Kokochi

Cousins

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We dropped by my brother's place for Halloween. Their street is crazy busy as it's a place people visit from far away. One neighbor had 1,000 candy pieces and ran out by 8pm!

Any chance to have Tesla be with her cousins is important to me. Julia gave Tesla a perfect small-size chair (middle) which she seriously loves. She'll sit alone in her chair and babble while Dav and I are in another room.

Anyway, Tesla was quite happy sitting like a big girl between her cousins.

Tesla & Julia & Tyler

Six Aparty Halloween

Scenes from 10/31 at Six Apart. It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up! Definitely Joel as an iPhone was a smash hit.

Dav and I kept it easy and went with a safari zebra scene. I had already found Tesla' zebra outfit, and had one I made myself long ago. We just got Dav a safari hat, and a photographer's vest, and our  idea was to "match" as a family.

However, I didn't have a tail. And Tesla had a nice one. Not wanting to be outdone by her, I had bought a tail on eBay, hoping it would arrive by 10/31, but it didn't. I also used to have a "safari scene" with grass and little zebras I used to put in my hair to make my zebra outfit complete. But I gave those pieces away to a friend. So I basically had just a zebra-motif top and shorts. I wasn't thrilled, but needed to wear it because of Tesla and Dav. I felt like a half-baked idea, a zebra wanna-be at best. I really felt incomplete once I got to work...and although I laughed about it, I was bummed. Either I don't wear anything special, or I get it decently right, you know?

Luckily, I have an awesome neighbor who has already showed her face-painting expertise. So I called her S.O.S., took a cab home during lunch time, and had her paint my face as a zebra. I can't explain how much better I felt!! Ah....the zebra came back to work happy!

Cute bathtime!

Tesla took a bath with her best friend Sofia. It was the cutest scene ever!

bathtime with a best friend

Bathtime

Tesla and I went to our neighbors' to carve a pumpkin, then take a bath together. Tesla and Sofia know each other well. I think in a few months they will be able to play together. For now, Tesla just watches and admires Sofia. But us parents love hanging out together, and combining bath time just made sense. It was cute to watch them...but the scene was actually us. There was a heavy-duty camera, my video/camphone, and another video  recorder. 2 girls just wanting to bathe, and us parents were like the paparazzi!!

T's 1st pumpkin

J & M & S invited Tesla and I over to carve a pumpkin. Tesla loves going over there...but she was timid about this pumpkin carving business. I don't know if it's a stage or her personality, but although quite interested, she wouldn't try and help (as in grabbing the gooey seeds out), and stood staring. Sofia loved it. Soon, Tesla and Sofia will be at a stage where Tesla can or want to interact more. Not quite there yet...A The final result, thanks to Michelle's awesome design work, was a nice jack-o-kitty!

Tesla videos

Tesla swinging in a bag

Tesla stops the TV

Dav's lunches

I was cleaning up my desktop and found a folder of pictures I took of lunches I used to make for Dav. Used to...during my maternity leave when I got to be as domestic as I wanted to. I loved it. I'm a very domestic person and loved planning, shopping for, making, and sending Dav off with yummy lunches. I took pictures because I knew I couldn't continue that when I worked, but was bashful about posting them. They represent great memories of a wonderful time when I got to fulfill my domestic urges and lovingly support daddy while he worked, and while I bonded and cared for our tiny T. Heh. I still make lunches every morning, but for Tesla. She's into basic finger-food now, but I look forward to the time when it's worth making smiley faces or cute structures out of her food to entice her. Japanese cooking for kids is very cute and fun. I plan to take advantage of that : )

best house party

Alex's Halloween house party was the best house party ever! Great music and great costumes. But what tickled me most was that a friend of a friend was there because he lives next door. Nice to meet him in a great party environment. And Alex's housemate Anita, actually was part of the group that interviewed Dav and I years ago. I walked up to her as she adjusted the music to thank her for the party as she obviously lived there. Then we discovered our other connection. I think Dav had a similar experience at another Alex party...where he kept meeting folks from entirely different social circles. Yes, Alex puts on great parties that way. I will share that this photo is my favorite. We were at J & M's waiting for our shared babysitter to arrive as our babies slept. : )

Osmosis

Waaaaay back in May, Dav gave me the most wonderful gift for Mother's Day. It was a gift certificate for the "Ultimate Experience Package at Osmosis, a spa located in Freestone in the Sonoma Wine Country. Dav took me there once before. It was heaven. The gift certificate was for two, and I chose to bring granny Marie, who also cares for Tesla. So us women caretakers of Tesla got to relax and be pampered for a full 5 hours! I appreciated it, but didn't quite understand the brilliance of giving such a gift to a mommy. I'd do whatever needed for both Tesla and Dav anyway. But I'd simply not give such a luxurious gift to myself, so having Dav provide that to me and us was simply wonderful. I almost cried when first getting snuggled into the enzyme bath, thanking Dav for this moment to completely focus on myself and my body. Ahhhhhhh. Both Marie and I really enjoyed the Japanese influence on the place, and spent some nice moments wandering in the garden they have there. Enlarge the 2nd photo by clicking on it, and you'll see a very bird just Maria and I got to see. So thank you, Dav. Really. You rock!!

First time at Chuck E Cheese

Tesla was quite intimidated when we first entered this kiddie mayhem playhouse. There was a giant furry animal concert going on which Tesla didn't quite know what to make of, but she was certainly intrigued. Once I took her inside the jungle gym thingy (with screaming kids inside who intimidated both of us), and especially once she found a cute red car with a steering wheel, she was all set and enjoyed herself. She's really into steering wheels these days... When we left, however, she was still loving her steering wheel and had a fit about leaving. I love this picture at the exit door. I say “love” because her fits don’t faze us, and I can’t help but admire and appreciate her disapproval that we cut her play time short. I would too in her shoes.