Pumpkin Patch 2015

Yesterday we took Tala to the pumpkin patch in Clayton. If you're trying to stay away from the huge patches that make you feel like you're getting nickle & dimed for everything, this patch on Marsh Creek Road is a nice option. However, we did get sucked into paying $3 each to ride the train but it was worth it given that T has a slight train obsession.

Enjoying the train ride. It was actually pretty adorable.

As soon as T saw these baby pumpkins she exclaimed-"oranges!"

Oh the pressure of picking out the perfect pumpkin....

We plan for T to be a gold nugget for Halloween since we'll be in gold country (Angel's Camp) for Halloween) but she is absolutely terrified of the awesome gold costume that G-Ro made for her. She has a few other options, she inherited a butterfly costume from a friend and GK bought her these ladybug wings that she is mostly OK with. I had attempted to dress her in all black before heading out to the patch but she looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Mama-I no like shirt," so we went with the red one.

T was surprisingly not afraid of much at the pumpkin patch and posed appropriately in front of the haunted castle.

Not too sure what the pumpkins are used for but the little follower she is, she climbed all over them like the other kids.

Her favorite ended up being the one she held the longest. We paid $3 the pumpkin and headed back home given that we were creeping close to her nap time.

Stopped with G-Ro to listen to some live music.

On our way bck to the car T tried out the hay maze (not really a maze, more like a dark dusty tunnel). This perked her right up though-she ran through it 4-5 more times laughing when she came out saying, "again!"

The following day T allowed me to do all of the carving and showed absolutely no interest in pumpkin guts.

We named it baby pumpkin head. Happy Halloween!

Catching Up

Where has 2015 gone? It's almost May and only one blog post. I vow not to get too far behind with blogging as this is the closest that T will probably ever get to a baby book. I blame GK some for not sending me the many photos he takes almost daily and saves on his computer. But, I have also been spending the majority of my free time studying for my Licensing exam which I hope to take in a few months. So much to get caught up on...

Here's a photo dump from my iPhone:

Back in February I took T to a Baby Fair near our house called Boobie Palooza (worst name ever). Here she is playing while Dr. Sears (son of Attachment Parenting founder by the same name) assures everyone that Measles can be cured with a good dose of Vitamin E. We picked up a lot of free samples, got T's footprints for free, saw a performer from Habitot, demo'd some fancy toys, and won a free photoshoot. Somehow we came out not catching whooping cough.

We also took T to the antique merry-go-round at Tilden Park. While waiting our turn I studied the animals and headed straight to the rooster. She freaked out so we tried the frog. Tears. Then the zebra. Nope. We ended up on the bench. She wouldn't even sit on the mini horses. T's a pretty outgoing baby but if there's one thing that scares her-it's large fake animals.

However-she was all over the play car during story time at the Pleasant Hill Library.

GK oftentimes entertains himsef by dressing T in the most ridiculous of combinations. Here she is in her faux fur coat and aviator hat.

She still regularly wears her footie pajamas out with shoes on. This pic was taken at the park across the street where kids from a daycare play-GK said one of the youngsters came up to him and asked why T was wearing her pajamas. Called out by a toddler.

T is starting to add her own style-underwear as a scarf.

T continues to have great fun visiting G-Ro & Grand P at least once a week.

She loves helping G-Ro in the garden.

"More peanut butter balls please," T asks. 

Grand P regularly takes T to Turtle Creek Park, the same park I grew up playing in. Here she is chasing the geese. 

We decided that her first word was bird. She had said Momma & Papa before but bird felt more spontaneous. She also says bike, shoes, banana, and thank you.

I recently celebrated my 40th birthday. T stayed overnight in Concord while we partied in SF-karaoke and tamales. Pictured above is a complimentary truffle at Sanctuary Cafe-a new vegn restaurant in Berkeley where we had an amazing brunch the day after.

GK got me two cast iron skillets for my birthday that we've been experimenting with-here's mac & cheese. We've also made stuffed pizza, breakfast skillets, and clay pot bakes.

T also received  gift from me-Cupcake the ethnic baby. I wanted to see how T would react to a doll since she points at babies wherever she goes. It was perfect timing-as sooon as she saw the doll she yelled-"Cupcake," becase there was a cupcake on the bib. We liked that Cupcake is a gender neutral name so it stuck. Here I am reading to T, Cupcake, and her flopped earred rabbit-Bo Weevil. Please note the framed photo in the background, it looks like Cupcake with GK.

We spent a beautiful recent Sunday morning at the Thai Temple to celebrate the Thai New Year. We ate a little and played a lot. After waiting almost 2 hours for the entertainment to start we decided to head home for a long nap. Note T has started wearing pigtails.

We also took T to her 1st Oakland A's game and celebrated Kai's 40th birthday. T did surrisingly well but taking a one-year old to a baseball game is definately a 2 person job. GK and I took turns taking her to the kids' play area so she could walk around and mingle a little.

Totland. It's really fun to watch how T's play has developed. She likes emptying and filling things up. She still enjoys swinging but prefers to climb on everything. She'll even go down the slide by herself but that's a little scary for me (I was the asshole at the park who was on their iPhone phone when she decided to go down and flew right off the slide into the sand). She loves being around other kids and is pretty outgoing even in unfamiliar settings. She's also met a few, how shall I say, more aggressive children. She's been hit by a few kids and encountered some who don't want to share with her. She's starting to throw some tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants.

But she's mostly smiley, easygoing, and an all around joy.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day started off with me getting to sleep in while GK and T picked me a beautiful rose from our garden out back.

Yep-that is a Christmas gift bag behind my Valentine's Day rose. We like to reduce, reuse, recycle around here.

