Christmas and January 2011 in Vancouver

January 2011, Taya & Tiva blog:

Taya and Tivona have continued to grow closer as Tiva has got more interactive and Taya has got more comfortable with her big sister role.



You can see in these pictures how Tivona's hair is starting to come in darker. As that happened, we discovered that she actually has the same double-whorl at the back, just like Taya (only with far sparser hair, of course), as well as another right in front (like me, Kai). Bizarre. But another data point supporting the Chinese belief that the double-hair-whorl signifies a strong will! ;)



Tiva's best Christmas present was the combination of turning four months old and therefore being allowed to jump in the Jolly Jumper. I love this pursed-lip look that Tiva does. It's funny that she's doing it here, dancing in the Jumper, because Lj has long made fun of my moving lips when I dance!



We missed family and friends tremendously, but our quiet Vancouver Christmas had some perks. One of them was being able to go hiking in the woods on Boxing Day. We had a blast, even though we had some rough spots. Here's me snapping Taya out of a spot of grumpiness by playing out scenes from Jeremy Tankard's great book Grumpy Bird.



Unlike Grumpy Bird, Taya's almost never grumpy in the woods

Speaking of funny voices, Taya has a remarkable ability to distinguish the difference of accents. She reports such things as, "Rosalyn says 'gorillia'; Dada says 'gorilla'," and "Babica says 'busy little mouth'; Dada says 'busy little mouse'." Nanna is the most frequent culprit, though: for example, "Nanna says 'dinnah' [for dinner] and 'deepah' [for deeper]."

She'll make fun of you for any kind of slip, actually. Like one day late in December, she recalled that many weeks ago, "Nanna said 'Do you want almond milk on your bread?' I said, 'No, I want almond butter on my sandwich!'"

As she's got older, Tiva is more and more vocal. Here she is squawking with Mama.



Tiva squawking with Mama

Christmas really was quiet, and it was nice to be able to space out the festivities. Christmas Eve we had a video chat with Kai's family at the Chan Carusone's place, and we opened the wonderful care package from them. Christmas day we had a video chat with Ljuba's family at the Kovacic's place, and the girls got most of their gifts from us (and each other). Boxing Day Taya still hadn't noticed her stocking, so we showed it to her and let her dig into it. We relished her unsuppressed delight at receiving a few small animal figurines, a package of roasted seaweed, a few tiny (dark) chocolate almonds with sunflower seeds and raisins, some sleigh bells, etc. Parents of older children: please don't tell us, "Enjoy it while it lasts!" In this video, Taya remarks on her bounty.



"I have so many things in my stocking!"

Taya's conversations are priceless, but the trouble is that the gems are really hard to anticipate. She'll say something hilarious, and then I'll go get the camera and try to get her to say it again. But the only thing that's funny about it the second time is how hard I try to replicate the lost moment.

So … scattered throughout blog posts now are these little nuggets of conversation, sans image. She amazes us with her ability to tell stories, even from months ago. Like this one, from early summer (?) 2010: "A boy got tangled up in the stroller. His Nanna and Grandpa tried to get him out. He said, 'Help, help, help!'"

It didn't take Tiva long to get into jumping big time. This fierce drooling look says it all.



And here she is, jumping, smiling, and spinning.



Tiva dancing in the Jumper

No matter how docile she is in our arms, or lying down, she perks up immediately when we put her in the Jumper. Her little legs start going a mile a minute as soon as her body is touching the harness, which makes it tricky to get her in, of course.



I just love Tivona's two-step--one foot and then the other--and the gorgeous smile she flashes when we happen to come into view (in this video she hadn't fully learned to control her orientation).



Tiva dances barefoot

Lj and I joked about how little we did for the holiday season. A little belated (better late than never), Taya and I baked some gingerbread cookies.



Physical play is still a wonderful way to connect with Taya. "Girl soup", "girl cookie", "Dada lion" are all variations of me pretending to eat Taya. This is "Dada rocking chair".



We love the way Tivona's little feet move. Ljuba had the idea of this video, focussed only on Tiva's little dancing feet.



Tiva's beautiful dancing feet

Here we are, all posing with our little jumper.



Kai's parental leave began in January. Yay!!! What a privilege it is, to have this time with Tivona--and also Taya and Ljuba. I feel especially lucky when I think of my colleagues in the U.S.A., where most women don't even get the 12 weeks that I am getting as a father. One of the beauties of the leave is that it has allowed me time to do all kinds of things that otherwise slip by. Like measuring Taya, who by the way keeps growing like a weed. She's on track to be 5'10" (178 cm), or so. The little monkeys (of her wall chart) are impressed!



