Month: October 2008

I am online… not too often these days. But tomorrow I’ll have DSL

Today Leilani started the strangest role play.

L: “Here. I have an eye of Kanaloa for you. And one for your sister.”
S: “I don’t have a sister. Can I give it to Uncle Klaus?”
L: “Sure. Do you have a husband?”
S: “…?”
L: “Do you have a little girlie?”
S: “Yes, matter of fact I do. Her name is Leilani.”
L: “Oh, that’s my name too. I am Leilani too.”
S (catching on): “My Leilani had blond hair just like you.”
L: “Does she like otters?”
S: “Yes. Do you?”
… it went on for 10 minutes at the park, and then…
S: “I am going home now. Do you want to come with me and met my little girl?”
… a few people at the park looked at us strangely …
L: “Yes. Do you have a car or a truck?”
S: “That little white car over there.”
L: “Let’s go.”
…
L: “Is that your girlies car seat? Is that her sippy cup?”
S: “It is a big girl bottle but yes.”
once we were started
S: “We need to go to Target now and return these sheets”
L: “THATS MY CAR SEAT AGAIN AND MY BOTTLE. I WANT TO STAY AT THE PARK!!!!”

I did convince her to come home with me and do some gardening. The sheets are still sitting in the car…

Our friend Peter organized a hike in the Pinnacles. 9 miles, Leilani walked more than 1/2 of it (and I walked all of it :)

On the campground, on a frosty morning

We forgot to take a picture of the tent Maurice and Marianne lent us. But that was the campsite and that’s our new car. Not what most people envision when they hear Subaru, but it is big enough inside.

Above the reservoir

We had our first “real weekend” since August. Saturday we went to the Monterey Aquarium, then we drove to the Pinnacles campground where we spent the night and went camping the next day…

The Jellyfish did not impress her a bit

but the playroom did. Almost as much as the otters and penguins (who were not photogenic…)

A few small kids ran like mad in this play area. leilani found a 3 year old boy to play with and they had lots of fun.

Snakes are her new favorite…

We have been here for 10 days now. Today is Leilani’s first day in school, she is going to Glen Oaks Montessori.

The first days were very disrupted, Leilani’s behaved badly – as in the last weeks on Kauai – beyond what I want to describe on the baby blog, and I was pretty depressed, sometimes there was an intense feeling of non-belonging, although it was better for me than in the last week on Kauai.

But I did pay attention, and lots of little details gave me hope, and by the end of the week I really started feeling at home here again. Don’t get me wrong, I love Kauai, miss it, and want to return, but…

• The average car here is 3 sizes smaller than the average car on Kauai. One in 10 or so is a hybrid.
• I have not seen a pitbull so far, and not one chained dog in the neighborhood. But lots of golden retrievers and fluffy little friendly dogs.
• Obama signs outnumber McCain signs 20:1 – that includes driving through Hollister
• I mentioned Leilani’s problem with red food coloring to a kidless friend – who replied that that was a pretty common problem
• I mentioned to 3 friends and acquaintances who had kids (2 of them grown) that Leilani was in a Montessori preschool, not only did they know what it was, all 3(!!!) had had their kids in Montessori schools too.
• The weather is nice. I regret having left my shorts and slippahs.
• The parks are awesome. There are swings (bad rumor had said CA had removed all swings from playgrounds because of liability reasons) and high climbing walls
• Kids are allowed to run in many places, including indoor play areas, and especially on playgrounds (another bad rumor)
• people are active and exercise
• The closest Walmart is 45 minutes away, the closest K-Mart almost 1/2 hour. But there are more restaurants in walking distance (< 1 mile) than on the entire island of Kauai (including Saimin, Hawaiian BBQ, Fiji and plate lunch places) Good Sushi lunches for $9, and the store down the road sells Hawaiian and Fiji (strong) Kava.
• People are very friendly, neighbors, strangers, people at the park and the cityhall.
• Hiking here is awesome
• Leilani likes cold weather camping just as much!