Tis the season to make merry!

It's the middle of December and a rainy Friday afternoon on top of it... nope, I am not in the mood for anything creative / productive... hence it's the perfect time to catch up on my blogging I'd say.

A earned a 'ribbon of excellence' yesterday at her swimming class, yay for my baby!! She has grown to love every bit of being in the water. We are gonna enroll her in the Winter sessions soon. As for the progress in her 1st set of classes, well.. she is no longer afraid of going 'ready..... down!!!" just like 'nemo fishie'. That's where they dunk the kids under water and A actually holds her breath quite well for a couple of seconds. My heart always misses a beat when she is under water and every single time I am as proud a mom as cud be when she emerges out of the water..with a triumphant smile.. brushing her hair off of her face.. eager to see what she missed while under water! Her swim vocab includes 'kick kick kick' which goes in an infinite loop for when she is to kick her feet under water in efforts to stay afloat / swim forward... then there's 'monkey jump' and ... I forget what they say when she goes under on her belly and is to come up on her back... must consult her coach S :)

Well, among the recent memories that I'd like to remember in the days to come.. we pulled off a week long last minute trip to the Big Island , Hawaii during Thanksgiving! Been the most relaxing week ever since A was born. Big Island is beautiful and immensely diverse... there was a rainforest in Waipi'o and Hilo was gorgeous... the volcano calderon was immensely humbling and oddly energizing at the same time! I kept thinking about what they said about the earth there being possibly younger than me! (c'mon... only A is younger than I am AFAIK ;)) Came down a waterslide for the first time in my life at the resort pool.. followed by many many more repeats ... hehe, yeah finally; did I tell you guys I am kinda scared of water? Best part of the trip was the feeling S and I both shared that we got to experience A "grow". Can't believe this was the 1st time we were together at this length, just the three of us.. no office, no cooking, no TV .. ahh blissful week!
A is almost 3 feet tall now, though we had to miss the submarine ride 'coz she was about an inch shorter than minimum requirements :( I can't forget the morning when she woke up... made me change her into a swim diaper and dragged her inflatable dolphin to the hotel door and waited for us to head to the pool! S wasn't even up from his sleep yet!!! And this other time, we were watching sunset at the Hapuna beach (amazing!!!!) when she went "the sun is going 'wready down'!!" Amazing how her little brain interpreted the sunset.

Oh I was in the city for a bit this past week, training to be a better manager :) Worst possible timing to visit SF I tell you! This has been the coldest spell I have experienced in the bay area.. and walking to the seminar from the BART station ain't fun :( And yet, I longed to work in the city. There's a different vibe to the whole experience.. and SF has such awesome lunch spots! I now have new insights into my job and it's responsibilities and powers; and better tools to navigate this role (yeah right! ;))

One more thing I don't wanna forget over the days... A's new "oh nooooooo" phase :) She adds an 'oh noooooooo' to every sentence she makes while communicating with her toys now a days. It goes soemthing like.. 'oh noooooooo, where did Simba go!!!!' or else, this is a conversation she had with Elmo just this morning "oh nooooo!! why are you sho shad Elmo?? Just be happy" and then she pretended to be Elmo and went around laughing like a crazy fellow who was "happy". Mumma pretty much has no choice but to be a part of all her pretend play if she is in sight. If I make her really happy by doing something funny.. she gives me a big hug and goes..."I love you mumma... you are my sissster" ;)yes, being her 'sissster' is a proud moment for anyone in our household... daddy hasn't been successful at it yet... nor have the other toys. Pretty much Nemo fishie and mumma are the permanent sissters she has so far :)

I dread the days S isn't around to put her to sleep... she takes me for a royal ride during her sleepy time... almost always ends up putting me to sleep before sleeeping herself. As for when S is around, I have a nice time listening to their bedtime conversation over the baby monitor... they have a lovely story involving Simba and Dumbo and nemo fishie all playing football and swimming and all... then there's the 'gaagaa maaDati' routine that must be performed before her highness finally calls it a night!

You shud hear her sing... she can make up words for almost any tune.. 'lady toto' in the making per S. Me, I just prefer to call her Crime Master Gogo