Panda Land

Rather than filling our house with tons of gifts that would more than likely find their way to a charity within a year or two, Josh and I decided that it would be more enriching to take Ava somewhere every year for Christmas and/or her birthday. (Besides, between us we have three families and she is likely to be an only child, so I don't see her ever lacking in the toy or clothing department). We did get her the rocking panda (which my dad trumped with a rocking horse that shakes its tail and makes clomping noises... I will post a video of her on it once I learn how to transfer it from Josh's phone), but our real present to her was a trip to the zoo. We decided that Josh's birthday this past weekend would be the perfect excuse for me turn off my cell phone and for us to get away, if only for the day. (We couldn't have chosen a more beautiful weekend...the weather was perfect!). I was concerned that she would be too young to really enjoy it, but thankfully she has inherited my love for being outside in vegetation covered glory and both of our curiosity for new things. She loved it!

And while she foud new animals to intrigue and excite her (elephants, giraffes, monkeys, and meerkats), pandas are still the king of her forest. When she saw them , she pointed at them, then made kissing noises and patted her thigh. Based on recent reports of pandas "greeting" trespassers to their lair, I think it is probably better that they continued with their lounging and bamboo eating, but she was so excited! As you can see, she choose a newer, bigger stuffed panda from the gift shop (we named him Gou Gou-sp? aka "Big Big" after the male panda that was there), then abondoned him when she got home and saw old Panda.

Inauguration Day

I have been so excited for today and am even more excited for the years to come.

A rarity to have our television on all day, I have been transfixed by the events surrounding this grand day. At first disappointed that I hadn't won tickets to attend, I think I am better for being able to see more of what was happening, as cameras panned from events to faces, speeches to commentary, than I would have been had I been there, dwarfed against a backdrop of millions and struggling for a singular glimpse that may not have happened. Reporters have already articulated the myriad of ways in which today has stunning signifance and newspapers will be awash with photos to be savored from year to year, so I will refain from belaboring the points. Suffice it to say that hope, personified and framed, hangs in my hallway.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Observed.

I feel so privledged to have been born into a country that is able to so continuously try to perfect itself. Having recently been stunned into tearful silence by A Thousand Splendid Suns, I have been literally counting my blessings, as a mother, a daughter, and as a woman in general born in this great and varied land. In the past it has been a rarity that I have felt this patriotic. Which is not to say that I have updated my wardrobe with a complete array of red, white, and blue or that I have purchased stock in flag lapel pins. I still don't remember all of the words of the Star Spangled Banner (you wouldn't want to hear me sing it anyway) and I still sometimes confuse the tune of America The Beautiful with On Top of Old Smokey, but I am more thankful than I think I have ever realized.

Today I have been thinking about Afghanistan, at war for over 30 years, blanketing their women in obscurity, the scent of burnt books and art forever destroyed still fresh in the periphery of history. I have been envisioning 2000 year old sculptures crumbling beneath the force of dynamite and orphanages occupied by children who aren't all technically orphans. I have been intrigued about a nation whose trivialities over tribal loyalty have caused violence to cast a hazy shadow over an otherwise beautiful culture. And I have been thinking about how in the last 40 years our nation has gotten progressively better.

We are by no means perfect. As we compete for the bigger house, the more expensive car, the least amount of wrinkles, and the name brand clothes, our foreclosure rates soar. We can be arrogant despite high unemployment rates and selfish despite our blessings. But we unite when nature or an unforseen enemy destroys our cities, we defend our brother if only because he is ours, and we cry when we read emails about soldiers, children, or animals. We have enough water to bottle it, enough food to share, and clothes to give away. We have the luxury of complaint and the audacity of hope. We don't typically concern ourselves with the "ifs" in life, but with the "whens".

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word." As Afhghanistan continues its struggles to right its history's wrongs; rebuilding its cities, unveiling its women, and protecting itself against history's tendency towards repeats, we prepare to see another of Martin Luther King Jr's dreams awaken. We are a nation with its glass half full. And I am proud to make a toast.

Taking a Break...

"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. " -Barack Obama

I am so excited for the New Year! More thoughts later...

Santa's Coming to Town

When I was about 8 months pregnant, Josh bought Ava a stuffed animal panda from the zoo. (Walking the entire San Diego Zoo at 8 months pregnant in August is another story, not so fondly remembered that evening, but I won't get into that now). When she was about 9 months old she discovered Panda and decided that he would be her favorite. Naps and bedtime are never without him and we have to sneak him out of her sight in order to give him a bath (she takes him out of the hamper if she catches us trying to put him in with a load of her laundry). So you can imagine my excitement when I found her this for Christmas! I can't wait for her to discover it under the tree!

O' Christmas Tree

I had pretty much made up my mind that we weren't going to put up our tree this year, with my reason being that I didn't want Ava to pull the tree down on herself. Silly, I know, but then again I also decided that I could live without the red front loading washer I'd been pining over because there was a chance that Ava could crawl in and get trapped. (And of course, that realization was partially a response to the price of the washer and dryer. Two reasons not to buy it always sound better than just one, right?)... Anyhow, back to the tree. I think the real reason that I didn't want to put up the tree was a combination of laziness and well, laziness. I didn't want to actually have to get everything out of the shed, then spend hours rearranging ornaments until I was at least partly satisfied. (As it turns out, Josh got everything out of the shed and rather than spend hours allowing my obsessive compulsive side to take the reigns, I have been rearranging a little bit every day). And now back to the other laziness... I also didn't want to have to watch Ava every time she got near it. Aside from the before mentioned safety hazard, there is the before mentioned OCD.



But the Christmas spirit is alive and well in the aisles of Target. Something about getting practically ran over by a cart, having people step directly in front of me when I was looking at items on a shelf, and watching a family put a cookie jar that their son broke behind other cookie jars, just made me feel awash with Christmas joy. I decided that we needed to put up a tree. "Ava will love it," I told my mom, as I coincidentally found ornaments that would look perfect with those I already had and piled them into our cart. By the time I got home, Josh had already pulled everything out of the shed and within a couple of hours our tree was a glittery arrangement of bananas, orchids, birds of paradise, shells, starfish, and colorful ornaments.
And Ava loved it. The next morning she peered under branches at hidden treasures, attempted to eat a banana, and touched every decoration within her reach (when I told her "no" at every touch, she tried it all over again with her foot). Exasperated with not being able to give the dogs satiny lime green and plum globes, she resigned herself to lying on the floor and staring at my glowing concoction of color.




Antoine de Saint Exupery wrote, "The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them." In Ava's curiosity and wonder over something I would have just as soon left boxed up in the shed, I am reminded of days when a wrapping paper roll could be a sword, an appliance box could be a castle, and a ribbon could be a crown. I remember making stories out of words that I couldn't yet read and dreaming of places that only my imagination could create. I am reminded that even as adults there are times when we should allow routines and worries to give way to the magical and sublime; that a washcloth can be a hat, that it doesn't matter how the ornaments are arranged so long as they sparkle, and that sometimes children do know more than their parents.

Interlude

" We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." -Barack Obama