Dickinson Family Halloween Drama

Act I
In which Mazie decides that she will be a witch and Athena will be a black cat.

Act II
In which Mazie decides that she and her mom must have matching beautiful princess costumes out of a catalog (for $80 each).  Mom protests.

Act III
In which Mazie sees a pirate costume at Costco and declares that the whole family will be pirates.  The price tag is reasonable and Mom has a pirate costume ready to go from Zack and Julie's wedding, so she concedes.  Pirate costumes are subsequently purchased for Dad and Athena, and the Dickinson Pirate Family makes an appearance at the Louisville MonsterDash race on Saturday.

Act IV
In which the day of Halloween arrives and Mazie "The Diva" James suddenly decides that her pirate costume is ugly/ makes her look like a boy/ doesn't have the right shoes to go with it/ is generally and indisputably unacceptable and will not be worn.  The Dickinsons thus spend Halloween as 3 pirates and a princess.

Act V
In which we conclude that, hey, at least our younger daughter still wears whatever we put on her, and makes a pretty darn cute pirate.

Mazie the Flamingo Dancer

Ahya left on Saturday for a 3-week work trip to Spain.  On Friday before she left, she showed Mazie a video of flamenco dancers (or "flamingo dancers").  Mazie told me about it when I got home, and I asked her to show me what flamingo dancers look like.  Her rendition was pretty impressive (the fact that she happened to be wearing an animal print leotard adds a nice touch).

Athena is 14 months old

... and getting cuter every day!



Athena's communication skills continue to grow.  Our latest count puts her at about 13 words and 22 signs.  Yesterday we had dinner at the aquarium and she worked on "fish" (or, in Athena-speak, "BSH!" with wiggly hands).  "Bye bye," Mazie's first word, has also gotten very clear:


Along with all of her individual words, we can tell that her thought processes are becoming more complex... we can have longer conversations, like the other night when she wanted to nurse (making her sign for milk), and I explained that we were first going to have a bath, then read a book, and then have milk and go to sleep.  She watched intently and then happily marched to the stairs to go up for bathtime.  It's also so fun to get glimpses into her own original thoughts.  A couple of weeks ago we were going to watch one of Caleb's soccer games and as we were walking across the fields toward the game I turned around and she had stopped a ways behind me -- her hands were on the ground and she was attempting a somersault.  We had gone to gymnastics earlier in the day, and apparently she was just suddenly struck with the urge to practice her skills!  (A day or two later she successfully pulled off her first solo somersault at Ahya's house.)  Here's another game she made up on her own:


In a development that is both cute and a little troubling, she has found her "no."  When offered a food she doesn't want or asked to do something else she doesn't want to do, she shakes her head and repeats, "nonononono" with perfect little o-shaped lips.

"Doggie" is another favorite word & sign, and both Wiley and Bailey (she also knows "cat" and does a pretty cute "meow") are big hits.  She loves to cuddle Wiley and give him enthusiastic pats, and also enjoys holding on to his tail and following him around.  He is very tolerant of her affection.  Bailey is more elusive... she tends to run away when Athena comes after her, which makes her an especially exciting sight around the house.  And of course, the MOST exciting family member is Mazie.  Mirroring the enthusiasm that Mazie has always shown towards her, Athena now starts most days by jumping on her sister and squealing.  They are quite the pair.

From October 2012

Fun Weekend

This past weekend, Caleb, Athena, and I traveled to California for two great events: my 10 year Stanford reunion, and my dear friend Maggie Roach's wedding to Taylor Black.  We had a wonderful time seeing old friends and enjoying the gorgeous California weather.

Here is Athena rocking her nametag on Stanford's campus:


And here she is practicing her dance moves on the Google bus that took us from Santa Cruz up the coast to Pie Ranch, the wedding venue:


Here we all are at the wedding (it was sunny!):


Athena danced the night away and ended her evening passed out on a couch.  Overall, she was a great traveling companion.

Meanwhile, Mazie had a fun-filled weekend back in Colorado.  After she told me that she felt "excluded" when I went to Maggie's bachelorette party a few weeks ago, we were a little concerned that she would have a hard time being left behind while the rest of us went on our trip.  In the end, we stretched the truth just a tad (telling her we were going to a "meeting" in California... technically not lie, right?  We sure met with lots of people!), but, more importantly, our wonderful family pitched in to give her such a great time that I don't think she missed us for a second.  On Thursday, my mom picked her up from school and drove up to Vail, where they met up with Ty and Sara and stayed in a fancy hotel.  Friday was Mazie's "date day" with Ahya: they wore beautiful dresses and let Ty and Sara tag along for lunch on the condition that they also look beautiful.  On Friday night, Ahya left Mazie with Ty and Sara for an action-packed evening and morning of baking, movie watching, and music making (Aunt Sara documents it here).  And then on Saturday morning Mazie got to meet up with Aunt Jen and OLIVIA (and Mia and Maggie) who were up in Vail for a soccer tournament Mia was playing in.  Mazie got TWO sleepovers with Olivia (on Saturday and Sunday nights), and then we picked up a tired but happy kid on Monday morning.

Athena Performs

This is quite an entertaining age -- every day Athena is learning more ways to communicate, interact, and perform!




Of course, all of this activity can really tire a girl out...

Jacob and Gavin

Yesterday we got to visit with the Oslands, good friends of ours from our Durham days who now live in Louisiana.  Anna grew up in Fort Collins and her mom now lives in Boulder, so we are lucky enough to get to see them a couple of times each year when they come to visit.  As we pulled up to Anna's mom's house, Mazie informed me that she was going to be shy... about 10 seconds later she and Jacob were chatting away to each other and having a grand old time playing in the backyard.


Gavin and Athena, just 3 weeks apart, also played pretty well together... a lot of parallel play, but they did interact a bit.  Gavin picked up a ball Athena was playing with and gave it back to her.  Pretty cute kids.


Jacob is just 3 months older than Mazie, and Anna and I went to prenatal yoga together in Durham... Actually, the Oslands played a big role in our decision to get pregnant with Mazie -- Caleb was trying to talk me into it but it was about 2 years before we had been planning to have our first kid.  After talking it through with Anna, who was already pregnant with Jacob, I decided we should go for it!  Five years later, it's pretty amazing to see how our families have grown, and so nice that we've been able to keep in touch and see each other so regularly despite both moving all over the country!


May 2008: Jacob visiting Mazie in the hospital the day after she was born.


August 2008: Mazie and I stayed with the Oslands for a few days before moving to Madison.


November 2008: Mazie and Jacob practice standing during a visit to Durham.


June 2009: The Oslands visit us in Madison for a week while Mike goes to a conference.




December 2009: The kids meet up over breakfast, followed by a sledding adventure, while we're both in Boulder visiting grandparents for Christmas.

(I know we've seen each other a few times since then, but can't seem to find any pictures to prove it!  Oh well...)

More Pictures of the One Year Old

How old is Athena?  ONE!!




Splashing and walking!!!


Eating (and wearing) her cupcake.