Train station, headed to Fairyland

Before leaving San Francisco, Marion, Noëma, Preston, Olivia and I headed over to Fairyland. (Preston had sold the car, so we took BART.)

Not the MOST riveting, but a cute interaction between Olivia and the girl she calls Sister. (Vous nous manquez, Noëma et Marion!)

Varsity Muddling

If you haven't heard about the sport known as "muddling," you soon will. (Post-game videos below.)

Olivia is a varsity muddler. What I appreciate most about her particular skill set, however, is that she is not one of those one-track-mind superathletes, but instead a kind of "scholar-athlete," or "renaissance player." What I mean by this is that she is able to simultaneously pursue her sport while also recognizing the art and opportunity all around her. And that's no JV skill, my friends. That's varsity.

So when first a dog, and then a a vagabond imp-man made their way onto Olivia's muddling terrains the other day, she was 100% non-plussed. Observe the skill, alongside the delight. I, for one, think it's really amazing to see this level of play at so young an age.

Shells

Nanny and Grampy have, according to Preston, surged ahead in the grandparent popularity race. (I'm not touching that one.) They sent a box of shells they had collected at the beach in Florida, complete with postcards showing those beaches and a little bunny purse in which O could put her favorite shells. Pretty spectacular.

One of the best parts of the first video is that Grampy's perennial joke for present opening is that he exclaims, "IT'S A BOOOX!" as if that's what he was hoping for. I swear I didn't put Olivia up to it here.

Day 2: the fun rages on. Olivia loves sorting the shells and finding the one that looks like a unicorn horn. She says things like, "Let's count the shells in Spanish!" which makes Mommy love the gift even more.

Harmonica

Olivia enjoyed playing Noema's harmonica, so Mommy decided to surprise her with one of her own. She loved it.

(One of my favorite parts of Olivia opening gifts is that she says, "I LOVE IT!!" right away, even if she doesn't know what it is.)

Unfortunate timing though: Nanny & Grampy's present arrived on the same afternoon, and after enjoying the harmonica she immediately shifted into "I have ANOTHER present!!" Oh well. Her tiny jams are worth the momentary upstage of the AWESOME grandparent gift.

Attack of the Nakey

Two things Olivia loves: scaring people, and being naked. (Luckily those two things are not synonomous.) Behold, the monster in undies.

Bath + bubbles = CREATIVITY

This bathtime video really drives home that when God was making Mama and Olivia milkshakes, he poured chocolate sauce into Mama's, and named Olivia's"vanilla."

I am proud to say, however, that Olivia and I are alike in one very important way: we both feel super creative in the bath tub. Maybe that's why she invited my feet in to join her. Witness Olivia's spontaneous counting of "foots" (aka toes), pretending they're her "BABEEEES!" and unexpected use of Spanish term "el mascote" (pet).

"Shake Your Heiny"/"Paparazzi"

The following intros are designed to help you derive the maximum humor from this series of videos taken by Mama (1) and Oliva (2).

1. Mama introduces the "Shake Your Heiny" to the "Paparazzi" tune. Olivia bites, and performs briefly, but ultimately decides that she would prefer to conduct the videography herself. That's OK with Mama, because she likes performing.


2. NO, THAT IS NOT MY BUTT CRACK. OK, now that that's established, enjoy Mama prompting Olivia about how to capture the best video. Olivia remains concerned that her fingers are in the way, but the resulting video proves that she has overcome that hurdle.


3. La pièce de résistance: final video, complete with O's feedback to performer: "That's NICE." Note that she opts for a location change yet remains concerned about her finger still being in the way. (We place a big emphasis on quality in the Turner-Thomas household.) Also, in response to dAVE portraits -- "Dats my famiyee!"