Growing up with a little of both and the lessons learned along the way
From the monthly archives:
Daddy came home from work today with a gift for me. A yo yo! I didn’t really know what a “yo yo” was, but I liked it right away because it was easy to say and you get to throw it. Strange thing – when my daddy threw the yo yo, it came right back to him … but when I throw it, it just stays on the ground. Maybe my yo yo doesn’t like me yet?
(Dad note: Thanks to the Circle of Moms crew for the yo yo schwag…)
(Click here for the video.)
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Both sides of our family really enjoy the movies, so every year I run an Oscars pool. We decided that since she was 19 months old, Maile was old enough to participate (after all she’s already taken done quite well in last year’s March Madness and Super Bowl pools.)
Mommy came up with a fun idea for how to get all of Maile’s picks. We used blocks and then her pick was whichever block she chose (1-5 for most categories). As the video below shows, it mostly worked – for some reason she got hung up on block #5 for awhile (I believe because it had a picture of an apple on it).
So how did she do? Not too well, unfortunately. Maile’s streak of winning pools is over. I will say that I actually won the pool this year (ah, thank you) and I <think> what might have happened was that after helping me with my own picks, Maile made different picks to boost her old man’s confidence. I appreciate how she supports me.
(Click here for the video.)
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Uh oh!
As some of you know, Chris takes a picture of Maile every morning and sends it to our immediate family. I’m stealing the picture above from yesterday’s morning message. It cracked me up. Maile says “uh-oh” all the time now – generally it’s just because she dropped something, but every once in awhile its because she took a crayon to the wall or something. Uh oh, indeed.
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Christine took some great pictures of Maile over the weekend…
We were trying to capture some pig tail shots, but her pigtails were so crazy they kept going out of the frame...
Big smile
Maile found all these hats from when she was little and has been having fun putting them on all by herself...
Deep concentration
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Mommy thought it would be fun to do an art project with Maile so they headed off to Paper Source and found a really cute Paper Bunny Kit in honor of the Year of the Rabbit.
Bunny by Maile
Can you tell which one Maile did and which one Mommy did?
It turns out that the art project was a learning process for both Maile and Mommy. Maile learned how to make bunnies and Mommy learned first hand how artistic Maile is (most of the art gets created with Megan when we are at work).
Here’s how it all went down (this one is a little longer than normal, but I’m guessing not too many of you will mind):
(Click here for the video.)
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(Chris had the day off from work so she and Maile had a Mother/Daughter day of adventure. We’ll be covering some of their fun over the course of the week.)
First up, this morning Chris got a small cut on her hand. As the video below demonstrates, Maile was quite concerned. Just look at her face – you can see the compassion. Then she tries to make Mommy feel okay by saying that she too “had an owie” in the exact same location. Maile Girl has Mommy’s back…
(Click here for the video.)
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Maile Girl, reporting for rock duty!
I’m very excited to announce a new project that Grandpa Mike and I have been working on: The Maile Music Project
The about page contains the background of how the Maile Music Project came to be, but in short, we thought it’d be a fun way to teach Maile about music (or at least put something together that one day would allow us to properly teach her about the music that mattered to us most.)
We thought others would enjoy the ride as well, so check it out and feel free to share: mailemusicproject.com
(And let us know what you think – we’re still working on things so any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated…)
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A little while back, my friend Scott sent me this article about a dad who gave his son an old camera with a wireless memory card that automatically uploads his pictures to Flickr. I thought it was a pretty cool idea and put it on the backburner. For Christmas, Uncle Steve actually gave me one of the wireless memory cards so I started thinking about the article again (even though I knew Maile was way too young). We decided that some lessons might be in order before we set Maile loose with a camera.
Here are some of her pictures – needless to say we won’t be auto uploading these to Flickr quite yet. We’ll work on her framing a bit first…
Mommy Portrait by Maile Girl
Daddy Portrait by Maile Girl
(Click here for the video.)
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We’re a few days late on our Maile Minute – just too much going on around here.
This month’s episode features Maile and her new favorite food: waffles!
Or as Maile says in the morning as she waddles into the kitchen: “wah-FOO? wah-FOO?”
As always, click here for previous Maile Minute entries.
(Click here for the video.)
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On Saturday afternoon I was missing Mommy a lot. I think Daddy noticed this and so he said to me, “Hey Maile, do you want to go on a date with Daddy tonight?”
I asked Daddy to explain to me what a “date” was – after all, I didn’t want to just go willy nilly agreeing to anything. For all I know he was asking me if I wanted to go to the doctor’s office and get a shot! It was kind of funny, when I asked Daddy what a date was, he paused for a second and said, “A date is when you get dressed up and go do something fun … with your daddy.”
Only with my daddy? Yes, he confirmed, Daddy must be prominently involved. Seemed a little fishy to me, but time to figure that out later – for now I was excited to go out with my daddy!
First, we picked out an outfit.
Don't I look pretty?
Daddy got all dressed up too – like he does when Mommy and Daddy ditch me with the babysitter for the evening. Then we headed outside. We walked right passed the car, which I thought was strange. Daddy said he had a “surprise” for me. We walked down the street and then we waited on the corner. All of a sudden, possibly the coolest thing that has every happened to me occurred. You’ll never believe it. DADDY GOT A BUS TO TAKE US TO DINNER! A BUS! I was in such shock, I couldn’t even speak for the first half of the bus ride.
Daddy and I on the bus, I'm in shock, which is why my mouth is open like that...
(Dad note: Maile absolutely loved the bus ride. You would have thought I got a limo to pick us up.)
Unfortunately, the first two restaurants we went to were full. I tried to look as cute as I could and the hostesses genuinely looked pained as they turned us away. My Daddy is a resourceful guy though and he finally found a place for us to eat, Izzy’s Steakhouse.
The food looked okay, but I still brought my own...
Daddy looked so lonely without Mommy with us, so I insisted on sitting in his lap when his food arrived. He complained that it made it a little hard for him to eat, but I thought things went fine from my perspective.
We had a wonderful meal and we toasted (my milk, Daddy’s wine). I didn’t catch everything he said, but he did ask if I was enjoying my first Valentine’s date and I definitely said “yes, yes, yes”…
(Dad note: We’ll skip the end of the meal and the ride home – Maile wasn’t a happy camper – and just choose to remember the above. Maile Girl was a great Valentine’s date!)
(Click here for the video.)
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