First off - everyone please join me in welcoming to the world Elora Violet Grilly 7 lb. 13 oz. - 19.5 in at 7:58 am on 4/26 to Chris & Devon Grilly! The Zoo is delighted to have another geek spawn in creation. Great job Devon and Chris! Hopefully they were bring her to the west coast sometime soon so we can see her in person.
Tre's year at UCP is winding down to a close but it has been a great thing for him and us.
We had decided to give him a year more before kindergarden to give him the chance to get a little more socialized and it has worked wonders. The Tre we have now is vastly different than the little boy that showed up at our door almost 2 years ago. He is responsive and engaging - he seeks out relationships and is able to narrate his experiences to us. This might seem fairly ordinary to a lot of you but these have been challenges for him and to see him leave this difficulties behind is inspiring.
His school for next year is Birney and we're all pretty jazzed about it. After looking at a lot of schools (don't even ask how many >.<) I think this will be the best fit for our kids (Tre, Nani and Siddha) though the only downside is they will be going to Middle School (barbaric in my opinion) but we'll see how it works out. The school is an International Baccalaureate Organisation's Primary Years Programme school with a track of an IM Middle School and High School. Birney in the past had a terrible performance record for academics but this program has seemed to turn the school around. They have made incredible strides and seem poised to continue their success.
Siddha has fully embraced mobility as a lifestyle. She pretty much in motion from when she wakes up in the morning until she crashes from exhaustion at night. Her vocabulary has grown from "Da Da" to include "Mum Mum" (her favorite baby snack food) "Yah" "Bye" "Hi" and "Wow" (from hearing us saying it a great deal). She now growls as she crawls around the living room which delights me to no end. She has a host of strange cries and calls that she makes all the time while going about her day.
She is loving to eat all on her own. We set her up with a small bowl of whatever we're eating (sans the spice) in small bits and she goes to town. She has made the transition from bottle/baby food effortless. She tries the food and pretty much knows when she likes the sample or not. If disagreeable she digs it out and places it aside on her high chair tray. Even the occasional choking or gagging is pretty mild experience. She reaches in again on her own and pulls out the food without much fanfare.
She is still a wee thing (3% for weight and 15% for height) but her head is a little challenging (85% for circumference) right now. The clothes that fit her end up not fitting over her head so buttons, snaps and zippers are very in for us. She has four new teeth coming in on the top of her mouth to match her two bottom chompers so I think eating will become even more interesting for her when she has an actually bite. She is prepping for walking by lurching from one object to another and taking risks standing with only one hand or sometimes no hands for a few seconds.
We are getting ready for summer vacation here. We decided to not enroll Tre in the UCP summer program to give him the chance to hang out with his non-school friends (Nate, Nia, Gabriel and Emma to name a few) over the summer. We signed him up for some summer camps with same friends for two weeks. We also are planning a weekly trip to the farmer's market here in town. We also have our yearly trip to the water park as well - a family favorite for all of us. The Dads are taking a mini-vacation to GenCon to geek out and get some non-kid time over the summer. Thanks to the Aunties for watching the kids while we go to the convention!
Keep an eye out for the invite to Siddha's baby banquet for her first birthday. We have sent out invites far and wide in hopes of gathering a huge host for the event and enjoy the food at Imperial Mandarin (thanks Lae Lae & Rowena for the suggestion). I am so glad that Leng's parents will be in town for it and get to see Siddha (along with the rest of the kids). My hope is that we can get our kids really comfortable with Leng's family so that they have an even larger family to support them and connect with. Leng's parents have been incredible about this whole blended family structure and it has been a pleasure to be able to see their relationships with our families grow and deepen.
We took a weekend trip to Disneyland with several other queer families and had a blast. We drove up and stayed at a hotel near the park to maximize our time at the parks. We also went to California Adventure one day as well and I throughly enjoyed it. I thought it was a great place for the kids - they have an area themed after A Bug's Life and the rides were perfect for Tre. Exciting but not too scary worked for him. He ran all around with the two other boys that came on the trip. They formed their own pack and pretty much never stopped running until bedtime. It was great to have some many extra adults around with the kids - people were able to sneak away for rides and attractions and adult conversation was readily available which on kid trips is a lifesaver.
The boys threw me a lovely birthday BBQ along with Megan whose birthday is the day after mine. I think it was a wonderful success. We ended up with about 30 people (kids included) and a self serve shish-kabob manned by Grill Master Bill. One of things I have always enjoyed is filling our house with people and food, it's a magical combination. :) It was exactly the kind of birthday I was looking for - friends, family, good food and kids running around crazy in the background.
I think that's covered most of April's events for us but we do have a backload of photos and videos to get up from the last few months which I will try to do over the next week or so. Feel free to harass me via phone, text or email to get them done. :) As always I close with a warm invitation for any and all to visit us here at the Zoo - we welcome the company. :)
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