This Morning's Events, Amended

Pete was behind me and staying back with Lucia, so I had an eye on the action. What actually happened: as I step out the front door to get our CSA box, which the people can't seem to deliver properly, we hear all this ruckus, and I wasn't sure if someone was just joking around in the echo-ey parking garage or what. But we listened closer: this woman was screaming my car my car my car! He stole my car! I ran down the hill and she said, can I use your phone to call my husband? Of course, I said. Then she tells her husband: "I've just been robbed at gunpoint. They took the car." She was badly shaken up. Several of our neighbors were on their balconies dialing 9-1-1 for her; other nearby neighbors came to help her file the police report and provide details including the license plate number of the driver who accompanied this thug. I'm so thankful this woman cried out as loud as she did to get our attention. It was terrifying, especially since we live in a very safe part of town. Not the best way to start Friday.

No shots fired atleast

It makes you a little jittery as you hear it happen, but later you are thankful that you didn't see it, that you were a little late, didn't get involved. As we came downstairs this morning we hear this woman outside scream at the top of her lungs, can't make out all the words, but I do hear "dont take my purse!" 

I stand behind holding the door and Lucia as Heather brings in a carton from outside the front door and she goes out to the sidewalk to see whats going on. A lady who lives on our street was being robbed at gunpoint. More neighbors soon came out to check and we are all very worried now. 

Apparently a young man that looked mexican, stepped out of waiting car to snatch her purse, however she put up a fight and the young man pulled out his gun. He got the purse, got back in the car where his girlfriend was driving and they were off in the direction of the freeway or Oakland downtown. Fortunately, one of the neighbors got the license plate number of the car and I'm hopeful that the police is able to find these criminals soon.
It boggles my mind how it is possible to wake up in the morning and decide that you have to go out and rob people going to work.

Faci Pairy

Welp. 

Tonight's the night. The Pacifier Fairy, who Lucia billed as the Faci Pairy yesterday, is coming tonight. As a general principle, we tend to explain sequence(s) of events for Lucia constantly; we find it really helps her know what to expect and to help alleviate potential anxiety (which she doesn't exhibit necessarily, we're just being cautious). So. We had the basic principle of the Paci Fairy Faci Pairy: she leaves her pacifiers in a package on the front doorstep, the next morning there's a present. But in order to make it even more of a super big deal for her, we created some extra steps so she can really get into it. Truth be told, these are mostly for me too, since I'm scared to give up the pacifier given how disastrous it was back in January. Without further ado, here are the steps. 

1. Identify all pacifier hiding places and gather them into one location. 
2. Have Lucia participate in washing the pacifiers for the babies they're going to. 
3. Kiss each pacifier goodbye. Lucia told me this morning it was probably important to also make sure "they" had enough milk. Not sure I follow, but I like that she's on board with making the pacifiers comfortable for their journey to the babies who really need them under our bed, then eventually the trash. 
4. Dry the pacis. 
5. Place them in a ziploc bag. 
6. Put the bag in the box. 
7. Wrap the box with paper. 
8. Put ribbons all over the box. 
9. Write the Paci Fairy Faci Pairy a note telling her these are just for the babies and that Lucia is a big girl and doesn't need them anymore. 
10. Put the package on the doorstep and say goodbye to the package. 

When she wakes up tomorrow, we'll have this for her and a note from the Faci Pairy telling her thank you so much for the pacis for the babies! We'll celebrate her being a big girl and having a new way to go to sleep. I also rearranged her bedroom slightly last night so that it won't feel so strange without it; it's like we're weaning a smoker, you know? If they constantly smoked while sitting in a certain place, change that place so it's not available. 

I'm nervous. Not just because of how this went in the past, but also because of the uncertainty of the ability to have another baby (a subject for another post). Also, because welp, she's growing up. This is pretty much the last thing we'll say goodbye to about having a baby. She's our big girl. 

Wish us luck! 

iPhone case milestone achieved!

Today we finally achieved a major manufacturing milestone, the first prototype cases are now being machined but it has been a long road with many obstacles and delays making todays events very gratifying. The machining is done in a milling machine that is controlled by a computer that receives data from the computer model I have developed, and we are now engaged in the process of fine tuning the tool's cut paths to make sure the aluminum and the plastic band go together precisely fits snuggly around the phone.

Art Center Car Classics 2011

Finally a weekend all to myself. I can't remember exactly last time I had a weekend without company of any sort and it was a nice break. I stayed with David out in Venice and I am super grateful for his hospitality. He lent me the sofa and the keys to the Jetta. I was also struck by how nice that part of LA is, just a great neighborhood.
I came down to LA to go to the annual car show at Art Center where I went to school a few years ago. This car show is not like any other, its quite unique. Most car shows are either centered around new and coming cars, or vintage classics, or race cars, or hot rods, which are all exciting on their own, but the show at Art Center tends to bring the best and most significant and unique cars from all these genres together in one show. Usually there are other vehicles as well such as aircrafts and motor cycles, but I have also seen u-boats and spacecrafts there. This year was no exception with a very cool amphibious plane on display and although Jay Leno and Chip Foose was not there I met up with old friends and caught up on the latest.
I now have several hundred photos and videos to go through but in the mean time here are a few pictures from the show:

The impressive new concept car from Cadillac: "Ciel"

Very rare Ferrari #1 

Very rare Ferrari #2

Two

Two Earthquakes in one day. DISLIKE. Both were around the same size, I was at work for the first one and at home for the second. The second was exponentially scarier due to being at home with Lucia. I yelled to Pete GET LUCIA! GET LUCIA! Terrifying. California is so wonderful in so many ways -- this is not one of them. 

