Month: March 2009

Saturday we attempted to get to Castle peak again. Or at least to the pass… but we had a late start, and hit he slopes – or better the uphill part – after an early lunch. Leilani walked the first 2 miles or so, we were impressed. I told her a lot of fairy tales, and we shared ski poles.

The sky was actually bluer without the polarizer. It was unbelievably clear and crisp.

This is Castle Peak. We hiked to the top (without snow) 5 and 6 years ago, but never since.

If you look closely, you can see the sparkling snow flakes falling off the trees.

It was Christmas-postcard-pretty.

Leilani’s endurance surprised us. She wants to be an astronaut when she grow up, and she knows she needs to be very fit (and good in science.). She also told us we could ride in her spaceship with her (yes I did watch a lot of Startreck, Babylon5, Voyager… while I was pregnant…)

Andy picked her icicles off the trees, they had the slightest hint of pine flavor…

Eventually she gave up and wanted to be carried, shortly before we had to turn around. She stayed in the pack during the entire downhill (which makes it hard to ski, Andy says).

Sunday we (actually only Leilani) went skiing at Donner again. We had slept through the breakfast at our hotel, because we forgot about daylight saving time, and arrived there around 11:00 or so. She had lots of fun, and I didn’t manage a single video… but Andy got a few photos.

Nice turn, but I think she was falling off-balance here. Still, notice her cool new helmet and goggles. We got those after someone almost ran into her last time.

She took a break and Andy built this snowman with her while I let of some steam on the phone with a non-paying client (and did some Dynamind and meditations afterwards to calm myself down again)

The lift closed early (at least relative to our schedule), but we stayed a little longer and went sledding on the empty slopes). After a near crash, we found it was best (and a lot less tiring) to ride down with her.

Andy got his workout (at 7000 feet, 2100 m elevation) pulling her back up the slopes. She liked that part too.

The mountains across the valley were so pretty (yes I know, there are 3 photos of that mountain in this post…). Andy thinks that is Mt. Judah on the left.

On our way home from skiing we stopped in Auburn, Andy saw the beautiful sunset colors on this house

Leilani loves to take flower pictures. While watching her with the camera, the photographing seems very random, but some of the photos turned out great.

We’re actually not sure what kind of flower this is:

I took this one of a camelia:

We drove on to Folsom and stopped at Sutter Street and checked out the – closed – antique stores.

Has nothing to do with the rest of this post… Leilani is very intrigued with dinosaurs. She can even draw them now. This one is a Triceratops:

they are pink daffodils!

Leilani, about the roses on her new socks

She recanted since then though…

A post by Daddy for a change, which means no photos and lots of text.

We’ve been trying to give Leilani a better nighttime routine so that it is easier and more predictable putting her to bed. So about a month ago, we decided to start much earlier than 9pm! Now, the iPhone has 2 alarms. One at 7:30 with crickets chirping to remind Leilani (and the parents) that it’s time to get ready for bed, the other at 8:30 with bells when she should be going to bed.

The crickets and the bells are great reminders, but we’ve been slipping lately. Normally, we shouldn’t let her start anything after the bells, but since we’re sometimes late making dinner, sometimes she gets a short DVD after brushing her teeth and getting her pyjamas on. Then of course we have to read her a book (only a short one if it’s already late). But we keep trying for earlier.

More importantly, we’re training her to be put to bed, not to need to fall asleep with us. For a long time, even after we moved her out of our bed, she needed to fall asleep with one of us in her bed. This usually meant one of us fell asleep with her, and the other had to go pull the other out of her bed.

So we started a bedtime song routine that only takes one parent: after putting down the book (ein aller aller letztes) and turning off the light, we lay down with her and sing her three bedtime songs that she chooses. Fortunately, she’s still a 3-year old and likes to cuddle. After those three, we get up and sit on the end of the bed and sing three more that we choose. Sonja came up with this and it has worked very well. She usually fall asleep during the first 3 songs, and almost always by the last 3 songs. The few times she’s still awake, except for a few nights, she has accepted that it’s time to sleep by herself.

What surprised me has been her choice of songs. She always asks for Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, followed by Puff the Magic Dragon, and finally Mary Had a Little Lamb. And she really likes that last one, that’s what puts her to sleep. I know all the words to Puff, but not the others, so I’ll put them here to remind me. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star actually has some very nice lyrics, and the more Mary I can sing, the better.

The Star, poem by Jane Taylor in 1806, sung to the French tune Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman of 1761 (with variations by but not composed by Mozart, according to Wikipedia)

The song Puff the Magic Dragon was written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow in 1959 (Wikipedia again), except we always sing Hanalei instead of Honah Lee.

And if you can stay awake, here is the poem Mary Had a Little Lamb, by Sarah Josepha Hale from 1830, based on true story (I love Wikipedia). It was set to music by Lowell Mason in teh 1830’s, to a melody by Mozart.

Good night.