A Meet First

Cup O Noodles to warm up after the first race.

It’s cold!

Getting snuggles and warmth from Baba. Yes, SS still calls him Baba. P feared once she started school it would change to dad or daddy. Turns out that is too pedestrian for SS. It comes in handy when there are a gazillion kids yelling dad or daddy( like today). We can always tell when SS is calling out for P.

SS has a parka she could wear, so she's obviously milking the cold situation. 😂

Good news

SS on her way to warm up and still not happy. However she got an awesome surprise. We had been at the warm up lane for ten minutes unsuccessfully trying to talk SS into getting in the water. Then her first and favorite coach came to talk to her. We like Coach A and SS simply adores him. He does not have a problem calling out SS when she is not performing to her abilities. As a matter of fact we were kind of hurt when he kicked her out of the guppy group (beginners). He explained that SS had the best technique in that group and it was time to advance.

Coach A is also very good about letting the kids know when they have done well. Well, Coach A is taking over SS's group. All of a sudden our girl is in the water and giving it her all. This is going to give SS the incentive to swim during the winter.

Swim Meet Weekend

This is SS's first weekend swim meet participation. She usually swims on Saturdays only. We were here yesterday for compulsory volunteering (not kidding). We are required to volunteer ten hours or pay $500. Ah, the joys of swimming.

SS does not look happy because she signed up for two events today and two tomorrow. She has been sick since we returned home from Maui on October 9. Girl just can't shake an upper respiratory infection. When we checked her schedule last night, we noticed the head coach added two events each day, P already emailed the HC and will be talking to him later. It's up to SS whether or not to swim. Even though we didn't choose the extra events, we still have to pay the event fees. Isn't this entirely fair and fun? SS loves to swim, and happens to be good. Otherwise we would peace out. This is the first meet with rain. It beats 100+ degrees of misery.

Happy Halloween

Hurry up and wait.

Phelps Face

Swim Meet Life

May the 4th be with you!

SS always dances to the beat of her own drum, and prefers "May the Porg be with you." No matter how you say it, Happy Star Wars Day!

Happy St. Baba’s Day

Birthday Girl

Our baby is 11 years old!

Also, as of a few weeks ago SS has been out of her booster seat.

Our beautiful, budding artist.

SS is always drawing and really enjoyed her art classes. We were very disappointed when the classes in our city were canceled. SS is talented but not scholarship talented. What matters is that she really enjoyed the class and no longer had that guidance. Surprisingly it did not stop SS's zeal for drawing. 

 She would look at tutorials on the Internet and follow instructions on how to draw whatever interested her that day.

We admired her resilience and her determination to look for another way to learn to draw.

 

A few months ago SS requested we buy her the above Pokemon book. SS has SO many books, and it seemed overkill to get a book about Pokemons.  It was not expensive and SS is well behaved, gets good grades, and is an all around good kid. That is SS's ace, she is a good kid, so we bought her the book.

 SS has a full size sketch book, then we bought a smaller one to take along on the van, and when are away from home. I do not know when she used her full size sketch book last. She seems to prefer the compact one. SS has made dozens of drawings on  lose pages and they are all over the house.

Now she is on a Pokemon kick and uses the book as a guide. The book contains about 80  different Pokemons, and their biographies. There are no instructions on how to draw, so SS is on her own.

 I really like this one, it's just over the top weird. SS needs to use the special eraser we bought for her to prevent smudges. She likes regular erasers, old school girl.

 She started this one at the hotel Wednesday evening. SS puts on her headphones, listens to music, and indulges on her bliss.

She added two more and told us there will be a total of six. We have no idea why they must be on the same page. 

 This is one of my favorites, because for a girl who is afraid of everything she sure likes skulls.

P loves the movie Nightmare Before Christmas, and it is now one of SS's favorites. P's favorite character is Jack Skellington. SS drew this on November 15, 2016. I am such a bad mother and wife, I have yet to get it printed on canvas for P's office. I will also give him the skull one SS made for me to atone for my laziness.

It’s Mickey!