Taya and Dada have fun together. Taya gets a little silly at times. But where she get it, this amazing capacity for silliness?



Where does Taya's silliness come from???

What kind of food makes you get so loopy? Taya and Dada give some insights.



What food makes you go loopy?

Another Taya nugget might shed more light on said loopy-ness: (after requesting each of these in turn) "We could buy some frisee and dill and radicchio!" How many 27-month olds know so many different kinds of salad greens? And how many want to eat them?

After Ljuba told Taya she looked like a bandit, she sported this glower for the camera.



Mama and Tiva have fun, too! It's usually a quieter, less silly kind of fun (but you'll see later that's changing!).



About that Mama, though, Taya (after being told that we used to call her 'spunky monkey') said the following: "Do girl spunky monkeys have mama spunky monkeys? Yes. They do." (Borrowing from Eric Carle.)

In January, Tivona started showing an interest in toys. Before that, we couldn't interest her in them at all--she just wanted to interact with people. Here she is with caterpillar, her Christmas gift from Taya.



Taya, our little performer, can turn it on at any time.



Tiva, too--look at her batting her eyelashes here. They're both going to be heartbreakers!



Here's me with the two girls.



And here's Ljuba, in a rather different pose. Note Taya's imitation of Mama's hunch.



Tivona even knows how to pose. See her sporting a new baby fashion here.



Tiva's new love of the Jolly Jumper did have some side-effects. Here she is, sitting with the family at dinner after a jumping session. She did not sleep well that evening, alas, which subsequently gave rise to the "no jumping in the evening" rule.



Introducing the Jolly Jumper had side effects

Tivona also recently got the use of her ExerSaucer. Somehow, the baby who seems content to lie still 90+% of the time when on her back or front, awaiting a passing smile, is a fountain of energy propped or suspended upright. So while we're far less mobile (due to the lack of floor space), Tiva is now moving!



Tiva enjoys her ExerSaucer

Ah, for simple pleasures, though. Here I warm my heart by winning Tivona's smiles, just by blowing softly on her face.



Tiva likes being blown on

As I said earlier, Taya and Tiva have been growing closer together. It's so nice to see!





And here are a couple more pics of our fuzzy little cuddle bug, with Mama and alone.





You might have noticed in some of the earlier videos that I had a little soul patch for a few weeks. That was thanks to Taya, who was infatuated by them after Chee and Ed's soul patches/beards. Taya was very excited when I said I could probably grow one too, so I did. The first day I shaved my stubble and left a noticeable patch, Taya sang, "Today is soul patch day; today is soul patch day-eee!" And here she is with her own (collard-green) soul patch.

Tiva giggles and Taya jiggles in anticipation of Christmas

Nov 4 - Dec 24 2010

Tivona really started coming into her own in these seven weeks. For a while, it really seemed like she was boxing, and we all found it highly entertaining, as you can see from these two videos.



Tiva boxes Dada



Tivona boxes on the change table while Taya laughs

Taya was in training herself--here she is lifting weights and counting (and cheating!). As I've mentioned, I squeeze in tidbits of workouts, and Taya really enjoys it and imitates.



Taya lifts weights and counts (but tries to cheat)

Tiva is and was a very smiley baby--we count ourselves very lucky!



Taya had an absolute obsession with midwifery, labour and delivery. Nanna and Grandpa brought the University Report magazine from the Globe and Mail, and Taya proceeded to love it to bits--largely because it had a picture of a midwife looking at a young mother's belly while her toddler daughter looked on. Taya wanted to look at that picture every morning for breakfast and for hours after. She'd open the magazine to that page and put it on the couch, and she was prone to tantrums if anyone moved or put something on top of the magazine. And she's fascinated with birth stories. When Taya turned two, I told her the story of her birth. She ate it up and asked for it again and again for weeks. At first it was just her birth, but after a while she started showing an interest in others' births, too. In this video, Taya pretends that she's going to give birth to one of her toys (Doggie, I think), with the help of Mama or Nanna as the midwife.



Taya pretends that she's in labour and enlists midwife help

Taya gets to play in the park a lot. Here she does a round of the playground at Tyee School. It's one of two nearby playgrounds that's going to get torn down (and thanks to the BC government's bizarre ideas about education funding, not replaced--BC no longer pays for public school playgrounds).



