KidOlympics

Our little flag bearer in the Opening Ceremony carrying the South Vietnamese flag

Elise's school hosted KidOlympics this weekend at Coyote Point in San Mateo. Steve volunteered to set-up and referee one of the events while I offered to make sandwiches. It was great to hangout with the other parents beyond the usual "hi's" and "bye's" and watch the kids interact with each other. Elise didn't really participate in any of the events and was freaked out by the noise and mayhem of kids running around. She did, however, join in the tug-of-war and marathon which was a verrrry long course but she ran the whole way. This is the first KidOlympics and based on the success of today, it'll probably be an annual tradition. Granted, it's a 100% parent-run activity and we were lucky to have a small group of parents take charge and run the whole thing. One of the things that we like about her school is the high level of parent involvement. Outside of teaching, everything else is run by the parents from gardening the school grounds, setting up a canopy in the play area, setting up a fish tank, to sewing curtains for the classroom. As full-time working parents, we don't help out as much as we should but we do what we can. We are very lucky to be involved with such a great group of parents.

Sean and Dad


Mom, from Elise's view


Elise and Miss Kristi, one of the Directors/Co-Founder at Centennial



Proud Elise after receiving her gold medal

Little Miss Chatterbox

Somewhere between 3 years, 3 months and 3 years, 3 months plus a day, Elise quadrupled her vocabulary. Wow. We have quite the chatty Kathy on our hands. If you were to observe us in our house, you would only hear her voice. She makes commentary about EVERYTHING that is going on and asks constant questions. Mama, what you doin'? Mama, what Sean doin'? Mama, where's daddy? Mama, what's that noise? Mama, what you doin? If we are on the phone, she wants to talk to whoever is on the other line. Doesn't matter, we could be talking to the phone company, the gardener, or complete strangers, she wants us to reserve part of our talk time for her. Last week, I was on the phone with a co-worker's wife who I just met, and she demanded a chance to talk so after we ended our conversation, I had to let Elise on the phone for a few minutes so she could share about her day, how she wants to come visit their house, and what she just ate. During dinner, Steve and I cannot get in a word edgewise. Any attempt to have an adult conversation is quickly interrupted with a "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, I just saw a kitty cat climb upstairs". It's so great to hear her thoughts and what she notices. She definitely has a quirky sense of humor and makes jokes all the time. She even does "knock-knock" jokes. Elise may be pint-size but she makes her presence loud and clear.

Sean's 1st Steps

For weeks, Sean has been cruising on furniture and using one of Elise's chairs as a "walker". Well, today, he took two tenative steps before collapsing forward, then stood up and took two more steps. He has the funniest expression when he's trying to walk and when we can capture it on camera, we'll have to repost but it looks somewhere between a silent laugh and a squint. So cute.

If he's as adventurous as he is on all fours, we're in for loads of mishief. We can barely child-proof the cabinets with him trying to open all the doors and digging in the garbage. And, he's fast. The second you put him down, he's already in another room and all you see are the bottoms of his feet chugging away.