Happy Halloween!

Here are my two peacock girls.

Mila asked to be a peacock this year.  Being someone who sees everything as more than its simple form, I made her into a victorian peacock.  

This is the only decent photo we got before the sun went down.

Mila's baby peacock sidekick was asleep in the stroller the whole time we begged for candy.

RIP Madison

The world lost another sweet I-Cell child today.  Madison - November 16, 2007 to Oct 22, 2013.
Madison had dynamic energy.  She loved to sing and was able to reach some pretty high notes.  She had an infectious throaty laugh.  She and her family were very religious.  And Madison loved singing songs of worship.      

Yesterday Madison's airways clamped down and no air was able to flow through.  The family said their goodbyes and the doctors gave Madison morphine to help her along.  But to everyone's surprise the morphine gave her a boost of energy and Madison was hyper, joyful, and full of laughter for another 10 hours.  She told her family four times, "I see Jesus." Then she looked at everyone and told them that she'd see them later.  What beautiful final moments.

Rest in peace sweetie.

Italian Family Circus

This past weekend was sunny, warm and the perfect time to visit Zoppé, a small Italian Family Circus.  We caught their last day in the Bay Area.

Mila had never been to a circus before.  Her expressions to the tight rope walkers, trapeze acrobats and horse jumpers were priceless.

Mila with friends, Gigi and Rose, and Cavallino the baby pony.  

Niko kept staring at Mr. Zoppé, thinking, "What the…?"

Dance Party

Mila and Niko are jamming to some fun tunes.  

Mila has no idea what they are saying in this song.  She calls this the "Get Mexican Lucky" song.  

And I think that they are both stunned stupid by Supersonic.  

17 months

My cutie pie sleeping princess is 17 months old.  

 Her little curled up body kills me!

The stuff that Mila says... to me

I just have to write this stuff down before I forget.

Mila picked up a dandelion.
I said to her:  Quickly, make a wish and blow.
She held the flower up over her head and said: No, I will let the wind make the wish.  Blow wind blow!

Mila:  Mama, thanks for making me.
Me:  Oh Mila, that is the sweetest thing to say.
Mila:  Papa's just a bit of salt.
Me:  What do you mean by that?
Mila:  Papa's just a bit of salt.  You are the baker.  And I'm your little pastry.

Mila:  Mama, why do you always tell me what to do?  Are you the boss of the world?
Me:  Yes I am.
Mila:  No you're not. Obama is!
Me:  Fine.
Mila:  Do you want to end up like Romney?

And here are a few things she rattled off in a car, one line after another, as if she were a stand-up comedian specializing in machine gun one-liners.  

Imagine an ant windsurfing in a bowl of split pea soup.

You know what's funny?  Sixty million toads jumping in a trampoline!

You know what's the heaviest thing on earth?  A T-Rex weighing himself.

Here is Mila playing teacher with Niko, in Chinese.  Her interpretation of a teacher's mannerism is pretty funny.    

More Mila car-rambling

Waking

I love the way Niko goes from an angelic peaceful sleep (to which I can enjoy the rising and falling of her little stomach with each breath) to a sudden outburst of cries.

The abnormal

It's amazing how normal the abnormal can be for a 4-year old.  I had to explain the notion of "special needs" to Mila only once and she accepted that so easily. This is a testament to the open minds of young kids.  I believe I should share more with Mila while she is still young enough to receive all this heavy stuff as our "normal".  I feel that the longer I wait the more painful it will be.  Mila is such a loving older sister to Niko.  I don't want to drop the bomb on her when she's old enough to realize how incredibly unfair this is.

The other day we bumped into a neighbor while I was walking Mila to her ballet class with Niko in her stroller.  The neighbor, looking at Mila's tutu, asked, "Are you going to ballet class?"

Mila beaming with pride said, "Yes!"

"Will you teach your sister ballet when she's older?"

"No, my sister will not be able to walk.  She's special-needs."

The neighbor recovered quickly. "Well you will just have to teach her the movements of the arms."  

I'm so proud of Mila.  I didn't have to say a single word.  She handled this like a pro.  

And kids notice Niko… a lot!  I'm pretty honest with myself, I know Niko looks odd.  In my eyes, she's cuter than a newborn puppy in a bike basket, but to the unfiltered eye, I know she's crazy looking.  And as we all know, kids are brutally honest.  But here is what I find interesting.  Kids (under five) have not yet been programmed to recognize or judge people based on physical deformities.  As I said with Mila, the abnormal is normal.  I think what they do notice is the loss of symmetry and proportion.  While Niko does strike them as different or maybe strange, they do not yet know why or perceive her defect.  Niko and I drop off and pick up Mila from preschool nearly everyday.  We see lots of kids.  And this is what they all say to me, "Her eyes.  There is something wrong with her eyes."  Or "Her eyes are puffy.  Has she been rubbing them?"  They all notice her eyes.  I think that is extremely interesting.  

My tired Niko, rubbing her eyes