Calista Catherine and Cassandra Claire Brady: Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King!

About Calista and Cassandra

Calista Catherine was born at 5:32 am on February 15, 2007. She weighed 8 lb 1 oz and was 21" long. She was born with a "true" knot in her umbilical cord, which is rare (it only happens in 1 out of ~8,000 births) and is supposedly both auspicious and a sign that she will be wise. She was excited to show up for the birthday of her grandmother Eloise, so they now have that in common along with a middle name.

Cassandra Claire was born at 5:37 am on October 17, 2009. She weighed 8 lb 4 oz and was 20.5" long. She is a quintuple Libra - her sun, moon, rising, Mercury and Venus are all in Libra - so we think she will be very fair, balanced and aesthetic. Her middle name is Brisen's paternal grandmother's middle name (Evelyne Claire Vannice).

Both girls were born at the wonderful CPMC in San Francisco, in Laurel Village, in the exact same delivery room (one of only two big rooms!) which their mom thinks is a very special thing.

Calista and Cassandra both derive from Greek mythology. Calista means "most beautiful," and is part of a myth involving Zeus, Hera and the Ursa Major constellation. Cassandra was the daughter of Hecuba and Priam, the king of Troy, and endowed with the gift of prophecy but fated by Apollo never to be believed. (We've promised our Cassandra to take her predicitions seriously!)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King!

On the Friday before MLK Day, Pacific Primary had their annual parade around the block - so naturally Claire, Cassandra and I joined in! Every child at the school had made a sign (Calista wanted hers to say, "Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King!" and we sang songs like a jazzed-up version of Happy Birthday. Back in the classroom, teacher Eric told the story about Rosa Parks, demonstrating it with little people figures. He made sure it was age appropriate, interesting and captivating to Calista and her Sandpiper classmates. The week before there was lots of learning about Dr. King's peaceful approach to life. The kids themsleves expressed their dreams, like, "I have a dream about sharing my toys." Or, "I have a dream about not pushing." Really charming and lovely!