Jason and Allie have been practicing their swimming a lot lately and Allie is getting pretty good. She can dog-paddle around a little, swim on her back but she swims the best underwater! I went out with them this weekend. Allie finally decided to try her goggles out and was really excited once she figured out how they work and that she could actually see underwater with them. I tried to get some video of her swimming underwater - she swims like a fish!
Oh yes, already - the lovely school pictures have arrived!
Compilation of portraits Allie has taken so far:
Allie, 4/5 months old, Christmas 2005
Allie, ~1 year old, Summer 2006
2 years old - Christmas 2007
Allie, 3 years old - 2008
Allie, 4 years old - 2009
And now for the latest addition. . . .Allie's Kindergarten picture:
Allie, 5 years old - 2010
You can tell she's at a bigger school now where they spend a lot less time with the kids while taking the pictures. Anyway, it's not too bad - much better than my kindergarten picture, although she kinda has the same awkward smile. haha Also, I allowed her to dress and style herself this time, hence the crazy hair and turquoise headband. She looks like a local girl though!
Football starts today so Jason got up before dawn to start his beloved tradition of watching football all morning and afternoon with some friends. Since this is was my last full day with Allie before I leave for San Francisco we spent the day doing some fun things. She loves going to the playground, so we started off the morning at the Punahou School playground. Speaking of, we saw their new kindergarten/first grade building, which is RIDICULOUS. I guess that's what $20,000/year tuition buys you. Anyway, we like to go use their playground for free. I brought along my Instax for the day because I have a bunch of film and have been itching to take some pics. After the playground I took Allie up to Makiki Heights to one of the look-outs over the city, so I could play around with my camera some more. She said she was scared at first - I think because i told her we were going to drive up a huge hill and look at the city. But she thought it was cool once we got up there. I wanted to stop by the bookstore and pick up a couple magazines for my trip and it was about lunchtime, so we headed over to the mall and grabbed a small lunch and browsed the bookstore. After that we went to Yogurtland! :D If you don't know what Yogurtland is, I'm very sorry, but its awesome! They have about 15 flavors of soft serve frozen yogurt and it's all self-serve. And then they have about 30-40 topping options! We each chose 3 different flavors (Pumpkin Pie, Blood Orange/Peach Swirl, and Strawberry & Cheesecake Swirl!) and some toppings. I usually get strawberries, mochi cubes, these weird like popping gel balls and this jelly/jello mix. Allie goes more for the cereal/candy options - fruit loops, gummie bears, jelly beans. Anyway, it was a good day. Later on I went to the coffee shop with my friend, Mo, for a couple hours. We're going to try to start of weekly ritual at the same time every week of going to the coffee shop and working on our stuff for a couple hours. It does help to be there with someone who's working on their own stuff and helps me focus on my own work. I really, really want to graduate this spring!
I finally got a copy of Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids yesterday! And yes, I can confirm that Allie is in the book along with some little thing I wrote. YAY! I'm so happy!
The photographer is Kip Fulbeck - I've been a fan of Kip's since he came out with his first book, Part Asian, 100% Hapa. He's half-Chinese and someone who really understands the experience of bring "mixed." He's an artist and a professor at UCSB. Anyway, I was thrilled enough to just to get to meet the guy, let alone have him photograph Allie. He was really good with the kids, but Allie was a bit shy around him which I think he captured in the photo.
There is also an exhibition of some of the photographs at the Japanese American National Museum in LA which ends this month. I'm sad I didn't get the chance to see it! Also, there is an interview floating around with Kip on the book and the interviewer actually mentions Allie :). Mixed Kids Interview
This is all very exciting for me - this book and the people who care about these things didn't exist for me when I was growing up. That's why I'm incredibly thrilled to be a part of all this - I've wanted to be involved with things like this for years. The sad irony is that Allie probably won't think so much of it when she grows up since she lives in Hawaiʻi where being "mixed" is the norm.
Anyway, look for your copy of the book around Christmas time ;)
I think corn on the cob is her favorite food. She's been more adventurous with her eating - we make her at least try everything on her plate and she's been following through pretty well and finding some new things she likes. The lure of dessert is very powerful.
So today I was talking Allie through the McDonald's drive-thru for a happy meal since Jason is playing poker tonight and I don't feel like cooking. Anyway, the last time we went they messed up our order some how. So as we're waiting in line in the drive thru Allie says "What is wrong with them? Why do they always mess it up!?" I ask her who she talking about and she says "the people that work here! Is it just that they watch TV all day so it rots their brains and they can't even remember anything!?" haha! Yes and that is exactly why we don't watch TV all day.
In other events, we went to a potluck with the other parents the other night. It was nice to meet some more of the parents. We started talking to the parents of one of the boys in Allie's class. I asked the little boy what his name because I still don't know who all the kids are in Allie's class. He gave me a deer-in-headlights look and blurted out "Allie has a boyfriend!" I was like "uhhh. . .? oh really?" haha, the dad was like "she asked you what your name was!"
Anyway, Allie is very smart about it. . .smarter than most girls I know. She says she's too young for a boyfriend - which I keep telling her anyway. But they can be friends. It is kind of cute though. . . tonight she told us that when she does the monkey bars and starts falling off he always comes over and catches her so she doesn't get hurt. Awee. . .
Allie made this sign today. It's supposed to be a football (the green & black striped thing) and the circle with cross around it. . . kinda. It's supposed to be our "No football watching" sign for the TV! heh heh
