Family Davis-Ross

more haircuts

This morning I took a pair of pretty dull scissors to Lucy's longish patch of bangs.

From the moment she was born, her bangs were longer than the rest of her hair, not unlike a Cabbage Patch Kid. Over the past 9 months, it's only gotten longer, and, frankly, less cute. It's especially less cute when it's:
- crusted with snot
- crusted with food
- tangled from sunscreen
- did I mention crusted with food? that happens a lot

see? not so cute, right?

It turns out Lucy has quite a cowlick on her head, giving her a little mohawk - not unlike the one with which she was born.

 

punk-rock newborn

Oh, Lucy, that's going to drive you NUTS when you're trying to style your hair like the cool girls. I'll start stocking up on styling gel.

Also, how did Lucy turn out to be such a blondie? I was not at all surprised Peter turned out to be a fair-headed kid, since both his father and my father were blonde-haired, blue-eyed boys. But Lucy? Hmm. I'll be interested in seeing what hair color she ends up having. (As for the eyes, she has mine. Just like Peter. I think genetics made the right choice, there.)

America's pastime

Walking back to our car through the park - in a hurry to pick up Kevin -  we passed through many potential distractions: the duck pond, full of ducks; the skate park, with a dozen boys performing tricks; the field of girls warming up for soccer practice; and the playground.

But where did Peter insist on stopping? Where did he do the dangerous "I'm hopping out of the stroller but not telling you so you'll certainly run over me!" trick?

The baseball game.

And when I said, "Peter! Let's go pick up Daddy at work!" Peter only replied, "no, Peter watch baseball!"

He had no idea what was happening, but he didn't care.

(Lucy also enjoyed the baseball field, but mostly because the outfield fence provided so many places for her to stand up.)

Oh, and Grandpa: I'm sure you're thinking that it's not safe for the kids to be standing at the outfield fence with their fingers through the wires, lest they be whacked by a line drive. I thought this, too; then I realized that the kids on the field were at most 8 and the odds of a ball making it to the deep outfield at all - let alone in the air - were slim.

haircuts! (plus fancy lunches)

one of several looks he gave the stylist ; others included scorn, disgust, contempt...

Peter had his second haircut this morning. We took him to another of those fancy salons that cater to kids - videos, fancy seats, lollipops at the end - because, as Kevin rationed, "it's not like he's getting his hair cut once a month." Kevin also noted, "it was like $5 a minute," for the haircut, which tells you as much about the speed as the price. (And I think we're definitely paying for the speed. There's a window of about 5 minutes before your average toddler will decide he's just had enough.)

For those keeping track, it's been just days shy of six months since his last haircut, and he definitely needed it. He'd cruised past the "shaggy frat boy" look, the "California surfer-dude" look, and entered the "possibly neglected child" look.

This experience was so, so, so much better than the first one. Peter cried only when the stylist used the buzzy clippers on his head and was content to sit on the carousel horse and watch himself in the mirror and Thomas the Tank Engine on the television (a selection the stylist made based on his name alone, as it was playing when we came into the salon).*

I think the results speak for themselves. Hello, handsome!

After the haircut, we lunched with the Bishop of the Diocese of San Jose at his fancy-shmancy house in downtown San Jose. Peter and Lucy were so good during the lunch, even as it crashed into naptime, and enjoyed the adoration and coos of all sorts of women, some of whom even cajoled Peter into eating several bites of his lunch.

Peter greeted the Bishop with, "hiya Bishop, how ya doin'?"**

And, since we were in downtown San Jose anyway, we decided to let the kids spend a few hours at the Discovery Museum, where they played at the sand table (or the "meth lab" as Kevin so aptly named it, covered as it is in fine white sand and all sorts of chemical lab equipment like measuring flasks and test tubes) and the water tables.

*We made it Thomas-free out of this experience, too, mostly because of said buzzy-clippers and the promise of a lollipop when it was all over. Plus, Peter doesn't really "get" television that much.

**For real.

weekend in Sacramende

on the Sacramento River

We had a great weekend in Sacramento, filled with just enough activities to keep us busy but no so much that we were exhausted. That's a fine balance to find when traveling with two little ones, both of whom could destroy a hotel room* in 10 seconds flat.

But speaking of hotel rooms, some of the most fun moments were had in the hotel. Like watching the kids doing their "homework" by playing with the phone. For reasons known only to Peter, he plopped himself down in front of the telephone and declared "Peter do homework!" and proceeded to push the buttons on the phone. When asked, Peter said that his homework was to "push the buttons" in order to "make noise," and sometimes this lead to "Peter get a haircut," although the transition between the two was unclear. But really: where did he learn the word "homework?"

Lucy enjoyed "homework" too


yay for hotel pools!


office chairs = dizzy rides

We started our weekend trip by visiting Old Town Sacramento, a little corner of the capital city that's a replica of the gold-rush days: boardwalk sidewalks, lots of old-timey buildings, and taffy. Because I'm sure the Chinese immigrants hard at work on the transcontinental railroad were fed entirely in taffy.

riding the rails

Our primary goal in Old Town Sacramento was to visit the California State Railroad Museum and to eat gobs and gobs of free candy samples after the kids fell asleep in their stroller. Unfortunately, we had little luck with our second goal, as they kids showed little interest in (but great need for) a nap.

The trip to the railroad museum was a much greater success, however, stymied only by Peter's desire to "ride choo-choo?" and the distinct lack of rideable trains. He was only slightly impressed by the trains we could board, probably confused about the existence of dining cars and sleeper cars since weren't trains for taking people to work? and the park? and not eating dinner or taking naps.

He was delighted by the large wooden train table and the dozens or so of trains that he could play with. Unfortunately, it was all "Thomas" themed, but we escaped without Peter realizing all of the trains have names and personalities and specific jobs.**

After leaving the museum building, we took a ride on a refurbished steam engine along the banks of the Sacramento River. Both Peter and Lucy loved the ride: letting the wind blow in their hair, waving to passers-by, listening to the banjo players aboard, having their tickets punched by the conductor, and seeing the "stinky!" smoke puff out of the steam engine.

ticket to ride


train hugs

On Sunday we visited the Sacramento Zoo after a kind of crazy morning which started with Peter requesting "rainbow Cheerios" (or Froot Loops) from the hotel breakfast bar, segued into me commenting quite honestly that I was "embarrassed to be seen with my children," and culminated in a very, very hairy mass experience. (Kevin: I'm not sure that counts as going to church.) The Zoo was a nice break from our regular San Francisco Zoo routine but highlighted how nice the SF Zoo is. We did see some interesting hornbills, some active chimpanzees, and a really cool reptile house. Also, Peter and Lucy rode the carousel, which always is a highlight.***

getting buggy

tiger + warthog riders

And today we timed our drive back to the Bay Area to coincide with naptime, which meant that we had a few hours to kill. We knew just the place to do it.

hello, sweet tooth!

You may remember our first visit to the Jelly Belly Factory, right after we moved to California, or our second visit, when we ate giant bowls of ice cream at 10:30 a.m. We showed a bit more restraint this time around (now that we're parents of two small children, that is), but could not resist the siren song of Blue Bunny ice cream. Yum!

driving!

someone needs a lesson in cone etiquette

Now we're back, with children in cribs, a refrigerator full of milk, and giant bowls of popcorn to welcome us home.

*Or, frankly, themselves. Lucy's new favorite activity, perfected while staying at the hotel, was crawling off of the bed. Coincidentally (but unrelated), both kids fell out of the bed last night, a first for both and ironically within hours of one another, even though they were in two separate beds.

**Thomas the Tank Engine is a new entry to my enemies list. Peter is almost irresistibly drawn to all things Thomas, even though Peter has no idea who Thomas is. That said, 9 out of every 10 books he picks up at the bookstore is a Thomas book. It's just sad that trains can't be trains, but instead have to be these "characters" that have specific personalities and duties. I fear the days of Thomas are upon us, though.

***I often think and sometimes verbalize how much our kids get to do, both good and bad. Certainly they have more life experience under their belts at their little ages than I did when I was 15. Staying in hotels? Weekend trips? Multiple airplane flights? Near-weekly trips to the Zoo? Riding the Zoo train and carousel ever time you visit? I'm beginning to suspect they might be spoiled, and not in a good way.

splish-splash

I think we have the makings of a perfect Thursday routine.

First, the pool.

Next, a visit with the friendly ducks at the nearby pond.

Then, an afternoon nap for the kiddos and some good bookstore-browsing, cafe-sitting, window-shopping time for me.

After, a swing by Stanford to pick up Kevin.

And then? Ice cream. (Pictured here: Rick's, in Palo Alto)

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On any given day you can tell the type of day we've had by the time dinner gets on the table and its, for lack of a better term, "fanciness."

Tonight we had an early dinner with quite a bit of fanciness, brought to our tummies by my favorite summertime diversion: patio water play.

occupied for dozens of minutes at a stretch!

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This evening, Kevin and the kids found two baby grasshoppers and a little red spider on the ledge by our patio windows. That, along with the hummingbird nesting on our illegal clothes line makes me think we could open our own little zoo.

Peter said, "thank you, Mommy," for dinner and for allowing him to drink from his water cup. Unprompted. It really makes my heart melt.

He has also started saying, "motorcycle" instead of "momo" and "WHERE are you" instead of "are you" and almost always greets people with, "hi, how ya doin'?" even if it's just as he's hopping in the tub and greeting his sister that he's seen all day long.

Lucy is making a slow but not-so-painful transition to her own crib. We've had mixed success, but early evidence shows that she sleeps better when in her own space.

She's still a baby - make no mistake about that - but I'm starting to see how she'll be a toddler in just a few months. It scares me. She'll be a handful, that one.

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This weekend we're venturing to Sacramento to see the train museum and fill our tummies with free taffy samples and all sorts of other cheesy vacation-y things. Plus, we'll be in a hotel! With a pool! It will be a blast, until someone gets chlorine water up his or her nose.

Wednesday, Wednesday (or, is it Friday yet? no? how about now?)

Peter said he was "stylin" on our walk to the farm

Today started off with a great visit to the farm, where all of the farm animals were out (although, to Peter's dismay, none were pooping or peeing) and we even spotted a pair of wild turkeys on our walk back to the car.

Then, after a stop at the grocery store to pick up the dozen or so items on my list that I forgot to get Monday, the kids came home napless and ready to play. With the nice afternoon weather it seemed inevitable that the watermelon would come out. Lucy enjoyed her inaugural session in the Neighborhood Watermelon Eating Association, sitting on the steps just like a big kid.

juicy watermelon!

And, since the kids have been napless for years weeks days, it came as no surprise to me that both fell asleep at the dinner table, just minutes before Kevin came home.

(I should add that Kevin spent their napping time making homemade potato chips and oh my word they were delicious.)

I have the bone-crushing fatigue of a Friday afternoon, before the excitement of the weekend kicks in, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm about 40 hours early. Luckily, I picked up a quart of fresh pineapple for a little evening pick-me-up. Yum!

new tricks

while opening all of the car doors in advance of getting into the hot car, today at the farm:

Me: I've got to cool it down.
Peter: Oooooh, watch out! Lose control.

progress, of sorts

progress, of sorts, originally uploaded by amy_and_kevin.

Lucy spent half the night in her own crib last night.

Of course, most of this half-the-night time was in the period before Kevin and I went to bed, but we're still making progress.

Now that the weather is a little warmer at night, it doesn't seem like such cruel and unusual torture to get up out of my toasty warm bed to pick up, nurse, and return Lucy to her crib.

That said, it's never fun to wake up at 3 a.m. to a crying baby. Right, Lucy?

Lucy Lulu

You need to know only a few things about Lucy to really get to know her.

For instance, she's happiest when she's doing exactly what her brother or his friends are doing. Today at the Discovery Museum, she spent just as much time as Peter splashing in the water and playing with the sand.

scientists hard at work

Or, that her most favorite position ever is standing up. My job is to find safe places for her to stand; her job is to strengthen those leg muscles.

appreciating her beauty

Or, that she really, really, really likes her bath, even when it looks like it might be a murder scene. (That red stuff? Bath paints. But man it looks gruesome paired with our grubby tub and chubby baby.)

  

splashing!

feeling HOT

Record temperatures were recorded in the Bay Area this past weekend, reaffirming the belief Kevin and I have reluctantly started to admit to ourselves: we are not at all prepared for Philadelphia weather. Winters? Summer? Snow? Humidity? Rain?*

Even though it was a hot weekend, I wanted to knock off a few of the remaining touristy items from our list. So, Saturday we went to Golden Gate Park. I had very grand notions of what we would do - let the kids play in the playground and ride the carousel, eat a delicious pizza lunch, and then walk through the park while the kids peacefully napped, perhaps stopping for an ice cream cone and an ocean view.

In reality? DISASTER. I think it's fair to say that not one of our outings have ever been such a trainwreck from top to bottom. Kevin says, "(Huge sigh)  It took me five minutes when I was talking to my mom to remember that we went there the day before. I think I blocked it out of my mind."

When we came home we took a dip in the pool, which made us all feel a little better.

On Sunday we stepped outside at 10 a.m. to the full-on assault of hot, hot air and immediately changed our plans. Out: redwood hike. In: visit to the Zoo.

I'm not quite sure what I'll do without the San Francisco Zoo. It fits our needs on so many levels, but in the summer time it fills the most perfect void: climate control. Since it's just on the ocean, it's always much cooler than we are down on the Peninsula. Kevin says, "It was heavenly."

Other than the weather, it was a great trip. Peter showed of his mad navigational skills, rode the carousel and the train, fell in a pond in the children's zoo, and had a sheep bleat right in his face. Lucy giggled and laughed as she watched the giraffes and other savannah animals. Lucy loves the Zoo, much more than her brother did at this age. She's very captivated by the animals.

Thankfully the hot weather broke in time for us to join our friends at the park today without threat of heatstroke, and the weather for the rest of the week promises to keep in line with my now-delicate demands.

Peter loves carousels


Lucy loves to stand


first dip in the big-girl pool


safely attired


poolside


gorilla-watching


friendly geese


sprouting teeth!**

hippo family

*Fact: I think I have forgotten how to drive in the rain. I have certainly forgotten how to drive in the snow. Yikes!

**We discovered at Lucy's well baby check a week ago that her bottom teeth are finally coming in. And, in true second-child form, I'm a week late in even mentioning it. They seemed to bother her at first - we spent some amazingly horrible nights last week - but she's better with it now. But last week? It gave me a new appreciation for anyone who had a colicky baby, and how thankful I am that my kids have been pretty easy-going.

friends

friends, originally uploaded by amy_and_kevin.

This morning, Peter said, "Come, Lucy, come play."

It's a sentiment he's expressed in many other ways, most of them nonverbal, but this is the first time I've heard him ask for his sister to play with him.

And Lucy? She was more than happy to join her brother at his pile of animals.

I was thankful too, since I was in the midst of preparing lunch for our Friday lunch group, which I think went off without any problems, despite my complete lack of culinary or hostessing skill. Peter and Lucy had fun with their little friends, at least.

at the pool!

at the pool!, originally uploaded by amy_and_kevin.

Today we joined friends Lisa and Samuel at nearby Burgess Pool. It was a blast - the baby pool was heated to 87 degrees, making it the perfect temperature for me to join the kids in sitting in the pool.

Peter and Lucy loved the pool, which was no surprise to me, since they both really like water in general. Lucy tried several times to go under water and succeeded in putting her face in the water, much to her delight.

Peter, for his part, required rescuing by the lifeguard within five minutes of us being in the pool. I'd gone to put my suit on and Peter had wandered too far under the umbrella/mushroom splashing fountain.

Despite the HORROR of changing several layers of diapers/wet swimming clothes, I suspect we'll add this to our rotation. Next time, we'll bring a watering can and perhaps a ball or too.

birth control via antecdotes

Thinking about having a kid? Spend a crazy evening in our house and you might think twice.

So many gems from today, but my favorite:

Scene: After dinner, the kids are crawling around under the dinner table eating all of the "floor food" that had fallen from their dinner plates.

Kevin: You know that scene in A Christmas Story? Where Randy is eating his mashed potatoes like a pig? And the dad just looks at him with disgust?
Amy: Yeah.
Kevin: That's how I feel right now.
Amy: Oh. Hey, is that a blueberry hanging out of Peter's nose?

around and around and around

his #1 choice: the shark


Lucy rode too!

Holy cow, does Peter like carousels.

Every time we go to the Zoo, Peter asks to ride the carousel five or six times. (That is, he asks if he can take five or six separate trips around the carousel. He asks to go on a billion times.)

So, when I learned that the Children's Carousel in downtown San Jose is free! with unlimited rides! once a month, I knew that we had to take advantage.

My hope was that we'd not have to wait more than one spin of the carousel between rides. It turns out, we were often one of only three or four riders on the carousel, meaning not only could we ride it eight times in a row (which we did), but that we had our pick of any animal on the ride at any time.

So, we rode 21 times. For the record, Peter rode the: shark, horse, humming bird, panda, rooster, Siberian tiger, dragon, eagle, leopard, wolf, camel, zebra, elephant, different horse, leopard (again), giraffe, cat, salmon, shark (again), ostrich, and sled. We rode every animal on the carousel, except the rabbit, which Peter refused to ride. Oh, and about seven horses, all of which were pretty much the same.

hooooooooowl!


Alara, me, Lucy, and Peter spin around and around

Just when Peter had lost steam, friends Alara and Efsun arrived to share in the fun.

Efsun, Alara, and Peter on the dizziest ride around

On our walk back to the car, both Peter and Lucy fell asleep, so instead of trying to move sleeping children to their hot carseats, I walked around oh-so-scenic downtown San Jose. And when they woke? A quick pop in the Children's Discovery Museum, since we were parked right there. There might have been 50 kids in the entire place - it was empty. Note to self: visit in the afternoons.

mother's day hike - why buy flowers?

On Mother's Day, we decided to catch the tail end of the wildflower season by driving up to Russian Ridge and hiking a quick-and-easy 3.5 mile route that promised both wildflowers and views.

I was a little nervous about the hike since we've not really done much hiking with the two kids. They weigh a ton, plus you have to carry all of their necessities...it adds up. Luckily, we were in better shape than we thought, and the extra 30 or so pounds didn't stop us from climbing up to the ridge and then atop Borel Hill for some great views into the valley, across the bay, and (had the weather been just a bit clearer) into the ocean.

I spent the rest of Mother's Day in the best possible way - in the relaxed company of Kevin and the kids. Peter surprised me with a present (Food Matters by Mark Bittman) and one of those singing cards that he loves to get at the store (mine played "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," fun anytime but especially fun when it's a 7 a.m. dance party in bed). Kevin repeatedly refused my suggestion that I cook dinner and instead insisted on ordering Indian food in. Yum!

Of course, this is a bittersweet Mother's Day for all of us. But on the whole, it was a wonderful day spent with my very most favorite people.

California poppies in bloom


fording their own trail


stopping to smell the roses


temporarily unburdened by our loads


enjoying the sights and smells


flower picking

well, baby

We took Peter and Lucy in for their well baby checks on Friday - Peter for his 2 year and Lucy for her 9 month.

It's surprising (if you don't think about it, which I don't) that the kids are really about the same size. See?

Peter:
26 pounds, 1 ounce
33 inches

Lucy:
18 pounds, 6 ounces
27 inches

Also, the kids are kind of on the small side. Peter's in the 10-25th percentile for height; Lucy's dropping from her position as a "big baby" just as her brother did. This isn't a cause for concern, though, as they're both healthy and happy and developing normally.

After dropping Kevin off at Stanford, we took a quick visit to the Palo Alto Duck Pond before heading over to Sofia's house for Friday lunch.

And, after naptime, sprinkler play! It was our first sprinkler day of the season, and I suspect it will be a good one.

Peter's birthday!

In the days leading up to Peter's birthday, he became increasingly excited. It certainly helped that we'd attended a few birthday parties recently, and that we'd been watching the "birthdays!" Elmo segment a few times a week.

It was pretty clear that all Peter wanted to do for his birthday was to blow out candles. Cake? Presents? eh. Candles? Yes, please.

His extravaganza started on May 6 when I picked up his ice cream cake.* Peter wasn't happy when he learned that we weren't going to sit down and eat the cake right then. Needless to say, we blew out candles withing minutes of arriving home. Before dinner. The day before his birthday. Luckily, Grammy and Poppy had send a box of presents, so along with his cake he could open some presents.

On his actual birthday, we visited the Academy of Sciences. (You can see that trip here.) Due to some normal variation in toddler moods, we did not have a window in which to sing Happy Birthday or blow out candles again. Nor did Peter accept our repeated offerings of "more cake!" However, a box of presents from Grandpa and Aunt Kimberly arrived just after dinner (during the time we would have been singing and blowing and eating), which brought delight and distraction.

Peter and Lucy unwrap presents from Grandpa

And on Saturday, Peter was delighted to spend the day in the park playing and partying with 15 of his closest friends. Again, more candles were blown out and more cake was eaten, this time of the cupcake-piled-high-with-frosting variety.

 
candle-blowing; friends eating cupcakes; cupcake face

Now that Peter's birthday is finished, I think he's looking ahead to Lucy's birthday. Already there's been mention of Lucy blowing out candles. Nevermind that Kevin's birthday is in just a few weeks...

*Once, while driving around looking for something else, I drove past a Carvel. Despite California's no-talking-in-the-car rules, I phoned Kevin to let him know, because that's the kind of thing you need to know about right away. Like last summer, when I visited the nearby Dairy Queen and discovered they had cotton candy blizzards. My phone call then went something like this:

Me: Kevin, I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?
Kevin: Oh, the good news.
Me: The DQ has cotton candy blizzards!!!!!
Kevin: What's the bad news?
Me: We could have been eating them for months!

new diet: walk 5+ miles, then eat cake

bay baby

I'm trying to add an additional morning walk to our weekly schedule, and Monday makes the most sense. This week, we walked the Baylands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto. It was a reasonably successful walk in that I definitely felt that I got some exercise, the kids were pretty happy, and we had some beautiful weather.

That said, I was kind of surprised and disappointed that Peter fell asleep within 10 minutes of walking. It was 10 a.m.! I feared the worst, hoped for the best, and was delighted when he woke up 90 minutes later happy.

I didn't realize until Peter had fallen asleep just how much fun it is to talk to him while walking. I certainly have a high entertainment threshold, and talking with my favorite toddler keeps me giggling. There were times on the walk where I felt bored out of my skull, and others when I was grateful for the break of the nonstop, "ocean, are you? birds, are you? Peter touch ocean? Peter touch ocean? more cracky! bridge, Lucy!"

Peter and Jessie

After a successful end to our 5+ mile walk, we headed to our favorite park to help Jessie celebrate her second birthday. Peter was a little surprised that the first thing we did after getting out of the car was eat ice cream, but took only a minute to realize that, yes, we were offering him cake, and, no, we weren't kidding.

After cake it was time to get down to some serious sand play. As you can see, both kids love to throw sand. Where is the mother of these ill-behaved children? Oh, yeah.

at least they're not aiming for each other (yet)

videos!

I've posted several cute new videos of the kids on the YouTube account. You can see scenes from our visit to the Zoo (including a great bear encounter), more imaginative play with animals, and what happens when you feed kids ice cream.

happy mother's day!

 
(from last week's adventure at the Duck Pond)

We had a good one. I hope you did too!

Much more on Monday...

birthday fishes

To celebrate Peter's birthday, Kevin took the day off and we drove up to visit the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. We were particularly interested in seeing some of the exhibits that so far have been too crowded during our weekend visits. Specifically: the rainforest.

It was well worth the trip, even if it was crazy hot and humid inside the rainforest bubble. Peter and Lucy enjoyed looking at the many amphibians and reptiles, were disappointed the bats were off exhibit, but were really excited by the dozens and dozens of brightly colored and kind of gigantic butterflies that flew all around the several-stories tall bubble, but congregated at the upper canopy where brightly colored flowers and bowls of sugar water baited them.

Lucy loved the fish


Peter and Kevin, across the rainforest


One of many friendly butterflies


We match the fauna


Bright gecko


Enthralled

We offered to let Peter blow out his candles again (the "again" being a post for another time), but he instead wanted to take off his clothes, pee on the patio, and run around naked. Apparently the day he turned 2 is the day he decided to figure out this dressing and undressing thing, as he managed to take off his shirt and shorts without any problem or intervention from us.