After breakfast we decided to head to Inspiration Point in Tilden Park to take T for a little stroll in her new BOB. I hit the jackpot the prior weekend at a children's consignment shop when I saw the Cadillac of strollers peeking out from behind the counter. With credit from previously selling back some baby items and $27, I was its proud new owner.

We took a little break from strolling so that T could join the beautiful weather.

Yep-it's February and no jacket or shoes required out here.

For about the past month T has been engaging in this odd hybrid between crawling and walking. She scoots around on her knees. I think she actually thinks she's walking. Of course she's fully capable of walking but she's just not very motivated to do it consistently.

It doesn't really seem to bother her much though as you can tell by the ridiculously huge grin on her face.

I take full credit for this kid's hair. *sigh* After Inspiration Point we drove around with a napping T in the car and I popped into Timeless cafe for a vegan rootbeer float and soft serve waffle cone for GK. T slept though all this deliciousness.

Later we drove to Union City to spend the evening with GK's cousin, his family, and friends. T was very happy that there were other kids there. They were all very sweet and did their best to entertain T.

I don't know if it was the other kids or the plush carpeting throughout Cousin Joe Joe's house but T walked more that night than she ever has before.

T also showed off her piano skills.

And made new friends. Almost as soon as we got into the car to return home T passed out.

Happy New Year!

To celebrate 2014 and welcome 2015 with open arms we decided to return to a place that is very familiar to us-Saysetha in Oakland for a fabulous Thai dinner. It's where we spent NYE on 2013 with T in our arms. G-Ro and Grand P joined us for dinner this year and T wore her sharpest of outfits-sparkly stretch pants, fake fur boots with matching jacket, and her black top hat. She sat in her high chair for no less than 3 minutes and we played pass the Tala around the table while sipping beer and filling up on curries and fresh spring rolls. After dinner it was time for PJs and bedtime. We go crazy.

T's 2015 resolutions include the following:

1. Never sleep through the night

2. Breasfeed forever

3. Don't roll off the bed

Happy New Year's everyone!

Tala Rides the Steam Train

I've been looking forward to taking T to the Steam Trains for quite some time and finally had the opportunity on Veteran's Day (one of the few perks of being a government employee-all the holidays you get off). You may remember that we took Elsie here last fall. Not only do dogs ride the trains for free but the babies do too!

T dressed appropriately-she wore her train conductor hat made specially for her by G-Ro. Underneath her hoodie are her Osh Kosh brown corduroy overalls that are super adorable but it was a bit of a chilly day so we kept her bundled up. She's been really big on standing with support so we allowed her to balance against the planter box while the little twit in the background photobombed her. 

T was very well behaved during the train ride. Quiet but thoughtful-taking in the ride that showed off Tilden Park in all its Fall glory. 

This trip to the Steam Trains only seemed to encourage T's love for Thomas the Train. She has 2 Thomas books and I've taken to hiding them because, 1. Thomas is her go-to book, and 2. I'm sick of Thomas.

Family Pic-we are reallly in need of a selfie stick but for now-my gorilla length arms will do.

11 Months

Oh the things you say you'd never do before becoming parents. I am very much opposed to TV/electronic devices before age 2. The only exception is allowing T to watch videos of herself. We don't own a TV but these days-you really don't need one when you have the internet. GK doesn't seem to share my strong feeling about media as he sent me the picture below while I was at work one day.

I cringe.

But to be fair he showed her something about the alphabet and it was to reportedly calm her down (which may codeword for give GK a break).

Who needs TV when you have these two to entertain you? We took a trip to Napa to celebrate the ever-sassy Lola turning two. That was karaoke, nectarine margaritas and fun was had by all.

T attended her first live theatrical performance starring the very talented G-Ro in "A Trip Down Broadway." I was hesitant to be that parent who brought their baby to a play but Grand-P had already seen the show and promised to leave with her if needed. I have to say that T was an absolute perfect member of the audience-she was enthusiastic, clapped at all the right times, and truly enjoyed the show.

When she's not being entertained by others, she entertains herself and drives me crazy by unloading every cupboard and drawer she can possibly find. Here she is going through her diaper changing table.

GK entertained himself by cutting up this big *box for T to play spaceship. I'm not sure who had more fun with it.

*This box contained our new bed. Ues-we finally upgraded from a full to a queen. The decision to get a new bed came about 10 months too late. I splurged and got a completely organic memory foam, bamboo fiber bed. We are all in heaven.

And October means Halloween-T was a true Mencher and was the best dressed baby wherever she went. A few months ago I came up with the great idea for T to be a Maneki Neko (the good luck ceramic kitties you often see at Japanese or other Asian businesses). I enlisted G-Ro to execute this most adorable plan and the result was success!

Here she is at the Shadelands Pumpkin Patch where GK was mistaken for a professional photographer.

And here she is on Halloween having lunch with me during my break at Soba Ramen in downtown Oakland.

At our local park at Grove Recreation Center on a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

And here she is on November 4th-exactly 11 months. Since my polling location changed this year, GK & T were kind enough to drive me to go vote. I wanted to bring T inside with me but it was chilly out and the parking there was scarce. I voted yes on D to require extra tax on sugary drinks which passed. I rewarded T with my I Voted sticker-as you can see she's enthralled.

To sum up 11 months-still not walking, still not talking (coherently), still not sleeping through the night. But she's got 3 teeth now, she feeds herself, she waves, points sometimes, she's starting to cooperate with getting dressed, she goes to sleep/nap pretty easily for the most part, and she's an absolute riot. Twelve months? Bring. It. On.