Salsa and Lights

Tonight we met at a Mexican restaurant before going to see a children's musical performance. This is my son and my daughter.

This story is about my daughter. She likes salsa. Chips and salsa; she goes for them every time. But today she entered new territory. This is my daughter after she ate three spoonfuls of salsa! That's how long it took me to be amazed at what I was watching, verify it was really happening, and then get my phone out to take a picture.

This is what she looked like after a few seconds and realizing that she had consumed a bit much.

Then there was the wiping of the tongue with a napkin.

Then the long sips of water.

Apparently all better, when her food arrived it was time for more salsa.

I told Tami this one is definitely pulling some of her food preferences from my family line, especially my grandpa whom I called Tata. He couldn't eat food, as my childhood memories seem to tell, without healthy helpings of salsa.


In decoration news:
Here are a couple of photos of the lights at our house. When it's not raining I pull the bug out and plug the lights on the bug, a portion of those left on since the parade, right into the lights on the house. The tree and the house lights are all on timer and it’s nice to see them every morning and evening as I set inside and outside lights to be on during the time range when we are up getting ready and leaving as we'll as when we are coming home and into the later hours.

A New Norton... and Other Great Events

(Norton!)

“This is your 5 minute warning” Tami said over the phone. That meant I had to wrap up the work I was doing in preparation for a meeting on Monday morning and I needed to go to the pet store to pick up some water conditioner for the fish tank and then get back home. Five minutes later, Tami called to see if I was in fact wrapped up and moving towards the pet store. I told her I was wrapped up in a game of pool with strangers that I met and couldn't leave just yet because I joined the team. This of course meant that I was done, packed up, and getting into the car to head over to the pet store. Tami just said, “You have 20 minutes to get there and get home.” “What, I don't drive that fast!” I said. Tami responded with, “you have 15 minutes to get home!” Words on a page don't catch the smiles in voices.

Well, that's how it started. I walked around looking for the fish tank water conditioner and thought; may as well get a couple of fish for the giant 30 gallon tank we have with only one little fish in it. And while the woman packed up the little fish for me I saw the two cages with a sign that read “Free Hamsters.” “Tell me about the Hamsters,” I said.

Next thing I know I have a shopping cart and a full load. Turns out the store had received a hamster from its supplier that was already pregnant and she gave birth on December 2nd. These babies they were giving away for free, no cage, etc., but free hamster.

As I packed the free hamster and the $150 of supplies that were not free into my car 30 minutes since I spoke to Tami, I wondered. What have I done? I didn't even talk to my wife or think about anything! I'm bringing home a new living creature. I called Tami and told her that I did something that I'm not sure how she would feel about but I was on my way home, remember to love me, and think about a name... I suggest Norton. I think I had Tami's curiosity peaked.

(Ana looking at Norton.)

And now we have a new member of the family. Norton the hamster. And a few new friends in the fish tank, too.

That was Sunday.

On Saturday we went on our recently developed tradition to find a tree with my parents in the Santa Cruz mountains. This is my Dad’s holiday; the tree hunt. Ever since we had Enzo, Dad has been excited for us to find and cut a tree together each Christmas season.

This year we added something different. We decided to take a picnic lunch up as well. We had seen others do that but this was our first time doing so. Also different this time is that we invited others and they joined us. Besides us four, my parents, and sister, we had with us my sister’s boyfriend Jonathan, Melanie, Santiago, Nathan, Laurie, and their youngest two kids. Fourteen people on a beautiful day sharing lunch and cutting down two perfect trees. Only two, everyone else had other plans for selecting a tree.

First we played and ate. Eventually we looked for trees. But before we got to tree hunting, Enzo declared that the tree literally next to our picnic table was his tree and the one we needed to cut. Right there, next to us in the middle of a big property with many trees. What? Without hunting? The one right next to us, our table, and our parked car? We went for a walk to be sure. In the end, Enzo had chosen a fine tree for us and we came back to retrieve it. “My tree!,” Enzo said. And now it is decorated in our home.

(Do you see Enzo guarding his tree?)

(Enzo and his tree.)

(Everyone thinks they know how to get the tree down.)

(Mama actually starts the process.)

(Enzo does it! Ok, in all fairness, Jonathan did most of the work.)

(Do you see the problem with the tree my family selected? My Dad never does. Hint: It is twice as high in the air as Dad.)

