Life with Lotus Maria and Lucian Stone

Another silly photo

2009-07-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

I captured this moment during our Father's Day brunch. Lucian's face is priceless

Father's Day Fun

2009-06-21T19:34:00.001-07:00

We spent Father's Day enjoying a glorious day in Golden Gate Park. Nate relived his youth by breaking out his skateboard, Lotus had her new scooter and I had Lucian in the jogger stroller. We had a blast, especially Nate and Lo as you can see. Nate and I are determined to make her a skater chick, and the kind that skates, not the kind the watches the boys skate. If today is any indication then she is off to a good start.

Cute photo of the day

2009-06-20T12:12:00.001-07:00

I love this picture and wanted to share it with you all!

One more cute photo

2009-06-15T18:46:00.001-07:00

I just liked this picture of Nate and the kids, so I thought I'd share it.

Lucian's first post

2009-06-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

Our poor son, Lucian. He has been alive almost six weeks and this is the first post that even discusses his existence on the outside of my belly. In fairness it has been a crazy six weeks, so hopefully things will calm down and I can blog occasionally about life with two kids now.

So for those of you that don't know, Lucian Stone Stanton-Pearl was born at 12:12 on May 1st. Which is eight days after his due date and also Nate's birthday (he was born at 10:10am, in case you were curious). I really did not want Nate and his son to share a birthday. It's hard enough that Nate has to share a birthday with his twin brother. I always want to do something for Nate's birthday, but then it's also Matt's birthday and so we have to do something with him as well and it's just too darn complicated. So I did everything in my power not to have this kid on May 1st and apparently I just don't have any power. So against my wishes he arrived on his dad's birthday and quite dramatically as well. He got to spend a few hours in ICU because he had the umbilical chord wrapped around his neck, TWICE, and had myconium. I have to say the nurses at the hospital were amazing. I didn't realize how serious it was until I went to see the little guy in ICU. But they all reassured me he was going to be fine and a few hours later they released him.

Once we got home we were taken care of by Nate's dad. And thank god for him. He was amazing and I'm not sure how we would have survived with out his help. In fact I'm not sure how we are surviving now and I think he should come back immediately.

Lucian is pretty awesome and very mellow, which is great since our life has been chaos since his arrival. Nate had to leave on May 12th for almost two weeks. Yeah, that sucked. He had his first business trip and had to go to Europe for a Cars 2 reference trip. I know, cry lots of tears for Nate, especially the part where he ended his trip in Monte Carlo at the Grand Prix and I had to take Lucian to school with me for my final presentations. My dad, my friend Sarah and Rach and the girls all rotated in to help us in our time of need.

But Nate returned and we have all found a nice groove.

Lotus has embraced Big Sisterhood with gusto. Lucian smiles the most for her. She can be a bit rough and really doesn't understand why he can't play back, but overall she is just fabulous with him. I can't wait until they can play together.

I am happy be done with school and get into the swing of this parenting two kid thing.

In an effort to actually finish this post I am going to leave it at that and allow you to take a gander at our cute kids in the following photos.

Poppa Ron

2009-04-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

I love this super cute picture of Lotus and her Poppa Ron. He came with us to Fantastic Fridays at the Crissy Field Center. Lotus loves cuddling with her grandfather.

Easter

2009-04-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter around here. Both Nate's parents and my dad were in town and the weather was lovely.

A few days before Easter my brother came by and helped Lotus dye Easter Eggs.

They had a super great time, and the eggs were quite beautiful. Lotus was even amendable to dying a few not pink.

Easter morning the Easter bunny hid the dyed eggs and a few plastic ones as well in our backyard.

Lotus found them all and then we celebrated with a brunch with both her grandfathers and her grandmother. She got pretty sugared out, so later in the day Nate and I took Lotus to Golden Gate Park to run out the sugar.

Orange County and Los Angeles

2009-03-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

In February we took one last family vacation as a family of three. Nate is super busy with his new job as Story Supervisor, so I knew we couldn't go far or for long, but we had a pretty rainy February so I wanted to head south to some sun.

