So big, and still so small.

Now that Aliya's essentially a kid, but still mama's baby all at the same time, two blogs a year seems the most I can crank out. But I can't let the (almost) anniversary of the first day I met her pass by without a post. So much change has happened since the last post 6 months ago - both in our lives, and to the Great Big Aliya.

I am typing this from the large, reclining desk chair, in Pop Pop's office, at Gagi Nita & Pop Pop's house, where we are living now, as we wait to take possession of our 105-year-old "New House." I suppose it is not that unusual for three generations to cohabitate (and certainly, in much of the world - including parts of Kaz - it remains the norm), but I still never thought I'd get to experience it first hand, as the middle generation. But here I am, in the house in which I grew up, watching my kids play in the cul de sac, my dogs romp in the woods, and self-conciously smooching my husband goodnight in my sister's old bed (the kids got my old room). For Sal and I, and I think for my parents as well, the arrangement is doable, if not desirable. For the kids however, and in particular Aliya, it is ideal. She sits at the dinner table now, beaming, and says, "Look! Aliya's whole family. Gagi, PopPop, Mommy, Daddy, Ava, Dexter, Oz, Max, Ranger. Aliya's whole family!" Bedtime goodnights take a good 10 minutes now, with 4 humans and 4 dogs to hug & kiss. And Sunday afternoons are showtime, running from grown-up to grown-up to show off Tricky Ideas, Noisy Songs and Crazy Stunts. When you're two years old, extended-family living is good good good. I still get choked up sometimes, watching my once-solemm little bud continue to bloom and grow amongst all the people who love her so.

We close on our new house in 10 days, and hope to move in by the end of November. Sometime during the interim 2 weeks, we will gut and rebuild the kitchen, build a large fence around the yard so that kids & dogs can romp without worry, paint most of the rooms, and of course unpack all of our belongings (currently hibernating in storage pods). You know, while both working full time and entertaining two wacky kids. The amazing thing about Sal is, he always finds a way to make these crazy plans blossom into fruition, and I do my best to help.

I know that Aliya will be sad to leave Gagi & PopPop's house, but she is already excited that the new house is only 2 blocks away from Ava's mommy's house, and she's already talking about stopping by to visit Ava's new Baby Sister Claire whenever possible. And walking Ava to school. And picking Ava up from school. And hanging out with all of Ava's big kid frinds. And having lunch with Ava's mommy. And watching Adam eat worms - again. It's gonna be a great new adventure for all of us, and espsecially for my Thunderball.

Lastly, as I get all weepy remembering the first day I saw Aliya, I am very happy to note that Aunt Nina & Uncle Justin are deep in the midst of creating their own blog now, as they are in Karaganda with their beautiful son Elvis Bulan, and will hopefully bring him home within the next few weeks. Aliya (and the rest of us) can't wait to meet him.

"Aliya, how old are you?" "TWOOOOOOO!!!!..."

...she answers, while holding up 4 fingers.

My baby girl is two. When asked, "Aliya, are you a baby?" She gets a big grin, shakes her head no, and says, "Big girl." When asked to get a new diaper from the bin, she pulls out a Pull Up and says. "Big girl." When walking up the stairs together, she suddenly lets go of my hand, says, "Stay," and continues walking on her own, and at the top annoucnes "Big girl."

My little baby is a big girl. And she could not be cuter, sweeter, or more delectable. I can't stand it.

Disneyworld, Feb 2009, where we celebrated the first anniversary of Aliya's Airplane Day. Each time we would see a character, Aliya would yell, "Me hug! Me hug!" And each time we would at last be at the character's side, after an interminable wait in line, she would bury her head in my shoulder and say, "No. No. No." very quietly. Repeat every 15 minutes for 4 days.

Aliya's birthday party, March 22, 2009. A joint party with Anika & Alexei, all three Delphin Babies turning two within two weeks of one another. All big kids now.

And of course, some random silly cutitude, from recent months:

One year ago today

Nothing like having a toddling Thunderball afoot to make it impossible to keep up with a blog. It's been one year since the quiet, solemn little Aliya was placed in my arms for the first time, wearing a little bonnet and sweater. I am as a teary at the memory as I was at the time. I sure do love my little baby girl, who insists on being less and less of a baby with each passing day.

And now for some catch-up photos.

The week at the beach with the Keisters in August:

At a Delphin House reunion at Sam & Julie's:

Showing off Big Girl skills and attitude (not to mention sign language), since starting preschool in September:

On a recent visit to Pittsburgh to meet Uncle Charlie and Aunt Claudia, who are returned from living in Rome:

Her first halloween:

And braving the freezing rain to see her first Obama rally last week:

And last of all, compliments of Sal..... it's Aliya-Cam!

Dog Days of Summer

This morning Sal left at 7AM to take the girls to the beach for a weekend rendezvous with their cousins (I will join them via train after work tonight). I have been alone in my home for a solid 2 hours, and still another 1.5 hours to myself before I head to work. After 5.5 months of craving and not getting a moment of solitude, would you believe I already miss them? I can't believe it either, but I do. So here I am, putting off the long overdue garden-maintenance, bathroom cleaning, and so forth that I had scheduled for this morning, and instead I'm updating the blog.

So what's new? Aliya is everywhere at once these days, truly a toddler now. And boy am I exhausted.