Taya runs around the playground at Tyee

And here Taya does some swinging on her belly, as we banter.



Taya swings on her belly

Tivona didn't get as much play-time in her earliest days as did Taya, but here she is mesmerized by one of her play mats.



Tivona is mesmerized by her play mat

Taya loves to collect things in bags and containers and to carry them around. Here she carries around four bags full of stuff, then does a jig-a-lig-lig.



Taya the bag lady

Ljuba is very concerned that our babies should be kept warm. So when we had a cold snap, they were bundled. This picture of Tivona was just the beginning--there was probably a snowsuit and a lined cover on top of that! In fairness, it's true that--the polar opposite of Taya--Tiva's feet are almost always cold. We had to order special wool socks for her!



Taya loves to sing and to play roles and imitate. We got her into imitating different people and animals singing about the wishy-washy woman, and she really took to it. Here Ljuba coaxes her to sing. Watch Taya drag it out and out with all kinds of ploys and stalling tactics (grad students looking for stalling tips for comps and defences, take note!), before delivering with aplomb.



Taya plays with Mama, then finally caves and sings

The cold snap also brought some snow, which was a delight for Taya. Such a change from last year, when the crunching of snow beneath her feet freaked her out.



Such an innocent smile!



Taya has had a fascination with all things medical, not just midwifery. It may have started with the many trips to the midwives, especially as they had a Fisher Price doctor's kit that Taya would use to imitate the midwives checking out her mama. Babica got Taya the same kit for her birthday, and it was game over. From then on, Taya started calling herself "Dr. Taya", and for a while she refused to answer to anything else. She got distraught when we finally tried to get her to acknowledge that she wasn't yet a real doctor. To mollify her somewhat we had to also tell her that she could pretend to be a doctor, sometimes. From then on, whenever we pointed out that she could sometimes be just plain Taya, she'd rebut, "I can pretend to be a doctor!" Anyway, here's our little doctor, checking out Doggie, one of her babies, in video and a still.



Dr. Taya takes care of Doggie and explains what's wrong



Tons of tummy time for Tiva.



Tivona went through a phase where she wouldn't stop playing with her tongue. Sometimes she'll stick it out like this for several minutes, forcefully. It made breastfeeding difficult, Ljuba reported.



Taya's attachment to things is exactly as mine was, as a child. Auntie Elisa and Uncle Tony got Taya this gorgeous housecoat, and Taya fell in love with it. Once we put it on her, she refused to take it off, even after she was sweating profusely and her cheeks were burning red. Temper tantrum numbers 212-219 for the month of November…. ;) (Yes, Mum, you warned me that I had it coming!)



Is it just our hearts that are warmed by their smiles?



And their conversation? Here's a 10 second clip.



Tiva talks

Watching me watching you.



I'm so glad that Ljuba finally pulled out the camera for this nighttime conversation. For weeks she'd been telling me of the delightfully cute chatting that Tiva does during the nighttime feeds, and I'd been imploring her to get it on video. I left the camera on the nightstand, and here we have it--for posterity's sake.



Tiva's midnight conversation

Back to Taya and her performing of the wishy-washy woman. Her cheeks are humongous in this (the camera's on wide-angle), but that just adds to the spectacle.



Taya sings the wishy-washy woman, alligator and mouse

"Raa!" (Tivona mid-roar.)



I put Tivona down to sit once, needing two hands to do something else, and then looked back at her propping herself up like so. She sat just like that for several minutes.



It's been hard to make Tivona laugh, but we've been trying. Gigs are easy (one-syllable giggles), and full giggles aren't too hard, but more than that is tricky. We get lots of loud sighs (an indication that she's tired) and sometimes lots of grunts (but not nearly as many as when she was younger). For laughs, Ljuba found that this technique was good.



Jiggles and giggles from Tiva

Speaking of Tiva's noises, this video captured some pretty impressive squawks, which are Tiva's trademark noises. Just now, after sleeping from 5pm to 9:30pm (a first!) and getting us worried that she might be ill, she woke up. She flailed her arms around and grinned silently for a minute as I picked up and cuddled her awaiting Ljuba donning her nursing pillow. She then let out the loudest squawk we've heard. She's such a creature of contradictions--the extreme quiet serenity so quickly followed by the squawks, and in unfortunate evenings, by bloodcurdling strangulation screams that defy the best of our earplugs. To think that a few days into her life, Ljuba and I worried that she might not have enough fire and personality!