Lotus and I ditched town first and flew down to my cousin Monica's house in Newport Beach. We had a great time. It's hard to say who enjoyed themselves more, Lotus or I. Lotus was spoiled rotten by Auntie Monica and I was spoiled because she did everything for Lotus. I have never had so much down time. Certainly it was wonderful, but it did make me miss my mom and her sister, my Aunt Dee. Growing up Auntie Dee's house was better than Disneyland. I got to eat sugary foods, play with my seven cousins and was generally spoiled rotten. Monica recreated her mother's wonderful and magic aura with Lotus. And Lotus loved every minute of it. I mean look at what she got to eat with in one hour of our arrival.
Lotus with my cousins Monica and Mary Kay
Lotus and Emily, her new friend and Monica's neighbor.

It was hard to leave, but I knew I would get soft and Lotus would become incorrigible if we didn't continue on to LA a few days later. We met Nate at our favorite hotel in Santa Monica and had a sunny few days playing on the Westside and seeing old friends.

It was only a long weekend, but I was glad to have a little time with my husband and daughter, before the chaos of the new baby ensued.
Our serious cow girl at the pony rides at The Venice Farmer's Market.

Slide Ranch... or a City Girl Milks a Goat

2009-03-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we got a call from Lotus' preschool teacher that the field trip she thought was scheduled for May was actually that week. I was a little annoyed, because I wanted to go and I had appointments scheduled for the day. I hate last minute scheduling upheavals, but rescheduling my appointments was a small price to pay to get some Lotus time pre-new baby.

The field trip was a Slide Ranch, which is a wonderful teaching farm not far from The City on the way to Stinson Beach

I was certainly glad I was able to go, because there is nothing like seeing your city girl learn how to milk a goat. Or realize she has a deep seeded fear of chickens.

This is the last photo I was able to take before the chickens freaked Lotus out and I had to pick her up and run far from the coop with her over my head.

Band Practice

2009-03-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Updates are few and far between these days as we get ready for the arrival of baby X, or Equis, as we call him around here. But I wanted to post this cute video of Nate and Lotus

New Year's Day

2009-01-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day was our wedding anniversary. We have survived five whole years together. And sappily enough it's only getting better and better. I really wanted to do something as a family since our little world is going to be rocked with the addition of our boy in April. So we went to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk for the day. It was a beautiful sunny day, and even though only half the rides were open we had a blast.

Lotus was so brave going on all the rides she was allowed to go on and seriously bummed she couldn't go on a roller coaster. Our daredevil, I love it!

Before heading back up to the city we got an early dinner at The Palomar and made it home in time for Lotus' bedtime.

We can't wait until the summer time to go back and Lotus can't wait to add on a few more inches so she hits the height requirement for the big kid rides.

Christmas

2009-01-14T15:42:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We stayed home which was nice since the end of the year was a bit hectic for both Nate and I and thus Lotus. Nate had a few extra days off so it was lovely to lounge around SF during the break.

Lotus really got into Christmas this year and I think we are in a particularly magical time when the rituals of the holiday are more important that the stuff she gets. I'm not sure if it's the lack of television, the Waldorf School or just this age, but Lotus was way more excited about the tree, turning on the lights and Christmas decorations than she was putting together a lengthy list of loot she expected Santa to deliver. In fact her list for Santa was quite sweet. She wanted a red Rocking Chair, a tiny Clifford doll and a baby bottle. My dad procured the red rocking chair and Santa did bring the rest.

Christmas Eve we went to Andrew and Julie's, which was great and then on the way back home we saw a family of deer in the middle of the road. Lotus was so excited because she was certain they were Santa's reindeer. Which was pretty cool.

The next day we did our traditional early morning present opening and then over to my cousin's Toby and John's for brunch. It's always super fun, but this year Lotus and John and Toby's grandson, Owen really hit it off. Last year they were both a bit young to even notice each other. When it was time to go Lotus announced she would only go "if the boy was coming with us."

We try to spread the presents out through out the day, so she at least acknowledges what she got and from whom. So my dad joined us after brunch for some more presents.

Then Nate and I cooked up a traditional Christmas dinner, and yes that means turkey. Now don't go thinking this house has gone all carnivore, but I thought if we were going to have meat eaters over for Christmas dinner it's the least I could do. I was also feeling a bit nostalgic because my dad had given my sister and I my mom's china this year and it was my first meal using it. I didn't go too crazy, like actually stuffing or cooking a dead bird. I just ordered a precooked one from Whole Foods (A big thanks to my friend, Leeann for that tip). I just picked it up and heated it up and we were good to go. I did have to deal with the carcass and the left overs the next day and even then I only whined to my dad until he took care of it. We did make everything else, which was pretty fun. Lotus is a big help in the kitchen these days, so she even got into the mix.

