happy early birthday!

i wish we were the sort of parents who could put together a thoughtful, themed, homemade birthday party, but we're not. (when i asked amelia if she wanted me to bake her cupcakes for her birthday, she even said, "no thanks, let's just buy them." it is true, my baking skills are rather lacking.) so instead, we went with the "pump it up" option, this indoor arena of inflatable slides, jumping houses and the like, where you actually sign your child's life away through legal waivers in exchange for climbing hills like these:

and going down slides like these:

by the end of the 1 1/2 hours of play time (and before pizza and cupcakes), most kids suffer from one minor injury or other--a bruised knee here, a stomped-on-toe there, but all the kids are worn out and (more or less) happy, and all the parents were looking forward to the long nap the kids will take that afternoon.

amelia has been to a few parties at pump it up and knows the routine. she had been reminding us about the "throne" the birthday kid gets to sit on, and she was quite insistent about not sharing it with anyone:

here she is, attendants at her feet:

after the party, as we were getting ready for amelia's nap, she turned to me and said, "momma, can i have my five year old birthday party at pump it up?"

***

we got many lovely presents from our friends--lots of games, puzzles, i.e., toys that i like. we also got this lovely skirt that mimi yiyi made. amelia put it on after the party and said, "this goes well with my princess crown, right?" she's already asked if she can wear it tomorrow to school.

happy father's day!

special father's day portrait:special father's day bike ride:

milestones

recent achievements:

1. writing her name legibly and spelled correctly (note the self-corrected name writing on the middle picture);

2. drawing recognizable figures with lots of details (note ears, hair, dress) (and amelia said today, "oh, i should have drawn legs and feet too"); and

3. coloring within the lines; and

4. tying shoelaces, albeit not her own (she doesn't own any shoes with shoelaces!).

wallpaper animals redux

amelia's tiny old room in brooklyn had wallpaper animals made by this really cool dutch woman. i was pretty sad to leave them behind but we found them again at a small shop in berkeley! this time, though, amelia picked the color scheme (surprise, pink!) and we still have to put up the last animal (an elephant) (and perhaps we should tidy up her room a bit before taking photos) but i'm so excited about having the wallpaper animals again that i couldn't resist taking this pic:

new house: backyard edition

big yi-yi kindly shipped up to us alicia's old swing set, and we finally found someone to put it together. amelia couldn't be more delighted to practice her "pumping" (she can swing all by herself now!) and climb on the monkey bars. thanks big yi-yi!

mia and annie yiyi

annie yiyi lodged a formal complaint that i didn't post pics of her visit to sf, which is true. so here are two photos:

mia and annie yi-yi having a girlie morning "doing nails" with jewels: and at the zoo:

and from fair and unbiased reporting (namely from mia's nanny), mia was attached to annie yiyi the whole morning, and even insisted on holding her hand all throughout the zoo. so sweet!

overheard

mia: look momma, i drew a snail guy!

***
mia: momma, can we take baby out?

momma: why?

mia: so i can take him to school, and i'll put him right back.

momma: how are you going to take him out?

mia: let me think about it. [sits with her hands under her chin, in thinker pose.] well, we need something smooth, not sharp like a knife, to take him out.

momma: then how are you going to take him out?

mia: you know that line on your belly, momma, we should do this [gesturing pulling it apart] and pull out baby.

mommy: that sounds like it's going to hurt.

mia: no it won't, i'll be careful.

***

mia: [visiting her new school, to kids at the school] hi, my name is amelia, i'm going to be going to school here soon, what's your name?

on top of the world

between annie yi-yi, poh poh, and haemoni and harabiji, we've had nearly two weeks of house guests, a delightful change from our quiet little threesome. amelia has looooved the attention, and now that it's just us, she's taken to throwing tantrums here and there (with a particularly epic one this morning). in any event, here are amelia, haemoni and harabiji at twin peaks, checking out the spectacular views of SF on a clear day: