A warm summer's evening at Nersi and Bella's

I hope this translates. We were at Nersi & Bella's house tonight for dinner with Enayat and Avideh. Dinner was wonderful. Cranberry-pomegranate martinis to start. Delicious chicken and zereshk polo. A rare warm summer night in Berkeley--we were eating outside. The hours went by. We eventually changed both kids into their pyjamas. Mani fell asleep on Zahra's lap. Salma was relaxing on mine. At some point, she became tired and needed to sleep.

We were going to go home. But Bella convinced us to try putting Salma to sleep in their spare room. I was in no rush to leave, so willing to try. There were two single beds. Quite narrow and a bit scary relative to the safety of her crib walls. I lay down with her for a while and talked about the day. As I got up, I positioned large pillows along the sides. And tucked her in. "Daddy is here, Salma".

I stayed in the next room for a bit, waiting for the inevitable cry that would test to see if I were really there. It came after a few minutes. I walked in. Assured her that I was there. And made sure the pillows were in place. I was nervous about the bed. It really was narrow. I had visions of Salma rolling and falling off the side. I continued to wait in the next room.

Next thing I know, there's Salma walking in the hall. All her 28 pounds and 34 inches covered in orange "ice cream" pyjamas...bare feet and ringlet hair... Making her way confidently through the hall. On her way outside to find Zahra.

As if to say, "what did you think you were going to accomplish with those pillows, again?" "Hello, Dad. I'm 2 years old. Remember?" As Bella says, they're always one step ahead of you.

Mani sits

Lots about Salma lately and more to come as she finishes her toilet trainig. Meanwhile Mani is making his own moves. He's a happy guy now that he can sit on his own. He's also in that beginning crawling stage where he moves backwards. Don't think it will be very long before he's actually crawling.