Tivona's battle cry

Tivona is not a good public feeder. For Tiva, the slightest sound of my or Taya's voice is generally enough to make her come off and look for us. Of course this makes it tough for Ljuba to take care of the two of them alone, and it means that we don't get all that much time for the four of us to interact. Ljuba tried feeding Tiva in this sling (here Tiva shows off her big eyes), but soon gave that up (the noises were still a problem).



Taya is still very much a social animal. I told her several days before Ed's (a PhD student with me) comprehensive exams that we were going to go have dinner with them and help him celebrate, and I pointed out the restaurant. She was so excited! Driving to the pool with Ljuba a couple days later, Ljuba asked Taya what she was doing, and Taya replied, "Just looking for Bandidas the restaurant." The dinner itself was great (except for a meltdown due to the sheer overabundance of nervous energy): she said "congratulations" to Ed and was in squirmy smiley heaven for the almost two hours we were there. By the end she was initiating hugs and high fives all around, on an absolute high. Here she is on one of the preceding quieter dinners, but with equally shiny eyes.



Taya isn't always fascinated by Tivona (sometimes she's simply immersed in her own things, about which she's constantly creating elaborate stories), but she is increasingly interacting with her.



"Hi smiley!"

Here's Tiva, distracted by my presence enough to give a good face shot.



Taya still loves to sing. She gets lots of practice--many nights she spends an hour or more lying in her crib talking and singing to herself and her toys. Here she practices "Baby Beluga", by Raffi.



Taya practices singing/reading "Baby Beluga"

It's really nice how easy it is to get a smile from Tivona now. We know it won't last for all that long!



Zoom to Mama, zoom to Dada

Tivona reminds me of a penguin when she flaps around dressed in this snowsuit.



Our little penguin

This was the first year that we missed the holidays in Toronto. While we did have a nice quiet time at home, we were very sad not to be with family. The reason is that we're going to Toronto for Ljuba's brother Tony's wedding to Elisa, in less than a month, and we couldn't imagine two trips in a month. Talking playfully about that time, I asked Taya, "Should we leave you here in Vancouver to take care of Tiva while Mommy and I go to Toronto?" Taya's response: "That doesn't make sense!" How right she is. So we'll all make the trip Jan 25.

Happy New Year, all!

Tivona's weeks 2-10

I had one precious week at home after Tivona was born. I couldn't take more, because I had to submit the package for my Canada Research Chair renewal. In that last breath of summer, we got out as much as we could (thanks largely to Nanna, who was here for more than a month). Here's Taya at a distant park (Nanna and I rode, partly for the excursion).



And here we are, getting dizzy together--something we've loved since Taya was a young baby.


Getting dizzy with Daddy

Here's Taya on another day, playing at the pool at New Brighton.



You see a lot of pictures of Taya smiling--almost seems like nothing interrupted her usually sunny disposition after Tivona's birth. We wish. Taya actually had a rough spell that started the day Nanna arrived, a week before Tiva's birth (Taya knew what it meant). It's been gradually improving, and it's still driving Lj nuts at times, but it's completely understandable. Here's Taya, smiling with Nanna. Being outside almost always helps.



And here's Taya and I, snacking after I squeezed in a swim.



We took Tivona out, too, of course. Usually she was bundled tightly on one of us, but here she is sleeping in her stroller (at the pool). Not a common occurrence, and not to happen again after this for quite some time!



It wasn't at all uncommon for Tiva to fall asleep on Ljuba's breast. That kind of sleep doesn't last long. As soon as Lj takes Tiva off the 'lily pad' (the nursing pillow), she usually wakes up (even though she can sleep while being jostled quite vigorously on it).



We discovered pigtails for Taya, and quite liked them. I even learned how to do them, but we won't show any pictures of those hairdos. ;)



Taya knows more songs than I do! And whereas it takes me countless sessions with Ljuba practicing line by line, Taya seems to learn whole songs just by listening. Here's "Little Rabbit Fufu", Taya style.


Taya singing "Little Rabbit Fufu"

Taya loves playing on our bed. Here she is looking chubby-cheeked.



Tivona, like Taya, has some wonderful facial expressions. Here's Tiva's "life is so hard" look.



Tivona also went through a bad-skin phase.



Although Taya soon showed little patience for watching Tivona, and definitely showed signs of resentment ("Dada put Tiva down," and "Daddy is not going to carry Tiva", etc.), Taya did continue to show her maternal instincts. She babied all her dolls, including the one actual baby-like doll (see the Jedi picture, below), which she interestingly called "Baby Taya". (It was a definite no-no to call that doll "Baby Tiva"!) Taya would do everything that we would do with Tivona. Here's Taya nursing Mama Bear/Bride Bear.