It was a lovely holiday and it was nice to take some time to celebrate the season with our family before it grows this Spring.

A few family photos

2009-01-08T22:56:00.000-08:00

When we were in Portland in November Rachel's friend Merin took these lovely family photos.

Aren't we cute?

Lotus visits Santa

2008-12-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

We have had two disastrous Santa visits with Lotus. Last year we didn't even make it to Santa's lap. She waited in line to see Santa, but in the end she lost it and we had to run off. I mean I can't really blame her, we tell her to beware of strangers and then we push her towards an older gentleman she doesn't know and say sit on his lap and smile.

This year I suggested we send him a letter, but as the idea of Santa became clearer she decided that she wanted to tell him face to face her Christmas wants. And since her list was so sweet I really wanted her to be able to tell him.

We went to the mall mid-week so there was no line and she just hopped up on his lap and told Santa that she wanted a rocking chair, a baby bottle and a tiny Clifford the red dog doll. She then smiled sweetly and we got this awesome photo.

Later on I realized we hadn't really told Lotus the full Santa story when my friend Laurie asked Lotus where Santa lived and she responded "The mall." Obviously there were a few blanks Nate and I needed to fill in.

Thanksgiving Day

2008-12-04T15:58:00.001-08:00

After the chaos of the day before Thanksgiving Nate and I looked forward to a much calmer Thanksgiving Day. Luckily I had made dinner reservations for the Pearl's and I have to say I think this was the smartest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I booked us a table at our favorite hotel/resort/ interesting eatery, Edgefield. They had a Thanksgiving buffet, which was perfect. It's hard to satisfy us all during the holidays. Everyone but my dad is a vegetarian, or I guess pescatarian these days, but if there is not turkey Poppa Art is not a happy camper. The whole event was great, the girls all got along, it was nice without being stuffy, lots of families so we weren't the only ones trying to keep our kids in their seats, we were able to get Kaiya and Lotus with in moments of sitting downs and they had really good food. It was so good that Nate even said "let's do this every year." And you know that is saying a lot if you have ever heard how he was traumatized the first Thanksgiving he spent with my family.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Nate, Lotus and I went up to Portland for Turkey Day last week. One of the great advantages of an economy in shambles is the Thanksgiving travel was stress-free. Even my hated SFO airport was quite quiet. Everyone who works there was still rude and totally inefficient, so that hasn't changed. Thank God the shock would be too much for me to handle.

We arrived in Portland on Tuesday night, which was also Kaiya's 5th birthday. We, sadly, arrived too late to celebrate with her that night, but we had plans to take her shopping the next day. My dad picked us up and Lotus was so excited to see her Poppa Art. Though admittedly she was more excited to see Kaiya. Which proved a problem that night when she was too wound up to sleep. So our first night in our favorite hotel proved to be a long one.

The next day we got up early, basically because Lotus got us up with "ARE WE GOING TO SEE KAIYA!!" We told her not until the afternoon, but time is still a bit of an abstract concept to our energetic three year old. So all day long she asked, "Are we going to get Kaiaya, NOW!!" We had plans to visit some friends of Nate's and then pick Kaiya up mid-day and go shopping and then hit the indoor pool at our hotel. Those were the plans, but fate intervened. On our way to pick up Kaiya we got a flat tire in our rental car. We had rented this hideous mini-van so I could try and avoid having to be in a car with my dad behind the wheel. The problem with said car was that they did everything in their power to put the spare in the most impossible to reach location, so we had to get AAA to change the tire. Which I just have to say really bugs me. I mean statistically women/ mothers buy minivans so this just seems really dangerous and an obvious omission in knowing your consumer demographic. I can change a tire, but I need to be able to get the tire to change it. The spare time was under the car. You unlatched the spare inside the car, but you had to slide under the car to get it out. Okay, so if I was alone, pregnant and with a three year old in the car by the side of the road how would that work? Let's say it was night. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. This was of course a Dodge which is owned by Chrysler. Chrysler which is one of the now infamous Big Three, I mean seriously do we want to bail out idiots who makes cars like these. Any wonder why they are in such serious trouble. Okay, so I digressed a bit.

