Norooz Pirouz - 1390

Today is Persian New Year. Sal Tahvil (the stroke of new year, which is not midnight by default) is at 4:21 PM, PST. Layla, Cary and I will go to Mom and Dad's with Sheila, Shahrzad, Annahita, Azita, and Farzad to ring in the new year. I had planned to make a Haft Seen and I didn't. But mom  made me a sabzeh for our home. So at least that's something.

Today Layla is 19 months old. Perfect time to list some milestones:

She can count to 10, and kind of count to  whe- teen, ho-teen, so-teen, whatever those are. She's been doing that for a few weeks now. Last weekend was Sheila's birthday and she demonstrated her counting skills on Meow Meow, pointing to different parts of the cat with each number. When she got to 9, she stuck her finger in his butt  and he took off. We were laughing so hard.

She mostly sleeps in her crib, and (almost) half the time she sleeps through the night. This morning she slept in till 8! That's a record.  But she requires snuggling with us in our bed to fall asleep still. Then we transfer her to her crib. Still working on that part.

She's in a new class at school, and her teacher left for grad school and she now has a new teacher again, so she's had a lot of adjusting to do with those changes. She has a lot of separation anxiety issues when I drop her off. Even at home if I want to leave the apartment, she'll cry and Cary has to distract her so I can leave without her crying.

She lets us know she has peepeed or pooped, she's been doing that for a couple months. It is not consistent, but it means she's slowly on her way to being potty trainable.  I tell her to sit on her potty when I'm sitting on my potty. This is long term work in progress, but I'm pretty sure she'll figure it out soon enough.

She's very talkative. She even talks in her sleep. Most of the time no one can tell what she's saying. But if I video record her talking, then watch it couple of times, I can tell she's actually saying real words that are relevant to what's going on. She lets me know when she's hungry (hunny), sleepy, if she wants milk (nok), her pacifier (she calls it her "Mi" which no one has figured out why), if she wants to watch Sesame Street (Elmo), if she wants to read a book, if she wants more of something (she signs that), if she's done (all gone).

She still says "Oh nyooo!" and smacks her hands on her cheeks. Now she follows it up with a "H-happen?" which is her version "what happened?", her hands extended in an "I don't know" kind of way. There are hand gesture's involved with most things.

There's also  "oh nyoo, where go".

She smushed her finger in the front door and ripped off skin and bruised her finger. It was bloody and traumatic. I don't know if I closed it on her finger or she did. She likes to "open close, open close" and I let her close it, but I may have helped her shut it on her finger. I wasn't paying attention, and was carrying lots of bags. I wanted to kill myself.

She loves her cousin Sheila and her cousin Annahita. Sheila speaks English, Anna speaks Persian, and Layla speaks her own language. But these three girls are crazy about each other. When they get together, they squeal, run, hug, and jump up and down with excitement. Then they're quiet because neither speaks the other's language.  It's funny, strange, and kind of hopeful that they will each teach the other their own language, and Layla will benefit from both of them.

She watches a loooot of Sesame Street. Since we go to Pasadena 5 days a week, I put my iPad in the car holder and let her watch episodes of Sesame Street that I've downloaded.  She watches SS maybe 4 out 5 car rides. Sometimes when I think she's sleepy I won't play it, but if she might get restless or start crying on the road, and the commute is ~40 minutes, I don't risk it. So that's1 1/2 hours of SS. Not the kind of parenting I thought I would subscribe to. I do appreciate that she interacts with what she's watching and anticipates things and will call out answers. Sometimes I'll not play SS and sing to her and talk to her, but it's not easy to entertain a kid for 40 minutes, while driving, and not turn around and talk to or touch her.  It is what it is and we make the best of it.

Layla with her Mi

Layla without her Mi

 Oh yeah, she knows all of her colors (few months now), tons of animals by name and sound, she loves to draw and color (including on our walls), she loves to climb, and she loves to read and be read to.

It's an hour after I started writing this. Layla and I took a shower together. One of my favorite things to do with her.