 We have had Disneyland passes for three years and this is SS's first Mickey picture. The lines are too darn long, and she has never asked. As you see on the video today was her lucky day. We were leaving the park and heard excited voices,  and Mickey walked right in front of us! Now that is a short line we all agreed was worth  the wait.  There was a father behind us pissed at his daughter. He said "YOU could have been the one holding his hand." His daughter started following Mickey before we noticed him. However, Mickey held his hand to SS, it wasn't the poor girl's fault.

 This lucky break should help ease our pain from losing our camera at the park. The camera itself is no big deal. But we had all the pictures from a once a year and first trip to a special place. I'm anal about downloading pictures at night. we were so beat yesterday that I forgot to download the pictures AND awesome videos. We still have great memories from such a special day.

Mama, I’m don’t want to have allergies anymore!

SS broke into a rash for the first time back in June, and ended up in urgent care at 2:00 a.m.  It's been a freaking nightmare because as the rashes worsen, we have NO idea about the cause.  Today I was making dinner (chicken parm which P and SS love) when SS wailed,  "Mama, I’m don’t want to have allergies anymore!" She was minding her own business, reading for her AR requirement, and this just happened.

I only mentioned what I was cooking, because I was in the middle of cooking dinner, and making two different pastas, where timing is of the essence when SS broke out. SS had a blood test that did not reveal jack, because her pediatrician is a hippy dippy guy who thinks everything is cured by fresh air and his herbs. No, we did not know this when we chose him as her pediatrician. He was highly recommended.  SS has been relatively healthy, so we had no idea he is anti ANY medication. As of January 1st SS will be with a different pediatrician.

The problem is that SS cannot have allergy medication 3-4 days before allergy testing. Our girl has not made it yet, and today was the breaking point. Abuela was wonderful remembering Caladryl,  a lotion I remember Papi using. But it only relieves itching, SS needs allergy med to stop the  rash/welts. We both would rather take it for SS but that is not how life works. She has been such a trooper and it really hurts to see in in sheer agony.

This is new it's never appeared on her ears. SS was rightfully scared, but my job is to be calm, give medicine, and make SS think it's not really that bad. IT IS!

This stuff was all over her body, but I will only show the G rated parts.

Disclaimer: The protrusions are her clavicles, so just move on sick puppies. 

Her beautiful little face.

Neck

After her allergy med, copious Caladryl, and a hearty serving of chicken Parmesan and angel hair pasta, SS was out before 6:00 p.m.  P had to carry her upstairs and although she is only 60 pounds,
51 " long, it's more difficult to haul her upstairs. As usual, SS fell asleep with DOG. She is sleeping on what used to be Mama's side of the couch, SS had built a fort on HER spot. She decided to colonize, pilfer my ottoman. P joked I could fight her and win. Nah, this is why we had her, because she was miserable but taking Mama's side of the sofa gave her comfort. It could have been Baba's side , but what matters is that it brings SS comfort. And she has colonized Baba's side many times, and will eventually own it.

We don't think anyone follows this blog anymore. The Abus were our sure thing but Maria really destroyed Puerto Rico. They have water and electricity, but cell and cable service are non existent at their home. They can get text messages but no pics. We are thankful they are alive and still have their home.   If you happen to drop by this black hole, please send positive vibes SS's way. We need to find out how to treat her allergy, she is just ten, and she is at her wits end.

Master Lego Builder

SS beat us at Scrabble, but it was a great day.

SS starts school next week and we want to make sure we spend as much time with her as possible.  She definitely needed a haircut, some school supplies, and wanted two t-shirts she had seen. We started the morning by letting SS sleep until 9:00 a.m.. P wanted to have lunch at an Indian restaurant, then take SS to a movie, Transformers. P also had a medical appointment, we had a busy day ahead of us.

 All throughout her summer vacation SS has worked on reading, language arts, and math. It has not been easy, and she is a normal child who makes it clear how much she resents doing the work. SS loves to read, that has not been a problem. The language arts work is done with an online program provided through the school. SS completed sixteen of the eighteen units by the end of the school year. She needs to complete the last unit before next week. It was not required but we decided it was best for SS.

