Ada and Hamid on the new wee hoo! Followed by a fun family bike ride under the BART route.
Ada’s ballet performance in Dec 2013. Her dance comes up just after minute 14:00. Our cutie!
Ada goes skiing for the first time.
It was a beautiful, sunny weekend in Lake Tahoe, the perfect weather for a daddy/daughter getaway.
Ada decided she was big enough to try skiing. On Saturday morning, she took an awesome class at the Ski school. And by Sunday, when she and Daddy practiced at the top of the Gondola ride, Ada was making beautiful turns and having lots of fun.
Ada’s name
Here’s a picture of Ada writing her name for the first time. What a glorious moment! She’s so proud. She called me in just before to say, “watch me write the D”. She also wants to share it with daddy!
Learning in action. What a gift of life.
Ada’s New Bike!
Ada has a new bike, and is learning, learning, learning around the block. Exciting stuff! This was the promised pot of gold, after finishing potty training, all day and at school. She picked pink color, flower basket, and a bell. Dad is an awesome, patient, fun, kind teacher. Going round and round in the late early summer evenings.
Dear Ama, Apa, Ama Joon, & Baba Bozorg
I'm Ada Acorn! My first day.
Dear Ama & Apa,
Hi! I am going to preschool now, and I am very excited. My teacher’s name is Gretchen, and I took a book of photos to show her all my friends and family. I really like the lizard in my classroom, and I like pushing the grocery carts in the play yard. I am learning all of my friends’ names, and the teachers already put of pictures of me playing and doing activities on colored paper in our playroom. I can even eat lunch there. Gosh! I find I am so hungry, but there is so much to look at, that I don’t eat very much, and mommy finds my lunchbox almost full. I already even have a best friend, I think. Her name is Natalie, and she likes me a lot. I think I like her too. Come visit soon — you will love my school!
xoxo,
ADA
Dear Ama Joon,
Pickle! This is me, I am going to preschool now. Call me soon to talk with me about my experiences. I like the lizard, the games, the songs, and the grocery carts I can push in the yard. Did you know I get my own hook & my preschool symbol is “Ada Acorn”?! I am getting a new lunch box, and I am excited to sit with my friends. I really like my teacher Gretchen, and she let me hold her hand after Mommy & Daddy left. I was sad at first, but they came back! And I hug them. Daddy took the day off of work to be with me the first day, and he stayed late the other two, so we did it all as a family. We ate a preschool cake. We love and miss you very much.
xoxo,
ADA
Dear Baba Bozorg,
This is my preschool picture, and I am very excited about going to school. I was nervous, but Mommy & Daddy stayed with me the first day, and on the second day Gretchen, my teacher let me hold her hand, and that made me happy. I really like the stories, the songs, the lizard, and pushing grocery carts in the yard. They have new activities every day! Daddy made me a back to school preschool and we talked all night about my new friends. We all have special symbols at preschool, because I can’t yet read – and my name is “Ada Acorn”. So whenever I see an acorn picture on anything, I know it is me! I have a hook, a new lunchbox, and a cubby for my things. I know you are a teacher, so I am vey excited to tell you about my school. I miss you.
xoxo,
ADA
Proud.
She’s Ready
I sat with Ada for 3 hours today by the potty. Reading, talking, telling jokes. She’s ready.
Ready for the next thing
Amazing how much self-identity goes along with this stuff. Not only does it happen when she gets to a level of hand dexterity (i.e. can put on and remove clothes). But it also happens when her own self-awareness has gotten to a point where she *really* (I mean really) does not want to be laid on the ground and changed by someone else. She doesn’t like the lack of control over her own body. It feels too baby-like. She wants to do everything potty/diaper related standing up (not a fun intermediate stage, for anyone helping, namely me).
She wants this so much, she’s sitting & sitting & sitting — all of those 3 hours, she wanted to do it. I see how hard she works to grow and change, so much drive, (evolving) confidence, faith, and trust.
This is Ada napping (i.e. trashing her room)
This is Ada napping. Can’t you tell? No?!, me either.