I just want to add that I am grateful for my parents.  I'm not surprised by the good things they have done and continue to do, because it is very typical of them. But I am surprised by the number of times that their goodness needs to be tested and exercised by people that don't deserve their goodness. Maybe the people that deserve their goodness the least, need it the most to guide them from the selfish, hurtful lives they lead and teach them how to be better people. I am so proud of them and hope that they get to be together in the years that Layla, Sheila, and hopefully one more baby, grow to be adults so that they can be examples for them for many many years to come. Amen.

Figured it out!

I have to add a pound sign followed by the word "end", at the end of
my post before emailing it. Also, the text has to be written before the picture. Any text after the picture is not included. The text above was written before the picture, but is posted after the picture which I don't get. The text below did not get posted, so I went in and added it.

This was taken on Sunday at Hannah's second birthday.

Happy 39th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Mom and Dad have been married for 39 years today. They have been through so much over the years, and I am so grateful for the example they have set for me. They have been together in 3 different countries, half a dozen cities at least, a war, and two teenagers. That's some serious business. This year especially I appreciate even more the challenges of life that have to be met in order to get to this point. I hope I am lucky enough to see my 39th anniversary (and more) with Cary. In celebration of their anniversary, guess where we went.....yup, the Grove.
I strapped on my Layla love and walked over to Monsieur Marcel for some lunch on this lovely Saturday.

Shashar and Sheila were there. Ms. Sheila was on the top level of the trolley with Dad when I got there. She was getting over a fever and wasn't her usual energetic self.
Layla was in a good mood for Grandma and Baba. She is so sweet and giggly these days.
Layla was dressed in her Bruin blue for the big USC vs UCLA game that day. Daddy dressed her, of course. A couple people said what a cute boy she was. You can't blame them. I put her blue ballet shoe socks on to give her outfit a feminine touch.

Happy Birthday to me

My first birthday as a mommy. I got the closest thing to a full nights sleep for the first time in 3+ months. I slept about 6 hours, till 4am when Layla woke up. Then I slept some more. Then I took a nap. Then I met Megan and Jenny and the girls at the Grove for lunch (see previous post), then I took another nap. Then Shashar, Jack and Sheila came over with some cake and champagne. By this time, Layla was in full meltdown mode because we spent too much time at the Grove and she didn't get enough beauty sleep. It really zapped me. Any energy I gained from my semi-full night of sleep and two naps was almost completely used up. I almost canceled our plans to go out to dinner, but then mom and dad convinced us to go. So Cary and I went up the street to Terroni. It was our go-to place before the baby. We hadn't been out to dinner one single time since the baby got here.

Grilled artichoke inside of prosciutto. Holy crap that was good.

Pulpo (octopus) with fire roasted tomatoes. Both the octopus and the tomatoes could not have been cooked more perfectly. Tender octopus, great flavor. Tomatoes were juicy, with a hint of smokiness from being roasted for just the right amount of time.

I was enjoying myself so much, I forgot to take pictures of my main course, the tagliatelle with ragu. It's always a winner.

For dessert, scoop of chocolate and a scoop of hazelnut gelato with a nutella biscotti. This was by far the best gelato I've had outside of Italy. The waitress said this guy in the valley makes gelato in his home and only sells it to certain restaurants. It was soooo goooood.

Then we went home, mom and dad were babysitting and Layla had slept the whole time. I only checked in on her once through the whole dinner. Today was a good day.

Happy Birthday, Pappy.

Layla and I met Mom, Dad, and Sheila at the Grove for lunch to celebrate Dad's birthday.
Layla doing a big stretch in her stroller.


Dad's birthday cupcake. Sheila tasted both to make sure it was good enough to for Dad.

Mom and Dad and their two grand daughters.

Layla started getting upset, so it was cousin Sheila to the rescue!

Sheila knows how to keep Layla happy - so cute!

Cute Sheila-isms, and a crib for Just Baby.

