Kokochi

Strawberry

We are going back to Strawberry. Our immediate neighbors, Anne and David, introduced us to this super kid-friendly event. Last year Michelle, Jeremy, and Fia joined us. They aren't joining this year, but we'll meet up with Anne and David, and their kids; they've been going every year pretty much since it started!

Snug on my back

Marcy caught Dav, Tesla, and I at the Bay to Breakers. Tesla looks a bit annoyed (from all the chaos around us), but I love this picture as I don't get to see her when she's on my back.

Kokochiino videos

Serious Food

Miffy

Morning Dancing

My artist

Painting

Story over on Kokochi.com. Here is my girl creating some colorful art...but she doesn't like her fingers to be colored...

Tesla likes Miffy

Loving miffy

This is from one night when I put Tesla to bed and read her a Miffy book in Japanese. She just wasn't sleepy...and I was able to capture her love for the Miffy book.

Morning dancing

Morning dance 2

Morning dance

Some mornings, when I'm getting ready and need Dav to watch Tesla, I find he actually does stuff with her vs. just watching. I love it.

Here, he got her dancing...and we had a great time.

In the 2nd video, you'll hear her "gokshi" word which means milk or cup, according to her. She found a mug I got for Dav with T's pictures on it. I thought she was looking at herself, but as you can see, she was pointing to herself holding her milk cup. So in Teslaese,  BA is pillow, and GOKSHI is milk or cup.

My artist

I finally got around to getting washable paints for Tesla. She's been doing stuff with non-washable pens, in spite my protests. Weird thing is, I've seen her totally get into the brushes, water, color, mess. But this time, she was hugely fussy over her fingers getting paint on them. See this video of her hard at work.

I like the final work a lot, and decided to hang it up. I want to give this to my parents who have abstract art around the house. This might fit nicely. I'm really looking forward to all the things Tesla is going to create!

Tesla serious about food

Eating

It can be quite amusing to watch her eat. She's quite skilled at picking out what she likes, while perfectly leaving what she dislikes. The mystery is that her likes and dislikes shift daily. I swear, yesterday, she loved peas...

Purple Dyson

After many vacuums that either broke or lost suction even though they were relatively new, we finally got a Dyson. A purple one! And yes, this machine makes me very happy.

I have to give kudos to Costco. I really dislike shopping there as it's just scary about how much stuff there is. But I always bought the vacuum cleaners from them because they have such a great return policy. This time, however, the vacuum that suddenly broke was a year old. That's too long to "return" in my mind; on the other hand, it's too early for it to break. After sheepishly calling Costco, they cheerfully said I could return it! Since I planned to dish out more $ for the Dyson from them, I took them up on the offer. I can't believe I used a vacuum for a whole year and returned it...but I am very pleased with their customer service!

breakfast by family

We have a guest staying in T's room, so last night, we moved Tesla's crib into our room which was a bit of a bumpy night when, at 4am, Tesla woke up and wanted to snuggle in our bed. Long story short, when Tesla got up this morning, Dav bounced out of bed much to my surprise. He usually deals with mornings anyway, but he did seem rather determined when he got out of bed with Tesla. I heard dishes being moved and cooking, and wondered in between my morning dreams what in the world he was feeding Tesla (she usually has a simply banana and yogurt).

Later, I hear both of them making their way towards our bedroom, Tesla pushing the laundry basket (a favorite activity recently), and when I perked up to say Good Morning, I first saw Dav holding a mimosa, then peered into the basket and saw a plate with toast, eggs, and vege sausages! Silverware, a napkin, and salt n pepper too!

Tesla eats all our food when we eat, so Dav quickly mentioned I didn't have to eat in bed, just as Tesla started grabbing for my plate. So I got up to enjoy the best Mother's Day meal ever! And the gift from Dav was the pictures he took of Tesla cooking (and eating) breakfast for me (with major help from daddy).

I have to say this year's simple but very precious gifts absolutely made my mother's day. I'm rather liking this holiday :)

p.s. my comments are broken...so if you want to comment, the pics are from Dav's flickr.