Summer may be over but the heat certainly isn’t here in The ‘No. Lots of 100 degree days and “lows” are 90. Ouch. But we’re surviving it. The morning is the time to make your move outside the house and it can be 80 as early as 9 a.m. (probably even earlier some days)! I’ve had a few meltdowns about it (no pun intended), and it’s hard to tell the girls we can’t play outside because our skin will melt off, but whatever. Anyway, we all know the heat is an issue, so what the hell has been going on?!
Keana started school two weeks ago (August 17) and we’ve been slowly sinking into the schedule. We’re excited to be heading to Santa Cruz this weekend to visit Peter and attend Neel and Sai’s West Coast wedding reception in Aptos. Sarah and the girls couldn’t go to the Hindu-wedding-extravaganza in Boston in May, but Team Hokama will definitely represent this weekend! We all really miss the coast and it will be good to get out of this heat and back to our old stomping grounds. After all, it is where Sarah and I met and got engaged, oh so many years ago. The only real events on the agenda: beach and good food.
Both girls have been amazingly inspiring lately, and Maia especially continues to win our hearts. Keana won our hearts in the same way in her early-early years, and now it’s Maia’s time to show off all her little developing characteristics. She’s fiercely independent and insists on doing most things by herself and on her own terms. Her temper is quick to flash, not unlike her papa’s, but is always followed by a sweet gesture of love or shyness at her ferocity, as if she didn’t know it was going to be so extreme and she’s a little afraid of it too. Mostly though, she’s the sweetest, funniest thing you ever met. Maia is really talking but still says things like “nilk” for milk, and “mo again” when she wants more of something. The cow’s milk in the fridge has taken on the term “papa nilk” since it’s the only milk I’m blessed with and it cracks me up every time. Even Keana uses the term and I must say, it catches other people off guard. I took the girls to ice cream yesterday, and of course both Keana and Maia wanted to walk on their own without holding hands, which I figured was fine on the sidewalk, and when Maia and I accidentally bumped into each other, she smiled sweetly and said, “Sorry, sorry!” as she moved on her way. Makes my heart melt.
Keana continues to be our bright, shining star. She’s been reveling in her physical abilities to run fast, flex her muscles, and move in the craziest ways. Like her mother, and maybe a little like me, she can make the funniest faces. We could spend hours just making faces at each other and laughing. She’s been very good playing with Maia lately, but the burden of having to share her toys, space, and parents with her little sister definitely comes through. It’s hard to see it happening, and Sarah and I are both second children, so I think we tend to favor Maia in most arguments. Although we are starting to see Maia’s little antagonist emerging as well, and often Maia will scream, we think, just to incriminate her sister unjustly. It’s a big balancing act and we’re trying to be fair about it all, but you can’t be all places at once and we’re definitely trying to let them work things out on their own. I remember having to do that all the time with my brother growing up. We had some serious fights, but for the most part, we were so close in age and interests that there seemed to be little conflict. I see a lot of myself in Maia though, especially when she walks up to Keana and pinches her out of the blue, just cause she has a wild hair. When Maia gets frustrated, she gets physical and I have to say Keana handles that quite well, often enduring the pain and holding back retaliation. Pretty impressive for a four-year-old I think.
Sleeping has been our issue lately (and again). Every time the schedule gets thrown—by a family trip or me being out of town or whatever—it seems like it takes at least a week to readjust. Both girls typically go to bed in their own rooms quite well, but often wake up in the middle of the night; Maia for milk (and late night parties), and Keana to pee and say she had a bad dream and misses us and wants to sleep with us. On Tuesday I just gave up and crawled into bed with her, cause who has the energy for an emotional breakdown in the middle of the night? Especially because if one of them loses it, the other wakes up and then you got double-duty. Keana can often be reasoned with, but Maia is one stubborn baby. She’s very sweet and cuddly and even whispers while patting you or kissing you, saying, “Nilk? Papa nilk? Papa up?!” We endure quietly, trying to ignore her until it goes too far and Sarah ends up putting her back in her room and closing the door to let her cry it out. There’s no silver bullet for the sleep issues and the only thing we really know is that we all do better sleeping in our own rooms (at this point at least), and consistency is key. Don’t mess with the sleep schedule. And if you have to, then just be prepared to be patient and make sure you have some good coffee on hand for the days after the tough nights. I almost feel it’s my duty to document this appropriately for those that have yet to experience this. That way I’ll remember when the girls have their own kids and will then be able to sympathize appropriately! (And not try and offer too much advice, cause what the hell is going to work anyway?!!)
Speaking of neophytes, Iana is due in two weeks and technically could go at any time now. We’re very excited to meet the first, first cousin! Sarah is on Iana’s birth team, so I’ll be watching the girls whenever she does go into labor and then Keana, Maia, and I may drive down to Long Beach for a sneak peak right after the birth. We definitely want to give them their space and be respectful of their newly budding tripod, so we’ll just be happy with whatever introduction we get. Maia’s been asking, “Tia, baby?” lately and Keana is so sweet when she talks to Tia on the phone. A couple weeks ago she said, “Hi Tia! How are you feeling? How’s the baby?” and she asks Iana all the time, “What is the baby saying?”, trying to get a feel for how the baby might react to her, the default “Leader of the Children”. From what I understand, most people really enjoy being the oldest sibling/cousin, and I certainly think Keana won’t mind being leader of the pack one bit. Of course Maia will be a formidable lieutenant, but I’m sure they’ll just be very excited to share the younger stage with the new talent.