By the time we got back on the road an hour and a half later pre-Thanksgiving traffic was awful and it took us an hour and half to go a distance that should have taken 30 minutes. Kaiya was really fantastic, she was so excited about seeing Lotus that she was okay with us rescheduling her shopping trip, which I have to say I'm not sure I would have been so understanding. We now had to race back to the rental car place and exchange the car before they closed for the holiday. The same traffic we hit on the way to pick up Kaiya was now going the opposite direction. So we made it, barely. In the end it all work out. Even though the girls were stuck in the car forever they entertained themselves and were just happy to see one another. We met up with the rest of my family for pizza and then we all hit the pool. It was a long first day, but seeing Lotus and Kaiya together makes it worth it!

Here we go again... but much differently

2008-12-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who didn't catch it in my political rant blog, the Stanton-Pearl clan is growing. This time in my belly, because why do anything the same twice. We found out we are having a boy, which comes as no great shock since I think there has only been one girl Stanton born in many generations. He is healthy and now that I am done being sick as hell all is well. Lotus can't wait to "boss him around".

Halloween 2008

2008-12-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

After last years Halloween fiasco (see January 2008 to review) I was considering ignoring to whole end of October event. Sadly my daughter has gotten too clever for this charade and she knew something was coming up, but she was also apprehensive as well. See Halloween is scary and strangely enough a three year old does not like all the scary monsters and ghosts. This adds an element of fear for Nate and I, since we have just gotten over a particularly bad sleep disorder spell with Lotus. We were both terrified that all the Halloween decorations would send Ms. Lotus back to the very bad place of no-sleep.

So I was kind of torn what to do. Lotus has really gotten into playing dress up, especially with all the horrid pink princess dresses that she got for her birthday, so I wanted her to have the dress up Halloween experience, but I also didn't want her terrified. In the end I didn't think I could get away with just boycotting trick or treating.

Another option was presented to us through her school, but it also made me nervous. Lotus goes to a Waldorf School and I feel like I am still navigating all the rules of the Waldorf lifestyle. I also don't like rules and it is in my nature to recoil when there are too many boundaries. Nevertheless the main Waldorf School was having a Fairy Walk on Halloween night, I had no idea what a Fairy Walk was, but all of Lotus' class was going and I do like the families in our school so I signed us up as well. As we got closer the event we got the list of rules, the main one being no characters from the media. Lotus had her heart set of wearing one of her DISNEY princess dresses. I did not see this going well. I do have an issue with this aspect of the Waldorf philosophy. Even though I understand that the media has way too much influence on children's imagination, I feel like I am stifling Lotus' creativity if I dictate what she can or can not wear. I came to a compromise with Lotus and myself, if she wanted to wear the non-commercial fairy outfit that she had we would go to the Waldorf School Fairy Walk and if she donned the Sleeping Beauty costume we would trick or treat in our neighborhood at non-scary houses.

As fate would have it she chose the fairy outfit and we joined her classmates at the main Waldorf campus in Pacific Heights. And I have got to tell you am I glad we did. All my nervousness was for nothing. First off their were a few kids in Disney Princess Costumes with the label covered up, so I felt like there is some wiggle room and I can live with rules if there is room for interpretation.

Second, Lotus loves her classmates and they were all so cute hanging out together. Lastly, the walk itself was amazing. I am so sad they didn't let us take photographs inside. The school took groups of kids through the campus that was decorated in various Fairy Tales with older kids and adults acting out the stories. It was entirely magical and made me realize what a special experience the Waldorf school creates both in the classroom and outside.

In the end Lotus had a wonderful Halloween and she got to wear her Disney Princess costume a couple days later at the annual Pixar kiddie Parade.

A historic night

2008-11-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

Last night we allowed Lotus to stay up way past her bedtime to watch history being made. I was in shock at President Elect Obama's landslide win and it wasn't until this morning that I realized it was real and the tears started to flow. I am so excited about the future and proud to be and American. The past of old white man, ignorance, intolerance and business as usual rule was sent packing and innovation, collaboration and intelligence rose to the top. What a wonderful world!!

As a member of a multi-racial family I also am so overwhelmed what this amazing man and his family what that signifies to my daughter, my nieces and our great group of diverse friends. Today on the news they showed Obama's photo in the line up with all of the US presidents. I think I realized I have been holding my breath my entire life waiting for a change in that line up. My mother always told me I could be President of the United States, but I don't know if I ever thought it was possible because no one who wasn't a white man had done it before. Now that that door is open let's kicked it down and take it off it's hinges.

