuts!

New toy

For our birthdays, Steve and I got a new camera (good thing we have so much practice sharing and taking turns). We had to practice with it before our travels this month. It is so cool... who knew it was possible to get a photo of Grace that isn't blurry?

A quick visit to Daddy at work on our way to the park.

Playing at the botanical gardens and music concourse in GG Park.

In this one, she is pretending to sleep... which she found hilarious.

After we got home, Grace immediately climbed onto the couch, requested her blanket, quilt, and puppy plus a book. Girl after my own heart.

Monday night we had to check out the views from Tank Hill. The scenery shots were too washed out, but it was still a beautiful (and outrageously windy) evening.