Amelia Earhart

...says Happy Halloween!


Rosie was a rockstar trick-or-treater. All that practice paid off. At each house she didn't hesitate to say "trick or treat!" and "thank you!" Then after each house she'd turn to us and exclaim, "Candy!" an put it in her bag.



We were joined by Auntie and the cousins. It was such a special night to have Rosie walk around with the family. We hit up 2nd street which was a madhouse of costumes!

Here's Rosie before take-off:








The gang:


Amelia Earhart with the Geriatric Tennis Doubles Team.


Vavô and Vavó joined us afterward for the after party. Rosie got to enjoy one piece of candy. Her choice: lollipop.





Mobile ping pong!


All-in-all a solid second Halloween for Rosie!

Hard at work...

...on table manners

...and practicing her first trick or treating

the chase

On Saturday night we decided to have an impromptu date night and dropped Rosie off at Vavô and Vavó's house with cousin A. Rosie ended the night with an exciting game of chase. She was so sweet playing with her Vavos, especially when she would wave her hand and say, "Come on, Vavô, come on!"

San Jose Sunday

Brunch with L&L:

K's birthday celebration at San Pedro Square Market:

Cheek!

the locks work!

Last week I had one of those bizarre, comedy of errors-experiences that I see happen to silly characters on TV. The kind you can laugh at. After the fact.

The situation: I locked myself out of the house. Not a huge deal, I've done that before. Except this time I managed to lock Rosie INside the house. Luckily one of the blinds were drawn in the family room so I could see Rosie and keep an eye on her. Rosie didn't have a care in the world and seemed amused to talk to me through a window.

I do have faith that, given time, Rosie and I would have figured out a way to open a door. It was actually quite amazing to watch Rosie respond to my requests like she understands what I'm saying....cause she DOES understand what I'm saying!

Plan A: I saw my purse sitting on the couch, the very purse that housed my keys. The plan was to get Rosie to take out the keys and slide it through the mail slot in the living room. Easy enough! Unfortunately, the purse was tucked next to a pillow in such a way that Rosie seems to see everything BUT the purse.

Onto plan B. The problem (among the most obvious, which was that I didn't have a key to the house) was that the dead bolt was locked on the side door, and Rosie's too short to reach it. So I tried to lure Rosie into the front room to unlock the front doorknob. I had a great plan: playing Mail! I called to her from the mail slot. No response. I walk back to the kitchen/family room and she's up on a chair looking for me out a window. Apparently she had a good view there because she did not want to leave that spot.

Resolution: Our white knight came home! DaddyO luckily was in Livermore (and not Hayward where his school is!) so was able to drive over within 15 minutes. Hooray!

I have to say, I felt I played it pretty cool during the whole fiasco, except when the reality of the situation hit when I had to explain the situation to DaddyO on the phone. But it was all good! If something did happen to Rosie and I had to get in the house, DaddyO just would have come home to a propane tank through the door (no biggie). Luckily it did not resort to that.

Moral to the story: hide a spare key!

Who's really at fault: I blame the show Up All Night (Season 2, Episode 2) for planting the seed.

Random snapshots

A Zoo for Mister Muster


Playtime at the library:








Play date with BFF P:





Baby J:


Halloween preview:

cove party

Tonight Tio R and cousins A and A came over for dinner. The highlight of the evening was when Rosie brought everyone to her room for a cove party. It was so sweet to see them deeply immersed in storytime together. 

And then....bowling! Rosie successfully learned how to use the kinect tonight. There were plenty of gutter balls and bowling balls flying into neighboring lanes, but she did get as many as 9 pins down in a frame! As much as she enjoyed playing, the best part was watching her take turns gracefully. She never put up a fight but waited patiently.

Update on the cold: After some much needed sleep, Rosie woke up with a big smile on her face. She must have really been in a good mood cause she wore this headband for at least 30 minutes (a record). We spent the morning watching the rain, playing trains, and laughing.

Then had some warm miso soup to help warm the belly.

Under the weather

After a restless night's sleep Rosie woke up in discomfort, saying "tummy" and rubbing her belly, and has been napping on the couch. Poor baby. She's been fighting a cold but it looks like its gotten the best of her today. So we've been spending the rainy morning snuggling while a pot of chao is cooking on the stove. It's days like this that in grateful to be home with her and not at work.

Joan's Pumpkin Patch

Took Rosie, Vavô, and Vavó to the pumpkin patch today. Didn't realize it was going to be a windstorm! But we had fun nonetheless.

Did I mention it was windy?

HEAVY!

Baby pumpkin

To pumpkin and beyond!

First pony ride!

A natural equestrian

Saw the goat and immediately picked up straw to feed it. Goat whisperer?