It's in the Eyes

Tonight Lucia looked up at me as we rah-rocked and asked, are your eyes brown? I said yes, and yours are blue, just like Daddy's. And Daddy got his from Ninny. So it went from Ninny to Daddy to you. She thought about that for a minute, and then said, so Big Poppa's eyes are brown? 

Smart girl. I told her Big Poppa's eyes were blue. I have my mom's eye color and my dad's eye shape, I think. Sometime I'll tell her about my dad. 

The Sweet Phase

Last night as I burst through the door, annoyed with myself for not using the restroom before I left the office, missed my bus and had to walk the 7 blocks from the other bus stop, I ran into the bathroom as fast as I could and skipped hellos and kisses. Lucia followed me, looked at me and said slowly, Mommy, I was missin you today. I told her I miss her every day. She asked if sometime could I stay home with her? I said maybe sometime.

This morning I sat across from her instead of next to her, and she asked nicely if I could please come and sit with her so we could hold hands while she ate her breakfast. 

This kid, I tell you. Makes my heart grow three sizes every day. 

Fimming

Now. You should probably know this about me: I am unable to take group classes, of any kind. Some psychotic switch flips in my head and I MUST. BEAT. EVERYONE. Even though it's not necessarily a competition (say, in yoga). And the most hilarious part is, I envision myself as the total badass of the group, and in reality, most times? I'm anything but. I've tested this countless times. Hip hop class most recently: in my head: I AM AN ACCOMPLISHED HIP HOP DANCER WITH SERIOUS MOVES. Reality: so very, very uncoordinated and unable to keep up with most of the moves.

You need to know this to understand how I approached swimming lessons, or as Lucia calls them, FIMMING lessons. Poor thing: in Norwegian it's pronounced SVIMMING so she's just incorporated both to make it FIMMING.

Kicking and Me Acting Like She's Won a Gold Medal. Which? Maybe still possible?

After watching her sink like a stone (and I mean, stone) this summer in our friend's (unheated) hot tub, we decided swim lessons were a MUST. We picked a hardcore swim school because we wanted her to learn to swim, not kick the crap out of another kid or squirt water in eyes and stuff. Those things can be learned for free, yo.

So along comes one of those coupon sites with -- get this! -- half off for one month of lessons at the very place we had selected. Freaking yes. PURCHASED. We go to a family swim one Sunday to make sure we like the place and before we went swimming that day, we headed over to the front desk to register her for classes. Naturally, Insane Overachieving Heather takes over and when asked what level I think she's at, "Perhaps the Tadpoles to start?" I guffawed. "Tadpoles. No, I think she's more like an advanced beginner." We finished signing up and then proceeded to the family swim area.

Only problem is, as soon as we walked into the pool area, Lucia burst into tears and proceeded to give me the death grip on the shoulders. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO she screamed! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DON WANNA GO FIMMING!

Ok then. So maybe the Tadpoles class will be just fine?

Since then, we've taken about 8 lessons with the Tadpoles class. Our first class went really well, and the teacher told us she was doing great and should be able to proceed up to the next level really quickly. Unfortunately, that teacher wasn't our teacher the next week. Or the week after that. When my parents were visiting, the teacher that week was training another teacher, who apparently Lucia hated. As luck would have it, he became the permanent teacher for our timeslot. Being a new teacher, he doesn't possess the confidence that other teachers do, and Lucia has basically no tolerance for that. It's like she's saying there's no way I'm swimming fimming to that guy; he has no idea what's he's doing. Which may be a fair point, kid.

Back before the other teacher took over

Learning how to get out of the water

Learning that it's OK to get your ears wet

Since then, Lucia's "skills" have stagnated, and I want to say even regressed. This is hard for Insane Overachieving Heather to admit. But it's true. She doesn't want to do "balloon cheeks" and she will barely kick with me. When we went up to Tahoe for the wedding I took her swimming fimming and she let go from the side of the pool and again, sank like a stone. THAT, friends, is the stuff nightmares are made of. (Sidenote: we got her a lifejacket for her birthday).

So we needed to take action. We told the front desk peeps that she didn't like her teacher, and wondered if there was a teacher that all the kids loved. The answer was Selma, and she's French. Having known some French women, I know they are no nonsense. PERFECT. We switched timeslots and had our first lesson Saturday. She was firm and much more confident and well, no nonsense than the other teacher. We're here to learn how to swim, not play in the water. Lucia did much better on Saturday and we praised the heck out of her repeatedly all day. I reminded her throughout the day how proud I was of her. I mean, we went all out. Lucia had a makeup lesson today with Selma (just a one-on-one) and apparently Selma is using some creative tricks to get Lucia to go under the water, since I'm pretty sure I ruined 1-2-3 balloon cheeks when trying to get her to do in Tahoe. We're thankfully back on tracking with swimming fimming lessons and hope she continues to make progress. We have just 6 months to go until summer!

Suggestions please?

We need suggestions for a special present that um, the Pacifier Fairy can bring Lucia. We've thought about a tricycle, but honestly we don't have the space and we live in a very hilly neighborhood. She has a dollhouse. She has movies. We're trying to think of something special and NEW that she will use for a while and really love. HALP!