Happy Mother’s Day!
May 13th, 2012 | admin
Zoe prepared an exhibit of her selected work for all mothers and grandmothers this year. Please visit her gallery here:
Young Artist's Mother's Day Exhibit 2012
The Gene Whirlpool
March 29th, 2012 | admin
I LOVE looking at old photos. When I was a kid, rummaging through our messy plastic bag of black-and-white photos was my favorite activity. I would ask my mom to tell me stories about all these 2-dimensional people in funny clothes, kids especially, and to repeat them again and again. Not sure why nobody had bothered to put the photos in an album, but it was even more fun for me this way – not knowing which photo would come up next. I have a few of them here at home , mostly kid photos of me and my brother, and they are fading fast. I should really have them scanned since there are no duplicates, no film, no way to reproduce them if they get lost.
But I digress.
People constantly tell us that Zoe looks like one of us. They tend to take a firm stance and to defend their position with vigor. They take it personally if we don’t immediately agree with them. Sometimes they have unexpected ulterior motives. For example, my mom would never in the world admit that Zoe looks anything like me, even if she was my double, because of the silly Russian superstition that girls who look like their dads are lucky in life. Strangers often come up to me on the street to compliment Z’s stunning blue eyes, then they look up into my face, evidently expecting to see the same trait and having the follow-up compliment ready, and then they pause and say:”..oh..”.
I cannot see myself in Z at all, though I see lots of David, especially when Zoe smiles or is in the process of planning a mischief (thank you, David, for contributing the mischievous gene which keeps us happily occupied these days).
Often it’s easier to see similarities when people are close in age, so here are photos of three 8-month olds. What do you think?
Zoe at 8 months... LOOOONG time ago! A bit of a ghetto look here.
David on his trike, with plump ballerina feet. Confidently biking... over there. Not sure how old he is exactly, I am guessing between 10 and 12 months?
Me at 8 months, first picture ever taken. Yes, I look like a penguin.
The Avalanche Part Deux: Rainy Days
March 21st, 2012 | admin
Ready to go out into the rain.
Almost ready...
Not as ready as mama would have hoped...
Wait, just one more thing!
Oh, and let's not forget to chew on that bulb thingy before we go. It's important.
Alright, Ms. Mischief, now it's really time to go. No, seriously. Like, now.
Umbrellas are also a lot of fun. When used upside down.
This reminds me of that illustration in the Winnie the Pooh book where Christopher Robin and Winnie are sailing in an umbrella..
...This one here. Pilot can be Pooh.
On cold rainy days, Z travels in style, under mega umbrella, wrapped in cozy sweaters.
The Infamous 2012 Baby Photos Avalanche…
March 20th, 2012 | admin
…is on its way!
Before Z’s grandparents disown us for the lack of visual documentation of Z’s progress, I am going to stop pretending that one day I will sit down and neatly write stories about each picture. It just won’t happen. And the longer I don’t do it, the higher is the probability of it never happening. So I am just going to dump them all in a flash flood-like manner, clear the backlog, and THEN start with the clean slate.. hopefully.
Ready? Here it comes!
Z's bath has become a fun routine of trying to catch her exiting the bath before she actually exits the bath.
Zoe meets a canine her size (Luna)
She quickly climbs into Luna's bed and nationalizes Luna's toys
Ready... set... ..... ......... oh, I got distracted and forgot to throw the ball.
Nyanya and Zoe
Oh hai!
Blowing a kiss
Bubble bubble bubble bubble yellow fish blue fish bubble
Duckface or skip?...
Dancing Queen
February 26th, 2012 | admin
This morning, while I was on Skype with my parents, Z walked over to her music cube, turned it on, and started dancing. WTH?! Where and when did she even learn that?! Her dance moves look a bit like the alien dance from the old Russian sci-fi movie Kindzadza, but it’s dancing nonetheless.