Shashar, Jack and Sheila came over today with Sheila's crib for Just Baby. We spent last weekend and this weekend clearing out our second bedroom so we can make room for Just Baby when she gets here. Needless to say, with Sheila in attendance, there were stories to tell. She is the most entertaining human being I've ever known. She kept all 4 of us cracking up the whole time. I wrote down a few cute Sheila-isms to remember.

"Whatever Aunty Katy eats, the baby eats too."

"What color is YOUR peepee, Aunty Katy?"

"I poopoo-ed AND peepee-ed in your house, Aunty Katy!"

"Why do some of your shoes have shoe laces and some of them not have shoe laces?" Sheila asked Cary this while the two of them hid in our closet from the "bad tiger" (which was Jack at the time). Cary's shoe section was a mess when she was done with it.

"Don't worry baby, I'll protect you." This was said as Shashar, Sheila and I hid in the closet from the "bad tigers" (Jack and Cary this time). She would then pat my tummy to make sure the baby new she was protecting her.

Shashar emailed me this additional story:
As we were leaving your house Sheils stopped walking and stared at four young boys walking by with a basketball. She's staring, staring, staring and they just walk by and continue to do their thing. Then Sheila says to me and Jack, "Why they didn't say hi to me? I want to play with the basketball." I explained to her that if she wanted someone to say hi to her she should say hi first. So as two people were walking down the sidewalk Sheila floated over to them and said, "Hi." And the lady said, "Hey there, you're so cute, etc, etc" And Sheila just kept floating around them with a big smile on her face until it was time to go to our car.

Coolest Grandma Ever!!

Mom and Sheila came over today and we walked to the little playground area in Park La Brea. She looked so cute in her little flower hat, I had to get a good picture. I told her to "say cheese" so many times, that I finally got this really exaggerated pose:She cracks me up! I think she was trying to communicate "All right, already. You've taken 20 pictures are we done or what?".

Here's my Mommy, climbing the dinosaur bones with Sheila. How many grannies hang out with 3 year olds like this? I hope I get to enjoy a grandchild of my own someday the way my mom enjoys Sheila. Love you, mom.

Peek-a-boo, Sheila!

Whenever Sheila comes to work, its a better day. She has a way of being totally distracting and disruptive and if I could have her at work every single day, I would be a happier person (and unemployed).

Tarde de Nenas, #5..maybe?

I've lost count of the Nena get togethers. This one was a Nenas get together, a reunion with an old high school friend, and a good bye to Sheila who is moving back to New York in a month :-(. I made this pistachio crusted cheese log above and these blue cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon below.

These amazing baby cankles belong to Brody, seen below with mommy Kelly.

I miss you already, Sheila!!

I hope you guys like this picture, you made me take it over and over again.

Here is Kimmie Bobo with Malia the Ballerina.

The Lane girls.

This is only at 4 1/2 months. Sheesh!

Sheila's Third Birthday!!

After much anticipation, here are picture from Sheila's third birthday!!

Grateful

Monday was one of those days that we'll talk about for many years to come. The day started out miraculously. That's the only way I can describe it. We got to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time and got a video of the ultrasound. I didn't go to work today and was basking in the the glow of excitement, hope, and happiness. My baby was safe and snug in my belly, jumping around and moving. I've watched the DVD of the ultrasound 11 times already.Mom, Dad, Sher, Jack, and Sheila came over for dinner to watch the video of the little jumping bean. Cary had to work late. He called that he was on his way home, around 10. Then two minutes later he calls to say he just got jumped by 4 guys in a minivan and they took everything he had: his wallet, laptop, checkbook, iPhone, iPod, Bose headset, laptop bag, keys. One of the neighbors near by hear Cary yelling and let Cary use his phone to call me. Cary is fine, we're all very grateful he is OK. I went and picked Cary up after he gave the police a report, and then had the apartment security search our apartment because they had our keys and address. We had our locks changed that night. We slept with the lock, deadbolt, and chain on. I added the chair for good measure. Today was a great day, possible the best day, and I really mean that in every possible sense of the word.