Empress Pavilion

Here's two pics of Zoe falling asleep despite being in the center of Chinatown's noisest Dim Sum restaurant.

Disney

Yep, we're getting our money's worth out of that annual Disney pass. We came to hit the new FINDING NEMO Submarine Voyage, which entertained Athena, and terrified Zoe.

After that, we tried Autopia, a car ride where Athena got to "drive" along a course with Daddy taking care of the gas and brakes. She got a big thrill out of being behind the wheel, and didn't quite realize there was a metal track beneath the car that kept her on course.

Then we hit some of our favorite rides, including Athena's all-time fave, the Teacup ride.




And here I try to catch Sally, Athena and Zoe riding over London in Peter Pan's sailing ship.



Still it was a long day, and we only managed to pose in the car outside Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.



Nevertheless, I'm encouraged that for all the flash of Disney, Athena's perfectly capable of having fun climbing a tree.

CostCo

And here's two pics of the girls keeping themselves amused while shopping at CostCo.

At the Beach

So, just cleaning out the old photos to post. This one's from a summer trip to the beach.

Athena's had a remarkable about face in attitude regarding the ocean. As an infant, she hated it, and would suck up her legs like a plane retracting its landing gear whenever we tried to put her on the sand or in the surf. Now, on the other hand, you have to watch her like a hawk or she run headlong into the ocean, laughing hysterically.

Here's a rare photo where she is voluntarily holding my hand.




Luckily, Zoe's content to stay on the blanket and play with her beach toys... for now.

At home

With all these pics of trips, events and outings, it's easy to forget most of the girls' day is spent lounging at home. Athena's starting to get into books a little more. Notice her serious literary demeanor as she deconstructs (not literally, for once) the childhood classic PAT THE BUNNY.




And both the girls love bathtime, even if Athena's the only one with swim goggles.






Zoe's still in exploring mode.




I know here it looks like Zoe starting to express herself artistically, but honestly, she just likes taking the caps of the magic markers so she can put the tips in her mouth.





Zoe's favorite pastime is eating. She will eat just about anything, provided it's not baby food. I swear, the kid would eat a pool filter if we let her.







Here she is using her baby wiles to get food out of Daddy.




Athena has a new interest, baseball. Here she is trying to turn an air pump into a bat and asking me to throw the ball at her. I do, and three or four seconds later, she swings. I think she'll have better luck with the T-ball set we're getting her for her birthday.

Zoo Pics

Okay, we've got a ton of photos backlogged. Here are some pics from one of our zoo trips. Athena love the zoo. She thinks Nana lives there since we got there every time Nana visits, and one of her first words was "elephant."






Another thing she loves to do at the zoo is take Daddy's ice cream and only very rarely let him have a bite.




Zoe's not that into animals yet, but she loves a day out with the occassional snack.

First Day of School

Athena's first day of pre-school was Monday. It's a strange time for a parent, exhilarating and melancholy at the same time.

First off, Athena loves pre-school. She's been there two days, and she's already talking more, has weaned herself off the bottle, and is making poopie in the potty voluntarily after months of futile cajoling and wheedling from her parents. Ah, peer pressure is such a potent force, I should enjoy that brief moment in time where it's a good thing.

I spent the morning of Athena's first day with her. She ducked into the empty classroom next door from time to time. Partially because they have better toys (like magnets!) but partly I wonder if she was acclimating to surrounding herself with a dozen or so other kids when she's used to just having one, much smaller kid to deal with (Zoe).

She only got upset two times. One, when she couldn't leave the class to look at the babies in the infant classroom (which she'd enjoying doing when we were touring the facility) she cried for Mommy. Later, when I left, she didn't cry for Daddy one bit, which is great -- really, really great.

The other time is when one of the kids brought his box of Cookie Monster Organic Shortbread Cookies and Athena wanted one. Even though she would grab me by the fingers and place my hand on the box of cookies while demanding "Hand! Hand!" (her word whenever she wants us to give her something, i.e., put it in her hand), she somehow knew better than to try to take one of this boy's cookies on her own.

Honestly, I think the transition has been harder on me than on her. I realized today that for the first time Athena has this whole life outside of me and the others her family. She's growing up, becoming the most wonderful little girl, but I'm going to miss being on of the constant fixtures of a world limited to her home and some trips in the car.

And the teachers are great, but they're great with all the kids. (One complaint, Athena seems to be in the classroom of the wet, hacking cough.) Still, I can't reasonably expect them to treat Athena as one of the most precious people in the world, even though that what she is to me. So, I have to accept that even though they treat Athena as the special person she is. To them, she's special in the same way all the other kids are special.

Anyway, here are the photos...

Sally and Athena outside of school.



Because Sally works early, we're the first to arrive. So Athena got the opportunity to get used to her new surroundings.



Athena gets assigned her very first cubby hole. We chose Hello, Kitty to honor Athena's Asian heritage.



Here Athena makes friends with Cameron, the next child to arrive.







Later, Cameron and Athena join some other kids stacking blocks. I remember one of the teachers telling the children they were stacking the blocks too high. Isn't that kind of the point?





Before I left, I was pretty amazed at how well Athena took to sitting in a group.