Watching the Balls Drop

So, it's not the same thing as watching the official Ball drop in Times Square...but watching Mia play around with the balls in her My Gym class is pretty satisfying, too. Happy New Year Everybody!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Hope everybody is having a wonderful holiday! Here are some pictures from our day. Much love and happiness to all.

All Mia Wants for Xmas is No More Teeth!

Poor little Mia. The last week or so has been rough, with 5am wakeups and crankiness all around. Turns out the culprits are two big teeth making their way though her bottom gums. I tried to take a photo (because such things are so exciting, of course), but instead got these cuter photos of MeMia being a ham. Good to see that she is still occasionally in good spirits.

First of Eight Crazy Nights

Mia was intrigued by the menorah and quite taken with her first Hanukkah gift, a bear-decorated piggy bank from Grammy and Grandpa. With Christmas arriving on Thursday, MeMia (her latest moniker for herself) will be overwhelmed with festive joy.

Our Gingerbread House is a Very, Very Fine House

A few friends took the kids over to the Discovery Museum for a gingerbread making "extravaganza" (the museum's words- definitely not mine). To say the kids were underwhelmed would be an understatement, but at least we tried. Mia was afraid of the icing, but liked tasting the gingerbread. Lara, when nobody was looking, liked the gumdrops.

Holiday Recess

Our playgroup, nearly as old as our children, celebrated the holidays together today at a SF indoor recreation space named (appropriately enough) Recess. The kids had a chance to snack and play to their hearts' content and, well, so did the grownups. Here are a few photos of the party.

Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah ...

Grammy and Grandpa Corey sent a very special package to Mia today, a box full of eight festive presents and her first menorah (one that is beautiful and quite modern-looking). Here is Mimi taking a look at everything. Until the presents are opened, it seems that the box and packing materials take the highest priority. As you can see in the background, Otter celebrated the package's arrival with his usual enthusiasm.

The Future's So Bright

Mia loves her Dad's shades.

Aunt Chris uploaded some of her Halloween festival pics and they are super cute for all those diehard Mia-watchers. Here they are.

In a Blink of an Eye

A short clip of one of my favorite things Mia can do these days. The piece of breakfast on her chin in this video is simply a bonus.

Deck the Halls

Let Us Give Thanks to Sonoma County

There are days when we feel quite lucky to live in Northern California. Like today, when we headed to Healdsburg to enjoy a tour of a winery and sample the yummy vino. Mia joined us and was a very good sport, embracing the wide open space and, especially, the sign that warned everybody about her very hostile Piggy. Here are some additional photos, artistically produced by Mr. David Corey.

Big Gurrrllll

"Big Gurrrlllll" is how Mia describes herself these days, and according to the pediatrician during her visit today, looks like Mia is pretty accurate. She's 23 pounds and 32 inches, which means she is far bigger (percentile-wise) than she's ever been. The chubby legs (that we love, of course) don't lie.

In other Big Girl News, Mia ditched the high chair today, moving on to the booster seat. Now she can join the adults at the dining room table this Thanksgiving. Gobble, gobble!

Fun in the Sunshine State

We are back from Florida, where Mia had a blast with her extended family -- she is especially fond of G'Mama, Lex and Pop-Pop. Aunt Kelly would rank higher on the list, but a miscalculated joke ended up scaring Mia away from her (don't worry, Kel, I'm sure your status will be restored next trip). We spent lots of time swimming, playing at the beach, and watching Aunt Karen diligently work out to her Firm DVDs. Here are some photos, taken by Grandma.

Back at home, it was nice to see that little has changed. The rainboots were requested immediately.

TRUCK!!!

Mia LOVES trucks and she was especially excited, therefore, when we pulled into the parking lot for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and there was a Scraper (as featured in one of her favorite books, "Trucks"). It was a little more thrilling for her than the dolphins and turtles inside the Aquarium, but Grandpa and I will accept entertainment value for Mia where and when it comes.

Here Comes the Rain ...

...and Mia is very prepared. The skies opened up over San Francisco last weekend to give us a preview of the winter to come and, in response, we found a rain jacket and rain boots to keep the little one dry and, it seems, quite pink. Mia loves the boots so much (or, alternatively, is so afraid of the possibility of rain) that she wants to wear them indoors.

Happy voting!

Mia Picks Treat

The Main Event finally arrived and we can now retire Mia's puppy costume. We enjoyed her first trick-or-treating on 24th Street in our Noe Valley neighborhood, where lots of kids turned out and shopkeepers handed out the goods. Mia had her perplexed face on almost the entire time, seemingly determined to figure out RIGHT NOW what this whole holiday is about. Specifically, why are there suddenly a bunch of Elmos walking around? Am I going to be charged with a criminal conspiracy for participating in these shady transactions whereby strangers hand me shiny-foiled packages and I deposit them into a pumpkin? Here are some photos.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

We ambitiously wrangled the children together this morning and had some professional photos taken, Halloween-style. There are no digital versions, so I improvised and present to you a representation of the photos (hence the title of this post, Magritte lovers).

Boo!

Oooh...Mia is scary!

Otter looks more scared than scary.

Puppy Love

We suckered Mia into her puppy costume today for the first of several Halloween events. Here she is being a tremendously good sport:




This is back at home, trying on her cute new dress. How positively girly!