And, just about the time we would have lit up some candles and sung "happy birthday," the UPS man rang our bell delivering birthday presents from Grandpa and Aunt Kimberly. The timing was frighteningly good, but not nearly as good as the presents they send. But that, too, is for another post.

two years ago? really?

Peter and Dad, originally uploaded by amy_and_kevin.

That little thing in Kevin's arms is Peter. Can you believe it? Because I can't.

Happy Birthday, Peter!

busted!

I suspect Peter's favorite part of our weekly hike to the farm is playing with the water after we make it back to the parking lot. I use the water as an incentive to keep him out of the drinking fountain at the farm itself (you can see, it's a big hit), a way to rehydrate him, and a way to get him nice and clean before we get back into the car.*

Peter and Sofia clean up

Anyway, I found out today from Sofia's mom Shannon that someone complained about our use of park resources to the park ranger. Which lead to this conversation:

Kevin: Were you doing anything that wrong?
Me: Well, the kids were running the water a lot, but they would share whenever anyone came up to use it. And we were sitting on the bench for at least an hour, and it's kind of in a prime sitting spot.
Kevin: That's not too bad.
Me: She might have been upset when the kids were running around naked. Or doing laps around the women's restroom.
Kevin: I can see how that would be annoying.
Me: Oh! Maybe she was upset that the kids were pooping and peeing all over the grassy patch.

Because I can imagine it would put someone off if they were to come back from their trail run to a few naked kids taking poops right by the faucet from which you wanted to get some water.

Dirty mouth?

What's odd about this story is that, presumably before she became peeved at us, this lady took one look at Lucy and demanded (several times, with increasing urgency) that I take her photo. So here she is: my daughter, covered in strawberry remains and whatever dirt she could stuff in her mouth and down her shirt. Classy, right? Ah, memories.

*Not that our car is clean. I'm pretty sure the last time it was vacuumed was just after I found out I was pregnant with Peter.

zoo Tuesday

We visited the Zoo today, ostensibly to view the annual sheep shearing, but given Peter's growing wariness in the Family Zoo, I'm thinking that it might not have been the best idea.

That said, we had the entire Zoo to ourselves since there were a few sprinkles in the morning and the threat of rain all day.

Unlike our last visit to the Zoo (or, that time we went and didn't see any animals), we saw a goodly swath of the park today. It helps when there are no crowds to navigate through or peer around.

We were rewarded with some pretty cool animal sightings: the river otters were swimming and swirling and splashing away; the grizzly bears were performing all sorts of antics; the baby giraffes were out and running around; the baby prairie dogs were active and adorable; and even the chimps got into the spirit, making a rare appearance in their playstructure.

Now that Lucy can crawl around, she enjoys using her own power to get around. Ordinarily, this is fine, but given the fine layer of bird poop over the zoo grounds, plus the water and mud from the overnight rain, I was reluctant to let her down much. But toward the end of our visit, she made it Very Clear that she needed some on the ground exploration time. Luckily, the African savannah was busy with giraffes and zebras and osterichs and what Peter swears was a llama. Plus, it had several handy fences on which to pull up and look at it all.

And, since it's Tuesday, we took advantage of $1 scoop night. Now for the whole family!

daily life

I took two videos today that are pretty representative of life around here. You can see that Peter prefaces or ends almost every sentence with "Lucy," to the point it's becoming a verbal tic. (Tonight, after Lucy'd gone to bed, Peter said something like, "time for prayers, Lucy!")

Also, you can see that the kids like to copy one another. Well, Peter likes to copy Lucy when he feels she's doing something worth copying. (Naps? not so much. Cool baby snacks? yes, please!)

But Lucy wants to do everything Peter does, right now, and she doesn't care that she's a foot shorter and can't quite walk yet.

Anyway: here's two minutes of my 9 - 5:

impromptu hike

I decided yesterday that I'd get out of the house a bit earlier, skip morning coffee with friends, and take a walk down the Stevens Creek Trail. My idea was that I'd walk for around an hour, then walk over to the playground where Peter's friends would be.