So on this day I am so thrilled and hopeful (and exhausted). I know the real work starts now, and all that work does not only fall on President Obama's shoulders. It is up to all of us Americans to work hard to make sure that change happens and we get this amazing country back on track. Yes, we can and last night we as a people showed the world yes , we did.

Moving on... Lotus' third birthday

2008-10-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

On September 11th our little princess turned three. This year in an effort to make things easier, we decided to have a little kid birthday and a separate small dinner for a few family members.

This of course made things more difficult and twice the work, but c'est la vie.

Lotus has made some adorable friends over the past year and we really wanted to have an event all the kids could enjoy and with any luck their parents as well. Since Lotus was 18 months old she been taking gymnastics class at Acrosports. We love the place. She has the best time, is learning some stuff and just gets bolder and braver with every class. When we realized they hosted birthday parties, we booked it immediately. Our plan was to have a great party for Lotus, have the kids run around like crazy, feed them and send them home ready to pass out. I think we were pretty successful.

Lotus and the other kids had a blast. I have to say our kiddo is a pretty good party host. She greeted all her guests, made sure everyone was having fun and introduced kids that didn't know each other. She loved having the whole floor for just her and her friends.

The cutest moment was went went into the other room for pizza and cake. Seeing Lotus at the head of the table surrounded by her wonderful friends created a pretty warm and fuzzy feeling. The best was when we sang her happy birthday and she pointed at herself and sang "happy birthday, to me".

My political rant

2008-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Did you all think I was really going to stay silent with the most important election of our lifetime looming in the distance??? (I actually feel all elections should be the most important election of our lifetime, so I am not sure this statement is worth more than a tantalizing tidbit to drag readers in). So if you are hoping for a cute story about Lotus and our wacky family antics, feel free to skip ahead.

In the interest of full disclosure and putting it out on the table I am not a McCain supporter, but I used to have a lot of respect for McCain (Dad, you can flip out now and call and yell at me). After the first debate I heard a lot of what he said and was impressed. I was not going to pretend like he had a chance of getting my vote, but I was trying to listen to both candidates and hear both sides. It's called critical thinking and I'd like to be good at it. Certainly his foreign policy experience is worthy of respect and I heard that it in the first debate. But after the last few weeks my respect has been replaced by absolute disgust. And this last debate pushed me over the edge. Mid debate I had to put Lotus in the bathtub, I didn't want her hearing a man, who should be considered a hero, debase himself so much. It has taken me almost a full week to calm down enough to right this all down.

There were so many distortions and half truths that I wouldn't know where to start, so to focus the scope of my rant I am going to focus on one area that hasn't gotten the press I would like it to. McCain brushed off the idea the importance of women's health so patronizingly with his air quotes that I thought I had been scooped up and placed in some less developed country that still treats women like property. Look McCain has indisputable record of not voting on or voting against gender equality issues. But I got to say this clip took the cake and thenwhat really got my goat was when he refered to being an adoptive parent as if that will be some sort of catch all solution.

The one thing, as far as I can tell, that Nate and I have in common with Mr. and Mrs. McCain is being adoptive parents. And like the McCain's we are international adoptive parents, so the idea that the McCain's or the Stanton-Pearl's can promote their adoption as a prescription of a solution in a post-Roe v. Wade world is disingenuous. I can not speak about the McCain's and the circumstance of their adoption, but I can speak about ours and the idea that it is a black and white solution is also ridiculous. I love my daughter more than life itself, but I can not say many days pass where I don't think about her biological mother and the choice that she had to make (and I think choice is a pretty generous word). Lotus attacks every opportunity with such gusto and I am honored that we have the means to present her with many life building opportunities. Does that mean her life is better with us? I can't say, not that I won't say, but I can't say. It tugs at our heart often this triad that has been created, but it's not in balance. Lotus's biological mother knows nothing of her life, she doesn't even really know where she is. Take a moment to think about that. I would DIE if I didn't know where Lotus was for 5 minutes, much less the past 3 years. And that's the way it is for right now, if Lotus is old enough and wants to change that then we support her fully. But as a mother, knowing there is another mother out there that doesn't know where her daughter is... well I'm crying right now thinking about it.

