We had to cook dinner for ourselves. Corina made lamb sliders. The kids were all over the place, and at one point Della said, “Georgie’s eating meat.” He had gotten into something called “Harissa Paste,” which is very spicy. He cried a lot and his face turned blotchy. I took him to the living room to calm him down. Della was there, and she had spread out a straw beach blanket thing and was pouring cumin on it.

Also: George is taking three, four, five steps. Always when we least expect it. Never for the camera.

Della got a haircut. This is how she makes bean water.

Eric visited last week. Della was like, for reals? She dropped all of her Little Mermaid knowledge on him in the first few minutes. Later he read her this book. In the end, she understood: “There are two Erics,” but she was still really stoked.

Finally, dramatic scenes:

…From Paul: Maureen facing into a California smoke cloud.

…From Instagram: Corina on the roof of a car starting to have some fun.

Here we are with old friends Marc, Beatrice, and Adrian (and Megan behind the camera). Adrian just started Chinese immersion preschool, and Beatrice just turned 8. Meanwhile, Della is learning about circles and brown. Also at Della’s school: family studies. So far Della thinks that Annie is her sister, Lizzie is my sister, and Scott is Steve’s sister. Speaking of those guys, we hear they are okay.

Just back from this party where Della had her face painted by an 8-year-old. She chose Spider Man from a list that included butterfly, sparkly butterfly, and party girl. 

Now that Della has seen that face painting is a legitimate profession, I think her future path is set.

At the same party, George impressed with his scooting.

George got a clean bill of health from his PT after nine months of physical and other therapies. We are proud to say he is standing and climbing stairs.

Here’s Della after we got caught in the rain on the bike.

Corina, delighted to discover the Oreo ice cream sandwich.

Teaching me tricks for hair!

It gets so crazy around here, I actually put Della in her jammies sideways.

Handsome Steve.

Della is hell bent on eating this ground cover that grows next to the driveway. Wikipedia says it is both rich in vitamin C and toxic to cattle and horses, so we are going to continue to discourage her.

Just hanging out.