Taya breastfeeding Bride Bear

But a few weeks later, Taya did decide to call another baby toy "Baby Tiva", and here's Taya practicing our welcome song for Tiva, "Hi, hi, baby" (here she's signing 'baby').



Taya can be quite photogenic, as long as she's not trying too hard. :)



Speaking of trying to hard, this is the squinty smile you get if you ask her to say cheese, here with Nanna, Tiva, and Ljuba.



Yay for nearby parks, and yay for Auntie Sandra, who came out to visit and take care of Tiva, Taya (and us all) for her entire week's vacation!!! Here's Taya doing chin-ups (inspired by me--I'm always squeezing them in, and also coaxing Taya to hang on to me for 'cuddle-ups').


Practicing chin-ups with Auntie Sandra

And here's Taya walking the log with Auntie Sandra.


Walking the log with Auntie Sandra

Also thanks to Auntie Sandra, who helped bake the cake, take care of both girls, and otherwise host the party, we did manage to host a little party for Taya's second birthday. Here she is receiving hugs from some of her guests, including Hugh Grant ;).



And here's Taya blowing out her candles on her icing-less cranberry kuchen. You might think that she's being deprived, but she was thrilled to have a slice of cake!



Taya also got some gifts. Here she is opening one, not quite getting the concept. Or is that her parents, not quite getting it?



Taya opening presents

Here's Auntie Sandra with her little walking buddy/bundle, Tivona.



Babica came out the next day and stayed for weeks. She, too, was a tremendous help, especially for Tiva who couldn't yet sleep without being carried. Babica walked her legs off for hours everyday, carrying our peaceful little baby. Peaceful? Did I mention Tivona's a tiger? (More on that later.) She was peaceful nestled into the wrap, usually.



Here's Tiva peeking over her hands.



And here she is, sprawling.



Tivona developed a delightful smile very early on. Here she's barely a month old.



And here's Tiva on the change table. I'm sorry I can't show you a picture of her amazing (dark and huge) Mongolian spots. That pic was removed by Webshots as possible child pornography!



Here's Tiva in video.


Tivona gets her probiotics

I mentioned that Tivona's a little tiger, right? Here she is practicing her roar. Seriously, though, she really does roar--you should (read: shouldn't) hear her scream in the evening, falling to sleep for the night. You could be down the block and still hear her go.



Here's Tiva's more usual bath-time docility.



And here she is again, enjoying her bath.



Life as a baby is like one long trip to the spa, no? Look how calm she is.



Here's Taya again, dressed in the cape she got last Christmas. Then, she was stepping all over it, but she's grown so much that now it fits her beautifully. I think it makes her look like a Jedi princess (yes, too much Star Wars!). In her arms is Baby Taya, her one baby doll.



Taya blows us away with her artwork and her patience for it. She paints--things in action--sitting on her own.



Nanna and Grandpa came after their trip to Malaysia and China, and they instigated celebratory meals for Tivona's first month (she was almost two months old by then, but all the better), and for my promotion and tenure. It was super to have that impetus, and their help with the girls, because it afforded us a brief moment of consideration of the momentous nature of those events. Taya had received a chong-sam from Veronica and wore it, much to the delight of her grandpa and the Chinese wait staff at the dinner (the Chinese restaurant Whole Vegetarian).



Tivona has super head control from all the time she had being carried. She actually slept very little on her back.



Hallowe'en was fun. Okay, it was what Ljuba calls a 'gong show', but it was also fun. Here's Tivona as a squid, courtesy of Megan's beautiful hand-knit hat.



And here's Taya as a poppy, a joint project of Mama and Dada.



We had fun trick or treating. I held Tivona while she got wired not sleeping as hundreds of kids invaded our trick-or-treating heaven (60 homes, almost all with kids, with very little walking and no roads to cross). Taya met her little friend Logan, a firefighter. As you can see, they both played hard to get.



I'm painfully aware that this blog entry wasn't perfectly equal in coverage. I'm also aware that Tiva doesn't get nearly as many photos and videos as Taya did at this age. And that Taya now doesn't get the coddling that Tivona does. Ah the joys of juggling multiple kids! Anyway, to close off this entry, here's our little big-eyed Tiva, dressed pumpkin-ish.