I also am reading The Girls Who Went Away, about the years before Roe v. Wade and teen age mothers who had NO CHOICE and had their children ripped from then and placed for adoption. I doubt those mothers would say adoption is the best answer. That being said adopting our daughter has been the best experience of our life, and through all the craziness and complex feelings there is not a doubt in my mind that we were all meant to be together. All I am saying that is that it is not as black and white as Mr. McCain seemed to make it.

I'm not done yet, sorry. I want to go back to the hand gesture about women's health. Now that I am pregnant with our second child (just checking to see who is still reading, yup it's true). The idea that my health, if some complication arises and we as a family have to make some horrible decision, could possibly be in the hands of this man, seeing as this kid will be born during a new administration, is down right terrifying. The idea of women's health, pregnancy complications, and birth defects and what we would do in any of these situations is something Nate and I have discussed at length. And that's how it should be, choices and decisions being made by the parties involved not some 70 year old white man who doesn't know a damn thing about our family.

Finally, I'd like to know just exactly WHAT Mr. McCain is going to do for single mothers that make the choice to raise their children. Being intimately involved with two amazing single mothers I can say for a fact I don't see anyone from the McCain camp offering up any solutions to these ladies. Furthermore I also don't see anyone from the pro-life movement pounding down their door offering up support, child care or a shoulder to lean on. So someone explain that one to me, please? I will be happy to discuss this offline if anyone wants to give me their thoughts.

Okay, this election is too important to be a one issue election. I am not expecting to change minds (especially since I think about 50 people read this and we all probably agree) I just wanted to speak my peace. I will be HAPPY to continue this discussion if anyone wants to email me or call me.

Thanks for listening,
Love Esther

Girls Rock!

2008-10-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Early in the summer, on a rare date, Nate and I got to see a great film, Girls Rock!. We were enthralled by this great documentary about a Rock and Roll Camp for pre teen and teen girls in Portland, Oregon. Nate contacted the film makers and had them bring the film to Pixar to screen it there. After the film he found out there was also a Bay Area Girls Rock camp and that they were having a showcase in a couple weeks. There was no way we were going to miss that and since Lotus has become a little rock and roller we knew she would have a great time as well. As luck would have it Rachel, Kaiya and Mila were in town as well, so we all got to check out the talents of local 8-16 year old girls.

The show was at Bottom of the Hill and it was PACKED! I have never seen so many people in that club. We couldn't get Kaiya and Lotus close to the stage so they danced on the bar. The girls on stage were amazing. In one week they have to form a band, write a song and in many cases learn an instrument. Then they performed it with so much heart in front of all these people. I was so moved, I think I cried and smiled the whole time. I mean imagine if this had existed when I was a teen, I wouldn't be near the wall flower I am now.

Lotus and Kaiya had the best time. They put on there own rock and roll show during lunch and both of them (and their parents) can't wait until they are old enough to go to rock camp.

Comic-Con 2008

2008-08-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

Clearly we are insane, because after all the traveling we have done this summer we went on yet another trip. And not any trip mind you, but we all, including Lotus, went to San Diego for Comic-Con. Now for those of you living under a rock you might not know what comic-con is. And I ask, "How is that possible? It was even featured on an episode of Entourage for Christ sake." But in case it is possible you haven't heard of it, comic-con is technically the largest comic book convention in the world, but to call it just that is really selling it short and not doing it justice. It is mostly known for it's costumed participants. Fans of sci-fi, superhero and other genres dress up as their favorite characters and wander the San Diego Convention Center. Or as my dear cousin Monica put it fondly, "the weirdos", but they are only one portion of the 150,000 people that come to this event. Yes, you read that right. Yes, that is a lot of people in one place costumed or not. Besides being a mid-July Halloween Ball it is also a great display of artistry. My favorites are meeting the smaller up and coming artist. Last time we went I met a wonderful young Israeli woman who had illustrated a really charming comic about her conflicted feelings about the current relationship between the Palestinians and Israeli's. This year I got to meet my name doppelganger. There is a comic book artist named Esther Pearl Watson. She has a comic strip in the back of my favorite magazine and our lives have run parallel enough that I am often asked if I created that comic and she is often asked if she worked at Pixar. It was nice to meet her, but a little awkward . I like my name and the uniqueness of it. I assume she is the same way so though I think we were both happy to put a face to the other "Esther", we didn't become bff's or anything.