Ok, while I am getting over these news, she points at her hairbrush, I give it to her thinking that she’ll just swing it on the floor or something, but she proceeds to brush her hair. By now I am barely breathing. Is my child some kind of a baby genius, a salvation for the human race, our only hope, like Obi Wan??! I am seeing news headlines, breaking news TV reports disrupting regular programming, hordes of paparazzi outside of our building. Our normal life will be ruined. We’d have to move to Canada. Or something.
And then she moves in for the kill. She points at the screen and says “Baba” (grandma in Russian). Ok, I can handle that. Then as a response to my standard question ‘where is Mama?’ she gives me back a sign for Mama from ASL. What?! And then to answer a question “where is Zoe”, she taps herself on the chest.
Or dear. What’s next??!
Zoe’s First Birthday
February 18th, 2012 | admin
Zoe spent her first birthday in Kona, Hawaii. Hearing her relatives sing a song for her she decided to sing her very own version, while she iced her #1 candle. See the video below.
Walk in The Park and a Playdate with Tia Andrea
January 29th, 2012 | admin
Despite our impressive collection of respiratory ailments, Z is making great progress at becoming more mobile. She doesn’t just walk now – she runs. And I dutifully trot behind her when we are outside on a playground, hoping to prevent an inevitable face plant or avert a consumption of an old baby carrot left on the ground by an older kid. My spine is acquiring a bridge-like shape, my knees are bent and arms extended in an almost pleading manner. I probably look like Gollum if he wore jeans and had hair. Yesterday we decided to go to a ‘grown-up’ park and went to Dolores. Z had to wear her ‘grown-up’ shoes with real soles. The outing was very quick as Z decided that no one would stand between her and the cigarette butts/beer bottle caps… I mean treasures found in the grass. Not to mention that it’s a warm weekend, so hipsters make sure the park grass is sufficiently marinated in beer. Not super baby-friendly.
My Fair Lady on her first walk in Dolores Park
Then we got hit by a tennis ball from the nearby court (the ball got my leg inches away from Z’s head), so we retreated to our backyard to continue our good weather outing:
Backyard explorer
Here’s Z exploring the grounds. The exploration is halted by backwards, science-averse people (ahem) preventing brave explorers from tasting the new plant species. Progress is never easy! Here is a video of the brave explorer.
Today one of Z’s favorite people came to visit – Tia Andrea! Happy Z lured Andrea to a playground and enlisted her to assist on swings and slides:
Higher, higher!! Weeeeeeeee!....
Some more of the swinging fun here.
The Andromeda Strain
January 27th, 2012 | admin
Lest the photos of Zoe running around give an unbalanced view, we must disclose that Zoe has been fighting off a huge number of minor illnesses this winter. Things started in November, just after we started to get smug about sticking with breastfeeding (isn’t it wonderful she hasn’t had many colds!).
Then this happened:
- Cold/Flu (sore throat + snot)
- Cold (snot + cough)
- Norovirus! (not fun!)
- Cold (“normal cold”)
- Cold / Bronchitis thing
- Cold / Sinus / Throat thing
- Double Ear Infection
The irony is that we took poor Zoe to the doctor several times because we thought she had an ear infection, but each time learned that her ears were fine. Then this week, we go in for an appointment we had made when she was visibly quite sick. On the day of the visit, she suddenly seems to be fine: happy, eating, and sleeping better too. I was worried that we were wasting our Dr’s time by going, but since we have some travel planned next week we thought we should get her checked out.
Surprise! Massive ear infection. So she’s on antibiotics and thankfully seems to be improving.
UPS!
January 26th, 2012 | admin
You might think that the busy times for UPS workers have gone away with the winter holidays… and you’d be wrong! UPS is busier than ever – take a look:
Delivery worker's day begins early in the morning.
She moves expertly through tight spaces and many obstacles on her way to deliver packages...
Dealing with cat and dog traffic is always a challenge
Here is a rare photo of a delivery person taking a short break...
Ok, maybe not so rare (photo) of a not so short (break)
And then, just like that, she is up and buzzing around the apartment with the her UPS packages
To see the flurry of package delivery activity live, check out this video
Credits: starring Z Marks as the “UPS Gal”.