Thanksgiving with the Vannice Girls

My mom and sister came down over Thanksgiving weekend, giving Scott and I the chance to perfect our brining recipe for the turkey, and make some different dishes too! This was little missy's second Thanksgiving, and wow has she changed since the first one. Walking, talking in sentences, counting, making up games, dancing, singing...she definitely kept us entertained the whole time! Scott and I also caught up some sleep, since mom and Kirsten were angels and got up early with Calista every morning. We think it was a win-win situation! :-)

The next day we took Calista to the playground, where she loves going down slides, walking along the ledge, and hanging from everything! It's easy to see how humans are so similar to the chimpees (as Kiki would say).

On Saturday, we had more fun! My mom and sister showered love and attention on little missy, who was thrilled to pieces. She learned countless new words being around them, and started figuring out pairs of things, saying "two ice cubes" or "two socks." Plus Kiki played horsey (one of Calista's favorite games -- she goes "neigh neigh!" and made up a game with baby turtle (Calista loves this little wooden turtle of Scott's). Kiki definitely made an impression, because tonight on the phone Calista said, "love you Kiki."

On Sunday, my mom had to say goodbye (we miss you Nonni!). Fortunately Kirsten came with us to pick out a Christmas tree together. Although I had my doubts about bringing Calista to a Christmas tree lot, she turned out to be an angel! As soon as we got there, they gave her her very own tree (very small branch connected to a tree trunk base). She carried it around everywhere, and tried to sit among the trees, which tickled the back of her neck. We were laughing so hard! I'm excited to see Calista's reactions to Christmas this year, and am hoping she can learn to say Santa Claus. Watching her see the tree with lights on for the first time brought back the magic of holidays in a big way.

Typical Morning

Breakfast...

Followed by a play-date in the playground across the street! Liz and Alex (5 months) met us one sunny Saturday morning. Calista unfortunately fell down and scraped her knees and couldn't stop talking about knees, boo boos and band-aids for weeks, poor girl.

An Early Thanksgiving

Mike and Eloise had a trade show out in California, so we had an early Thanksgiving with them last weekend, and Uncle Matt came up as well. Calista can say, "Grandpa," "Weezie," and "Uncle Matt." She is still very into naming people and their things ("Weezie's soup," for instance) and looking at magazines and pointing out everything she knows --baby/parenting magazines are ideal for this, although we've been known to do this with "Daddy's book" when desperate. On Friday, Scott took his parents for a hike in Marin. It looks like a beautiful walk with waterfalls (apparently it was quite steep). On Saturday we cooked a big turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin muffins and pecan pie. Yum! Our friend Pete stopped by too, and we are hoping he will move back to the Bay Area. The next day Matt came over and took Calista to the Eureka Valley playground. She is quite the dare-devil on the slides these days, and also likes to do pull ups like her daddy (she hangs from the bars and grunts and everything!). Fortunately the holidays are around the corner so it won't be long until we see everyone again!

Morton's Salt Girl...Move Over!

We had a rainy weekend recently, so took Calista out to stomp in some puddles. She was very excited to help daddy hold the umbrella too.

Election Part Deux

Fortunately for us, little missy was right! We are so happy that Obama won the election. I feel like Calista might actually grow up in an OK world. Scott and I went to an election party at Sid's, and popped open the bubbly when we heard the results. Hurrah! The only thing that made it bittersweet was that Prop 8 passed. Nevertheless, on our way home, SF was alive with people shouting for joy on the streets and cars honking. Scott and I popped out for a minute and bumped into Matt (Eden's dad). Valencia was shut down for blocks. It was definitely a night to remember.

Calista calls the election! (We hope)

Calista, Eden and Claire were out for a walk today. They walked by a group of college-age activists with a big picture of Senator Obama on a sign. In a loud voice, Calista pointed at the picture and said "OBAMA!"

The activists went crazy. Calista was verrrrry popular.

In an amusing note, she is familiar with Obama because of the cover of the Economist (very sophisticated, our baby). She likes to run around with "Daddy's book" and they endorsed him with a great cover photo.

-Daddy (thanks to Claire for the story!)

Happy Halloween!

Calista had a very busy Halloween. She went with Daiane (her Friday babysitter) to the Eureka Vally Rec Center in the morning. Thanks to Daiane for Calista's darling hair-do, and getting her all dolled up in the cute dress (from Nonnie - also thanks for the pumpkin rubberbands) she is wearing indoors. Calista looks so happy because she is pretending to tickle herself, by the way. I came home early so the two of us could meet up with Eden, Stephanie and Matt for a little Noe Valley trick or treating and pizza dinner. (Full disclosure - we did not let Calista eat any candy. She'll get plenty of chocolate when she's older!) Claire stopped by for a moment too with bubbles. Calista was a ballerina/fairy princess this year, inspired by the beautiful skirt from Eloise and Mike. Although I don't think Calista truly understood the concept of Halloween, she did really well (a little rambunctious at dinner but that's nothing new -- but hey -- she's getting to be an expert drinking from straws now!) and actually fell alseep in the stroller on the way home. Poor thing got tuckered out. She's actually sleeping right now in her tights and leotard. And she even slept through a spontaneous dance party in the park across the street from our house! Go San Francisco.

Busy Week/Weekend with New Friends!

Last week my dad and stepmom came into town so we could see a Cecil Taylor concert in Grace Cathedral. It was an amazing performance. The acoustics were incredible too. Calista instantly recongized Michael and Mummy and kept saying, Hi Michael!" I loved getting to spend some quality time with them too.

On Sunday, Stephanie and I had a Duboce playground playdate with Theo and Calista. Theo was kind enough to share his crackers, so they were BFF once more right away. Later that day we went over to Steve and Marisa's to meet their darling twins, Peter and Adelaide. Here's Marisa with her mom. They are so sweet and little -- it's hard to imagine that once upon a time Calista was a baby like that! Calista immediately fell in love with their moses basket and pretended to sleep in it. Classic. When we got home she started jumping in her crib, which Scott and I found hysterical. Hope you do to!

Jeff and Lori's Visit

Scott's friend Jeff and his girlfriend Lori came to visit us the weekend of October 10. We did tons of stuff: had some grown-up time at Tsunami for dinner and Bourbon and Branch for a cocktail, saw the Blue Angels (at Naval's place again!), took Calista to the playground several times, and went out to brunch at Foreign Cinema (where we bumped into Kim, Steve and Cadence). Calista still adores Jeff, so hopefully they will come and visit us again soon!