This is also the occasion that all the major studios have displays and give presentations for the up-coming tv and film releases. So that's a huge draw. And for some reason there are always a lot of scantily clad women and washed up tv stars hawking signed photos of themselves.

Lotus and I only lasted a few hours at the actual convention. But before I felt the panic attack come on she got to meet a princess, Wonder Woman and played with Lego's. She was in heaven. The crowd got too much for me, so after a bit Lo and I headed back to the hotel pool so Nate could go to some presentations.

We finished that day doing some amazing people watching in the Gaslamp district in San Diego. Lotus kept pointing out all the princesses and how beautiful they all were, and for this I blame Nate. I tell her every day that princesses are evil, but she is now caught under their damn spell and I am doing my best to breathe deep and ignore it.

The next day we had breakfast in La Jolla with my cousin Monica and Norm and their son Kevin and his wife Michaelle. They were so sweet. Monica and Norm drove all the way from Orange County and I can't tell you how great they are. But Lotus immediately fell in love with Kevin. I have a lot of cousins and Lotus has A LOT more. It hard for poor Nate to keep it all straight. I can't do that whole "first cousin, once removed thing" so they are all just cousins and he wants to know how we are all related. I don't know why it matters, but if wants to worry about it he can figure it out. Lotus is now potty trained, so this means we need to check out every potty every where we go. Sometimes numerous times. After the third visit to the potty during breakfast she informed me that "next time I want Kevin to take me". Kevin is great with kids, but I think potty duty might be too much for even him. I told her not to press her luck or her play date with her twenty something cousin might come to an abrupt end.

After breakfast Kevin and Michaelle went to Sea World with us. Lotus was in heaven. Michaelle and Kevin just doted over her. Kevin is super tall so her could lift her up so she could see all the animals. She got to pet a dolphin and taught Kevin how to walk like a penguin.
It was so freaking cute. Kevin has always been the sweetest kid and so it's lovely to see how he is still the sweetest adult.

We spent the rest of the time in the pool and lapping up the San Diego sun. It would have been the perfect vacation, but when we got to the airport the next day to leave, there was a mix up with our flight. Meaning we weren't on it, being that about 150,000 people were leaving San Diego that day there was no chance of getting on another flight that day. So we rented a car and drove. It wasn't the funnest 10 1/2 hours I have ever had, but it wasn't the worst either. We made it home and that's all that matters.

First week of school

2008-07-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Lotus just finished her first week of school, how crazy is that? Her preschool, Morning Glory, offers a summer program to ease the kids into the school year. Morning Glory is a Waldorf School, and the classroom is earthy and warm. The Waldorf schools only have wooden toys, all organic food and a generally very natural vibe. But it also means no TV or Media... ever. Some of the schools even make you sign a contract, my only concern was if it was legally binding. That's going to be a hard one for this household. But so far she hasn't complained.

Monday was Lotus' first day. She was pretty excited and has been talking about it for months. Mostly she would inform Nate and I that she was going to school "by myself, no mommy or daddy." Sometimes she would say that Max, the cute waiter at the neighborhood restaurant we go to all the time, could go with her. I thought that was hysterical, but it gave Nate a small heart attack. Even with all this big talk I was still pretty sure this would be a hard week. I have rarely dropped her off anywhere and left and when I have it has only been for a couple hours and now she was going to school for four hours for four straight days. She also has been particularly "two" this past week, all over the place emotionally, lots of dramatics and wearing Nate and I out. Needless to say I was pretty nervous.

Monday morning Nate and I strolled into the preschool class prepared for the worst. We were the first to arrive and she started playing immediately with all the cool wooden toys.
I chatted with the teacher Todd, while another little boy showed up and the two of them started to play. There was then a few awkward moments of me not knowing what to do and the teacher told us we could go. I tensed up waiting for the scream of all screams but she just waved to Nate and I and said "Bye, see ya later." And that was that. Everyday has been pretty breezy. Mostly she doesn't want to leave. So that's that. She is no longer a toddler, but a preschooler. But Max does not get to take her to school yet... much to Lotus' chagrin.

2008-07-06T22:16:00.001-07:00

More cute pics from our vacation. Mostly of Lotus in her favorite place, the pool.