Summer is in full swing, so we've been spending most of our time outdoors, of which she never tires. She loves the pool, the playground (where she will plunge headfirst down the slide without a pause) and playing with the neighbors (young and old). Her recoiling-with-shyness phase has ended, and she is now flirting with the public wherever we go. But she's still a mama's girl :-) She is trying to mimic alot of words (and songs -too cute!), but Mama, Papa, Vava (Ava) and Baba (bottle) are the only ones we can consistently understand.

As for Ava, she has lost 2 teeth in the last month, and loves showing off her new smile. She graduated from preschool in June, and had her dance recital the same day, and is about to start kindergarten in September. She's spending her summer days playing out back with her best friend, and while their activities are largely Top Secret, I have gleaned that they are catching bugs and making mud potions and riding their scooters and plotting to beat up Sal in new, creative ways. She's even helping me in the garden from time to time. In true Ava style, she does it all while dressed to the nines and somehow keeps her dresses clean. Truly a modern woman in the making. She seems so grown up at times that it's hard to grasp.




We visited Aunt Ginger in NYC last weekend, thus beginning a mutual love affair between the citizens of Lower Manhattan and Aliya. In particular the gay population of SoHo was completely enamored of her, and fauned over her wherever we went. It seems there's just something about the girl.

And lastly, I enrolled Aliya in 3-day-a-week preschool, to start in September, so that Sal can begin working more of a normal schedule. It made my heart break a little, though all the kids in her room seemed to be having a great time, and Aliya was quite interested in what they were up to. I've never seen a group of 18-month-old kids behave so calmly. Wonder what will happen once the ThunderBall is in their midst!

Home three months

And it feels like she's been with us forever. Today Aliya and I sat down and looked at pictures and videos from the past 3 months, and I could not believe how much she's grown and changed already. She seemed impressed too, lots of oooohs, aaaaaahs, and pointing. She took her first solo steps a month ago, but only in the last week has she actually started toddling about with purpose. Sometimes when she's fallen, and is pushing herself back to standing, she pauses in a long, protracted downward dog pose, grinning from ear to ear. Love that grin so much!

But enough text, on to the graphics:

Aliya's first birthday party:

Ice skating, where Sal pushes her in a chair, while Ava skates along side them. She loves speed:

At the circus. We expected her to nap in the stroller outside the arena with grandma, while Ava watched the circus - but she was totally engaged in the whole show! She could not get enough of the animals, in particular.

Chuck-e-cheese with her cousins this past weekend. I could not believe it when I hoisted Aliya into the dark tube maze suspended from the ceiling, and before I could even follow her up she was off and crawling, and waving happily to the crowds below. The girl has no fear.

And some miscellaneous, around the house:

Happy Birthday Aliya!!!

Yup, she's all grown up. Standing by herself, and attempting to walk by herself, which only results in a quick trip to the floor. But she keeps on trying. She's climbing the stairs. She's splashing it up in the pool. She's gleefully obeying the command "Gimme 5!." She gets exponentially cuter each moment. Here are some recent pix. We're postponing birthday cake til tomorrow, when Ava is here, so I'll add those pictures later:


HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL GIRL!!!!!

When does a working mom blog?

Now that everyday is an Aliya Adventure and blogging time gets scarcer by the week, things begin to blur together, and I find myself at a loss for words when faced with the blank screen. Aliya's doing really well, other than some persistent diarrhea that our pediatrician is helping us sort out. It's weird to be on the other side of the "my little one has diarrhea that won't go away" conversations.

Ava has been slowly learning to share her daddy. It has not been an easy transition for her, but she never once has taken out her frustration on little Aliya - which I think is a significant accomplishment. Certainly, the same could not be said of me when ol' Ginger rolled into my life (Ava loves to hear my mom tell the story of how I tried to bang baby Ginger with a hammer). I've actually gotten to have more quality time with Ava, now that Daddy is sometimes occupied with the baby, which has been an unexpected positive development as well.

Each day Aliya becomes more spirited and less reserved. She loves to be outside, and it's finally the time of year where it can be a regular occurrence. She is "walking" by herself now, with the aide of her Pediatric Walker, aka, the thing with beads, wheels and a handle that allows her to propel herself recklessly forward without falling on her face. She gets a big open-mouth grin when using her walker:

The walker grin is not to be confused with the demonic Chucky grin she gets whenever she's doing a mad crawl at Sal or I - which she will inevitably do whenever one of us is foolish enough to lie on the floor in her presence. (Note to self - videotape demonic-Chucky-grin-mad-crawl before she outgrows it!):

Aliya is slowly meeting and getting comfortable with all the neighbors, which is good, because our block is a social place to be, especially with warm weather hovering around the corner. She is beginning to smile when either Sal or I get home from work, recognizing us as we stride through the door.

Returning to work on 2/25 was not as bad as I'd feared. The balance is actually pretty ideal. We have staggered our schedules so that we only need a babysitter 10-hours/week, so that both Sal and I have about 25-hours/week home alone with her. My mom did us the great favor of babysitting the last couple weeks, but our new sitter Gabby will start next week. Aliya took to Gabby right away, which is not her usual M.O. Now we just have to figure out when Sal and I will spend time with each other. This may improve when we figure out how to stay up past 8:30pm.

What else of note? A visit from Aunt Ginger, a visit from the Keisters, and a second visit with Grandma & Paw Mengine. Trips to the grocery store and the dog park. Learning how to feed the dogs crackers (and cereal, and bananas, and apple sauce, and toys, and lint). Here are more pix from the past couple of weeks: