Christmas Morning

Deia finally found her horse under the tree. In her footie pajamas with little glittery fairy ballerinas, she cruised around the living room unaware of all the goodies wrapped up for her. Santa brought her an amazing rocking horse that neighs, wags its tail, shakes its head and goes clickety clack as it "trots." He also gave her a really fun shopping cart with tons of vegetables, new ornaments, books, clothes, a circus animal toy, some musical drum sticks and more. Though she didn't understand christmas, or hannukah for that matter, she definitely knows that it has been a warm holiday full of family and love. 

It's Coooold in Russia, I mean Kentfield!

Anne and Tony brought Deia this furry hat from Russia. Fortunately it's cold enough in Marin for Deia to get some good use out of it...for what little time she'll keep it on her head that is.

On The Road Again

It's just too fun to take Deia on her jaunt to Kings Rd Cafe in the morning. We ask her if she loves her car and her entire body waves in a "yes!" 

Kings Rd Cafe

Every morning, Deia gets in her little car in her footy pajamas and off we go to Kings Rd Cafe for my daily crack, I mean caffein. She asks me to stop when we pass a dog or a person she wants to say hi to. She bops back and forth for when she is ready for me to move again. And she sits patiently, smoothie in hand, while I wait for my drink. Then we head back home to eat breakfast, play and soon enough it's nap time again. 

Happy Hannukah

We celebrated the 1st night of Hannukah at Tuti & Tati's house. Deia played with a dreidel and ate homemade latkes. The 2nd night we had a dinner at our home and Deia opened one of her gifts...her own baby stroller for her doll, appropriately named, Baby!  

Pee-U Toes!

We smell her toes and say pee-u! This is the favorite game for now. She'll lift her foot off the ground, or above the table, or through the slats of her crib, and ask you to smell it. Once you have had your turn, she'll reposition her leg in another direction and ask another person to smell it. She'll do that for as long as you'll entertain it! 

13 Months!

Deia is older than a year. Holy moly. This goes so fast! Where to begin.... For all those times (maybe every month from birth :-) I have said she is becoming such a person, she truly has arrived now. She is trying to copy the words that come out of your mouth, getting really close to some and attempting her own iteration of others. She speaks with absolute conviction, even if it's a string of gibberish. Her words are: woof-woof, hi, bye, buh-bye, hi dad, bye dad, mama, dada, bottle, bu-bo (for bluebo), coco (for coconut), nose and nosey, no, yes, this, that, elmo and more. She has repeated the words: car, key, milk, la-la (for Laura), e-i-o (as in old mcdonald had a farm), coffee, hot, quack, tweet and more. It's so cool to see her watch your mouth and study the way your tongue and lips move. Deia can sing parts of the Banana Boat song (Dey-o) on cue and can't get enough of the ring song on my mom's cell phone. She is fearless when it comes to dogs and seems to like to share her food with them. It's a little gross. But she accepts licks and probably wouldn't even care if she was walked on by a dog much larger than her. She loves them and thinks she can speak their language :-) Deia's kisses get sweeter by the day. She gives many and juicy ones...and every once and a while she'll throw in a love bite. She literally runs into you and throws her arms over your shoulders to give great hugs and shows the same affection to her doll bluebo. Knowing that bluebo is EVERYTHING to her, we have acquired 4 more of them and intend to buy more so that she is never without it. She reaches for bluebo in her crib and cuddles him through the night. She caresses him and kisses him and hugs him tightly while swaying or rubbing his back. Usually she says, "awwww" while loving him that way. 2 naps a day, about 1.5 hr each. approximately 7:30pm-7am overnight. Corey and I are enjoying a lot more time out alone and together these days and it's wonderful to wake up to a smiling, rested little girl who wakes up with kisses to shower on us. When she is not quite ready for her naps, she'll play in her bed, happily, for up to an entire hour! We hear her singing and playing with her music projector. She practices most of her words and sounds when she is bored. Her favorite new game is having us smell her toes and say, "pee-u." That game can last for-ev-er! I have figured out a successful way of getting veggies in her, finally! She LOVES her smoothies! The usual ingredients include, spinach, green peas, corn, avocado, banana, yogurt, applesauce, carrot juice, pineapple, mango and papaya. It's sweet and filling. She still loves her meatballs and cheese and finally likes scrambled eggs! Time to get some tomatoes and broccoli in those :-) 

1st Xmas Tree

We went to Mr. Greentrees to pick out a Christmas tree. We let Deia roam around under the big tent and hoped she would pick the one that would come home with us. Instead, she spent more time on the ground, caring mostly about the bark chips beneath her feet. She did like the tall Nutcracker figures and the ornaments in the shop. 

1st Santa

This year we joined Ravi & Soren @ Club Santa @ Cinespace in Hollywood. Deia was not upset by Santa, but she was really pissed that we took her bottle away for the photo! So Santa held it for her and she pouted a little. We tried another round of Santa @ the Grove, but my mistake was forcing her into the moment well past her nap time and while she was under the weather. There is no picture of that event...she was covered in snot and screaming her head off. Not the best images of her 2nd sitting with Santa! 

Surfing In Jaco

We took Deia to Costa Rica for the 2nd time. This time we went with the whole Campodonico family for Thanksgiving week. It was much different than the first trip there....that's when I was functioning on a couple bad hours of sleep, nursing, having barely figured anything out and hotter than the hottest I can get! This time, we went there knowing a little somethin' about this parenting/kid situation and had a perfectly sleep-trained baby who eats real people food...served in particular ways of course. It was such an enjoyable, relaxing week. Deia loved the ocean and we played in the waves daily. She spent a ton of time in the pool, some time around Tuli's nephew and nieces, ate sand and tried to eat rocks, barked at all of the dogs on the beach and even muscled through a warm and long aerial tram in the mountains. Though the plane ride (going there in particular) was pretty brutal, she was a trooper the rest of the time. Being in Costa Rica with your baby and seeing her enjoy such a beautiful place truly captures Pura Vida!