This is Ada napping (kind of)
Ada’s ‘big bed’ and dexterity have recently led to her discovering that she can, actually….aha!… ‘get up’! Our lives are forever changed. So far nights are fine. So far mornings are fine. (Actually, she calls out, “Mom-mmmmm-eeeee, mommmy, MILK! mommeee MILK!, mommee BOOK!” Starting at about 6:45am. Its quite demanding actually. There will be no late sleeping in this house!)
But, naps…another story. I can hear her trashing her room right now. Thud, thud, jostle, jostle, she tries the knob. Thwap! Thwap! Diapers strewn all over. Pajama & sock drawer: Boom! boom! Opened & slammed — contents emptied on the floor. Items attempted to be worn & quickly discarded. I may find one extra shirt on her next time I go in. Wipes dot the floor. She’s even plugged in a lamp. (Note to self: must re-childproof this weekend. Did anyone ever emphasize that childproofing is a process, not something ever acheived?).
I guess this what they call the stage of quiet self-play. (Somehow this sound more peaceful in writing!?) I think I see two cute eyes peeking out of the door at me.
Second mental note: Add childproof door knobs to that list. Appreciate her.
The question game
So Ada and I have been playing the ‘question game’ for awhile now. It started because she eats her blueberries so fast, if you don’t look quickly, you’ll miss it completely. We had this little cart in the kitchen with sliding drawers that you could push all the way through. One morning in January, eating breakfast, I took her little bowl of blueberries, put it into the sliding drawer, and pushed it out like a cash register drawer. Ching! “Take one!” She thought it was hilarious.
We added questions: “What does a cow say?”, “What is the puppy’s name?”, “What is something you eat for breakfast?”. It was our new game. We would go on and on. She loves it.
It has evolved since January. We play in the car. We play in the dining room. Mostly, it is a little white ramekin of berries with a tea saucer on top after dinner. We tap the top of the saucer, tap! tap! tap! Ask a question. It cracks open like a little mouth. ‘Take one!”. The questions now more complex. She asks, “Next question”. Sometimes we ask her to ask a question. (Her favorite is, “What do you drink in the morning?” “Coffee!” Okay, so Hamid has influenced on her on that one). We’ve covered most the topics we can think of. The challenge now is novelty: Rhymes, names, events, what color is…, who’s who, etc.
- The question game…
- …and the blueberry prizes!
Our most recent adventure was when Baba Bazorg was visiting. Baba Bazorg, Ada, and I were sitting around the dining room table after lunch. Baba Bazorg had asked a bunch of questions. I had asked a bunch of questions. We asked Ada to ask Baba Bazorg a question. She paused. Fidgeting. I asked her again, “Ada, ask Baba Bazorg a question”. She turned her head and said to us uncategorically, “I’m thinking.” We are stupefied. We raise our eye brows at each other. Baba Bazorg and I both wonder at the same time, “Did she just say, I’m thinking”? When/how did she learn to say that? We don’t say that very often (I can’t even remember an instance). It wasn’t simply parroting. Baba Bazorg works with children on language acquisition, and tells me how complex it is to learn abstract verbs. Wow. She was thinking. And she knew it.
I am really blown away, transformed in fact, by how fully formed we actually are. We have a lot to learn in this world, but we are full human beings from the beginning. We don’t simply get filled up. This is pretty cool!
American childhood begins
Well, it happened today. Ada has entered American childhood, in official terms. What? Well, she has begun eating breakfast cereal, of course. The great American tradition, cold cereal and milk. Whole wheat organic O’s, of course, but breakfast cereal, nonetheless. The French have good wine, the Germans have beer and sausage, the Argentines have grilled meat, and we have breakfast cereal.
How will life ever be the same? Next will be cartoons and cereal on Saturday mornings. (Though I guess you can watch them anytime now, right?)
Someone once told me to imagine a big warehouse filled with piles of all of the things you’ve ever eaten. All of the food you have ever eaten is sorted into piles, some big, some small, some medium. You walk through the warehouse. You can see them growing at different times in your life. Well, my breakfast cereal pile is through the moon. Welcome to America. Cheerios nation USA.
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Americana at work, Cheerios and childhood begin