But our hour walk turned into a three-hour, seven-plus-mile adventure. We were having just too much fun, and there was always one more tunnel or one more bridge to cross.

Today's walk wasn't as much about nature as it was about engineering (bridges! tunnels! freeway overpasses and off ramps! plus the military-industrial complex!), but as we were entering Shoreline Park Peter said, "it smells good!" And it did - like chaparral and eucalyptus.

words

Peter's been accumulating so many new words lately. Like "sure!" which always is said so happily. Or the just-overheard, "cool, man," while reading bedtime stories with Kevin. Or "I don't know," said with shoulders shrugged and hands lifted, a half apology for whatever it is he doesn't know.

Or this conversation with Peter, this morning, as I'd stumbled out of bed just a little too early:

Me: Peter, have you had a poop yet?
Peter: No, just pee-pees. Lucy poop.
Me: Lucy had a poop?
Peter: Yeah, tiny tiny poop. All gone. In trash can.

Also, he talks with his hands a lot. It's pretty funny.

Lucy, for her part, might say "hi," and "Daddy," and certainly says something that sounds quite a bit like, "Daddy, where are you?" in the same sing-song intonation Peter uses. But no words from her yet. I'm not expecting them for a while, although I am looking forward to her development of nonverbal communication and command-following.

(For example.)

Me: Lucy, you need to sleep in your crib all night and not wake up at all.
Lucy: Snore, snore, snore. Wail! (at 7 a.m. the following morning)

it's raining! (Kevin owes me $100)

A few weeks ago, Kevin rather cockily told Peter that we'd never see rain in California again. I doubted him. I think we placed a $100 bet on it. Kevin denies the bet now, but he can't deny that it was a rainy day and the weather calls for even more rain this week.

With the rain and a handful of sick kids and a bit of last-minute planning, our lunch group decided to head to a local and obliging German bakery for delicious baked goods and socialization.

 

Later, on the drive home, Peter and Lucy fell asleep. Luckily I was prepared: I'd purchased a naptime treat for myself before leaving the bakery and had packed my current book in the diaper bag. I was able to wait out their naps in the relative comfort of our now-shifting-in-all-gears-and-breaking-on-a-dime car.

 

The dank weather persisted after naps ended, but I was able to pull out enough toys from storage to keep Peter and Lucy entertained while I made soup and baked some bread. Lucy wisely decided to opt against crawling through this tunnel, which possibly saved her life, as Peter transitioned from crawling through it to jumping atop it. Pancake baby, anyone?

at least our transmission is OK

We dropped off the car this morning to have it checked out.

The most pressing issue was that it wouldn't shift into reverse. (Well, it would shift into something like reverse, but would only go forward.) I had to employ a "helper" to push our car out of its parking spot Wednesday at the farm.*

This follows two weeks of sketchy at best transmission behavior. Sometimes it wouldn't shift into reverse or second, and once it was stuck in second (awesome, as I was pulling onto the freeway at the time!).

Well...it turns out the transmission is OK. Something was lodged in it. And this something? Our oil cap. And the thing is, we should have figured this out.

While we were driving to Monterey a few weeks ago, we pulled over along the drive to take care of some kid issues. At the time we noticed (a) a funky smell from the engine and (b) that the car wouldn't shift into reverse. Kevin popped the hood and discovered that during his 5 a.m. oil check-and-top-off, he'd forgotten to put the oil cap back on.

We assumed the cap fell to the ground as we drove out of our parking spot, and we found a replacement cap to keep us from dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. But still: we should have put two and two together.

Thus ends our two day challenge of finding pull-through parking spots and sending our midsize car rolling down hills, two children strapped in the back, to maneuver back onto the street. It was a fun run, and could have been the ticket to shapely hips and thighs had it needed to continue through the summer.

*Peter still asks for the "helper." Also, he said that our car is "broken" and we need to get a new one "at the store."

a day in photos

bus ride to the Junior Museum


ball play at the Junior Museum


toddler plinko at the Junior Museum


park photo-taking (Sofia, by Peter)


park photo-taking (Peter, by Sofia)


post-nap snacks at the Palo Alto Baking Co.


train ticket holding


train ride home


swine flu protection (at the library)


nature investigation (sow bug on Lucy's leg)


dinner!