Llama Llama Red Pajama minus the red pajamas

Happy to be with Vavô and Vavó

Living the fairy tale

Still smiles after a cold, windy day

One last ride before heading home.

month 23

 Highlights:

• Language. It is really fascinating to see how Rosie's language progresses. She is solidly in 2-word phrases. She's also begun to storytell. It's amazing to hear her explain something and understand most of it (with the help of context clues).
• Memory. Rosie's memory has gotten noticeable better. She's able to remember new words and recall them throughout the day (like learning the seven names of our friends who were coming to dinner), and also recalls things from months back (seeing Simba from the Lion King and making the cat-call noise she learned from calling her cat cousin Simba from Delaware earlier this summer).
• Two and Pink. Rosie consistently counts 1, 2, 1, 2, with the occasional 3 (though today she did say 3, 2, 1). We do seem to have made improvements on the colors. To date, if you asked her what color anything was, it was an automatic "pink." As of two days ago, it's an automatic "pink" followed by another color. I'd say her accuracy rate (minus the initial "pink") is about 66%. Not bad! 
• Musica. Rosie successfully sang a whole verse of a song today! "Row row row the boat" (well, pretty close). After going to a music class with her cousin and aunt, it's reminded us to search for a class for her.
• Teeth. She's gotten her 4 canines (they may have been poking through last month), bringing the count up to 16...I think. After having gone to the pediatric dentist, she's taken her dental hygiene very seriously. Though, we still haven't tried flossing her teeth on our own yet. Ugh.
• Affectionate. Rosie is so sweet. She has started this thing where she snuggles with us and puts both hands on our cheeks. Awwwww!
• Reasoning. We've been able to reason with Rosie, whether trying out a mild version of time out that led to her cleaning up her toys, or getting Rosie to willingly share something by explaining the idea of taking turns. 
• Sleep. Rosie has been able to sleep through most of the night (6:30ish) though is still reliant on us to fall asleep. It doesn't help that she articulates her hatred for the crib. We're just not sure she's ready for a bed. That she can climb out of. Whenever she wants...!

Rosie is developing a fun, saucy, and seemingly-empathetic personality. She really shined this month with her stellar behavior on the plane ride to and from DC. It's funny how situation like that (small spaces, high altitude, stressed travelers) can really bring our her best qualities and make us grateful.

Life of a teenager

Rosie spend the afternoon with Auntie G and her cousin A. Such a treat to get pics while at class.

Homework time:


Need for speed:


Stretching before basketball practice:


Drills:

Location:Hesperian Blvd,Hayward,United States

Last day in DC

Last night Uncle M, Auntie A, and I were reflecting on the past week and we agreed that it felt like we'd been around for much longer than a week. Yesterday was no exception. We do a good job of packing it in!

Uncle M took the morning off so we had a relaxing morning together. Auntie A and I ran to the store and came back to a jam session: Uncle M in the banjo, Aunt N on the guitar, Rosie in the drum, and Aunt M on the baby J:



We packed up and loaded up to go into DC. After mini-drama with parking (spoiler alert we didn't get a ticket woo!) we where on the not-so-choochoo train:



Rosie quickly fell asleep once in the stroller and our tummies woke up so we hit up the National Gallery of Art.
Performance art Delaware style:


Enjoying Jacob's light tunnel:



Once Rosie woke up she immediately set out to look for her cousin. He was somewhere immersed in the small French paintings:


Someone missed his cheeks:


Hot sculpture:


With Rosie just havin woken up we had to go for lunch #2 so we headed to the American Indian museum and noshed while the Delaware aunties explored. Suddenly it was 4:30 and Uncle M was gettif out of work early so we met him at the Air and Space Museum. Turned out to be a big hit!
Rosie was particularly smitten with flying the plane. Perhaps a career in aviation is in her future:



To infinity and beyond!:


Not ready to be copilot with her uncle yet:


Stardust!:


Afte the museum closed we hoped to ride the carousel but that was unfortunately not running. But we did notice the good lighting and fine backdrop of the Capitol and Washington Monument so took the opportunity to snap some photos. Which turned into quite the photoshoot!

Siblings turned proud parents:


Catching a super sweet moment:


Mommy next to the Capitol Patch of Dirt. Oh and the Washington monument in the background too:


So proud to have such amazing female role models for Rosie:


Thank you to the behind-the-camera crew for getting Rosie to smile!


I. Heart. BabyJ.


The dirt and grass was way more interesting than smiling for the camera. Maybe because this is a few hundred shots from when we first started?:


Family portrait:


BabyJ chasing Rosie:


Face off:


Auntie A, the smile maker!


Rosie and her uncle:


After a long day, we all cuddled up for a group bedtime routine for Rosie. Such a treat! Auntie A joined after putting BabyJ down, and after Rosie and BabyJ had a very sweet goodbye (involved some cheek squeezing I believe!). Hard to say goodbye!


What a great trip we had! Though we woke up in the wee hours of the morning admittedly excited to return home, especially to DaddyO.


Rosie was very patient and calm in the flight. People near us thanked us a few times...I guess they were afraid she was going to be a screamer. Toward the end she definitely earned some down time! Here she is watching a little something with her apple juice by her side. What a life!


Rosie's now napping in her cove and Mommy is about to nap as well. It was so nice to spend quality time with family. And it was also nice to come back to more family! Thanks to Auntie G for picking us up!! Nice to see her after long travels.