Not every aspect of learning is tedious work, we also have games that require SS to use language and math. She loves to play triominos, and that game is all about adding and subtracting (must subtract five points when you have to get an extra tile). We have also played multiplication bingo, a game her teacher played with the kids last year. SS loved it so much we bought one for her birthday.

This morning SS worked on her language and math skills by playing Scrabble. She was the score keeper, and we made her count our tiles as well. With the double/triple letter/word scores she got a lot of practice. Sure, we would have had a much faster pace if we kept score; but the point is to introduce knowledge even when SS thinks she is only playing a game.

Our girl did so well and paid us back by beating us. Yup, we got whooped by a ten year old, and we are not monosyllabic morons. The final score was 197 for SS, 179 for me, and 154 for P. Well played SS, well played. 

When we lived in Redding we used to frequent an Indian restaurant. SS used to stuff her little face with Indian food, and it was fun to watch. That is where her love of basmati rice originated.  I wish I had taken pictures of her at 16 months and up eating there. They had a delicious mango dessert that we all enjoyed.

SS has not eaten Indian food since we moved here, and yes that is a shame, it just had not worked out that way. We were a tad worried she might not like it, since it's been so long.

 No need to fret, because SS chowed down, she just picked up where she left off. And of course she loved the naan bread, because SS has yet to meet a bread she does not like.

 SS has never been a dark meat eater, it's chicken breasts for her. She saw P's tandoori drumstick and asked to try it. SS ended up eating his chicken and requested more. Here she is in her tandoori zone, laid back, eyes closed, enjoying her chicken.

The sweetest part was when SS proposed a toast. We did not even know she knew about toasts. When asked what we were toasting, SS said "being in this restaurant, and spending time together." Excellent toast little girl, cheers. We will definitely return to make more memories.

We then watched Captain Underpants, and it was actually not awful for us adults.  SS had to do some language arts done in the car. How? Because we linked her laptop to our phones, something SS LOVES when we use it with her tablet for her entertainment. Today, not so much.

SS had her haircut, four inches cut, but she was sad to see her lighter hair go. I knew that was going to be an issue because really likes the contrast. The hair stylist explained it was damaged hair from the pool chlorine. That actually made SS feel much better.

Our little bundle of attitude is in bed now, because she needs to return to a school bedtime routine.  It was a very good day, even if we got our butts kicked by a fourth grader. 

Farewell Shark Week 2017, until next year.

SS has been looking forward to Shark Week for a few months. I had to Google the start date to reassure her we had not missed the event of the summer. When P first began his indoctrination of SS on day one I just laughed. It was cute to hear him say sharks need love too, and talk about their unique characteristics. I was never part of the indoctrination because cults are not my thing. It's remarkable that at ten SS is as passionate about sharks as she was as a baby, toddler, and little girl.

She went through a Wonder Pets stage, then Toy Story was her main focus, followed by Cars, and ultimately super heroes of any universe. Oh goodness I almost forgot her Star Wars obsession when she was barely four years old. All that love for the good one, Darth Vader. Like any other child, SS has evolved in her likes and dislikes. The only constants have been Snoopy and sharks. P is going to be mad but while I get Snoopy, I'm still baffled about SS's loyalty to sharks.

During the week there were shark PJs to be worn, with the official SS Shark Week hat. 

Sometimes I'm jealous of SS's cool pajamas, too bad I can't buy a set. I'll never look as cool, but I'll wear them with pride. That is because I'm shameless.

SS reprised her role as shark interruptus and took over our bed.  That's pure concentration there, because watching sharks attack is SS's zen zone.

Check out that Hammerhead shark, but I think SS's shirt shark is more ferocious. SS is rather ferocious there, we can see her attacking under water.

Same Hammerhead.

SS looks beyond cute and innocent in this picture, especially that cute little smile. Because that is what we all do when we see a huge Mako shark lunge towards a person. The photographer was not in a cage when it happened. But it made SS happy so who are we to judge. She now starts the countdown to Shark Week 2018.