(Look, Jonathan appears to have done most of the cutting for both trees.)

(And the gigantic tree is down.)

And that was Saturday.

On Friday, Enzo and Ana had a dance recital for their peewee mariachi class. It was Enzo's second and Ana's first ever recital. That was a good time. They purposely made a short intermission so that the folks with the young dancers could exit and get kids to bed at reasonable time. If I though it wouldn't be a problem for the kids, I think we all would have enjoyed watching the older kids dance later into the night.

(Maestro Rudy with a class of dancers. Maestro Rudy is one of Enzo and Ana's teachers.)

(Eno, Ana, and Tami are in there.)

(In this one, too.)

(Enzo watching other dancers during their turn to perform.)

(Ana and Tami doing the same.)

Ana's Year and a Half Checkup

It's been several days now but I had forgotten to write about it. Ana had her one and a half year check up. All is well and she is in good health. Then she got two shots. This is what amazed me. The first shot went in to her leg, was injected, and then pulled out by the nurse..... all without a single sound of complaint from Ana. Nothing. Half way through she made a little bit of a face indicating she was not fond of the experience. That's it. I have seen the delayed cries but never no cry from a baby shot. Then the second shot went in to the same leg. Quiet at first, annoyed look half way through, a small cry at the end and for several seconds after the shot was withdrawn and that was it. That was impressive and the most I would have expected. But that first shot, no complaint even after it was withdrawn, that was crazy to watch and unexpected. I know there is no prize for dealing with shots but I was just surprised that the experience was not more traumatic. It is apparently slightly more traumatic for me than for Ana. The best part, all is well and Ana Uku is healthy and beautiful. Which reminds me, for posterity's sake, we have a very good doctor for our kids. Dr. Wang. We met with several pediatricians until we found her. None were bad but Dr. Wang is great, patient, friendly, and not at all bothered with any of my wife's granola ways. We want to talk about an alternative schedule for the shots to space them out? No problem. We have babies who are breast fed and we do not want to give them supplements until they are older? No problem (there is generally a push these days to add supplements for babies who are fully breast fed). Kids tend to eat vegetarian? No problem. And, no judgement. Just good helpful doctoring.so, all good and all adorable.

Day 1

(Waiting for the parade to go by.)

I woke up this morning to Tami frantically asking me "do you know what we forgot?" Turns out it was more of a test because she kept asking. "Our family tradition?" What? "Our new since last year family tradition!?" What?

Ever seen those little advent calendars with chocolate behind each number counting the days until Christmas? Last year Tami used a 24 organic egg carton, covered the half spheres with numbered paper covers, and hid a note in each that said something special that we would do that day for Enzo to discover.

That's what we had apparently forgotten and that's why Tami was trying to figure out what we would do this year on day 1 do December as there were no 24 pack egg cartons around and that's why Tami's laptop was open as she searched for special to do ideas.

Before long, Tami had a couple of popsicle flowers (leftover crafts from Ana's first birthday) with numbers on them in a vase and day 1, flower 1, had a little note attached to the stem. The other flowers will have to wait until tomorrow for us to finish adding the special to dos. But as I was saying, we had day 1 and when Enzo pulled out the flower it said "Tree Lighting." That's right, Sunnyvale had its downtown tree lighting and visit from Santa today. That's not all. Because Tami was on line looking for interesting things to do, she also found out about the Lake View Parade which we had never heard of before and which was happening this morning.

Turns out there is a neighborhood in Sunnyvale called Lake View that puts on its own parade every year and has been for decades. Our ordinary Saturday morning quickly became a super cool Saturday morning. Showers, out to breakfast, and then to a community parade complete with marching band, choir, two old cars, Santa, and more. As Tami noticed, it was probably the smallest parade in the world but it was still fun to watch and to enjoy the shindig afterwards at the local elementary school where the parade stopped. Then we went home for lunch and a nap before heading out again to downtown to listen to that same middle school choir for it's second performance of the day, watch the tree lighting, and wave to Santa and Mrs. Claus as the fire department dropped them off at the big tree.

Thank goodness for new "traditions." Welcome December.

And here is something cool. Enzo was writing on paper that he found and started telling Tami about what he was writing and drawing. Then he said "Papi, P is for Papi" and drew this:

That's a circle and a stick! That's a P!

And as Tami said, that's the first letter he has drawn. Captured here for your appreciation.

An impressive day 1. Here is how it looked just before bed.