After we left my parent's house, we went down to San Diego for a short vacation. The highlight was a day at the San Diego zoo. Anthony had a great time. He enjoyed the animals, especially the primates and the polar bear. He was a little surprised that he wasn't allowed to ride the elephants like he had before. He really enjoyed climbing on all the bronze statues, too.
(Our day actually went very well. We arrived when the zoo opened at 9. Then we left for nap-time at 2:00, when it started getting crowded. Then after nap we went back for a little while before dinner. Our hotel was very close to the zoo so it worked out great!)
Today's excursion was to the Santa Ana Discovery Science Center. Honestly, most of the exhibits were over Anthony's head, but we still had a good time.
The top photo is of one of those walls of pins. You push in on one side and can see the print on the other. The figure on the left is Anthony and the right is his cousin Erik.
The museum's current special exhibit was of the science (and art) of gingerbread. Anthony really liked playing with the dough they had on display. We also spent a lot of time playing with the gravity well.
We were in Orange County for Anthony's first Christmas two years ago. We took him to the Santa Ana zoo with his cousin Kurt. Kurt had a fabulous time, Anthony was a bit of a blob.
We were really looking forward to Anthony enjoying his zoo trip. It did not disappoint. The big hit was the elephant ride. Anthony even now talks about it and remembers that the elephant was named "Kitty". The zoo we went to specializes in primates; the bequest that made the zoo possible mandated that 50 monkeys be on display at all times. Anthony liked the orangutangs best.
Santa (and all his relatives) were very good to Anthony this year. We spread out present opening so that it wouldn't be too overwhelming. Anthony LOVED his big Santa present. His smaller Santa presents were "Where the Wild Things Are", an Eric Carle book (title escapes me) and a big box of pretend food (the kind you can "cut") for his kitchen.
Other nice presents included the Lego Airport with Jet Plane, Aquadoodle and Magnadoodle, and a whole pile of books. Christmas isn't quite over here as the Bilibo from Aunt Jessica should arrive next week.
Christmas Eve my sister brought over her boys to decorate Gingerbread houses at Grandma's house. (We did 2-D houses, which was more than plenty!) Considering that there were three small boys and tons of icing, the whole enterprise worked out quite well. We're going to have to do this again!
Bob and I haven't had a Christmas tree in a long time. We travel over the holidays, my cat historically ate them, etc. Well, since Anthony is getting older and starting to understand Christmas, we were very excited to put ours up. I carefully hung the ornaments so that the glass ones were out of reach. I knew we were in trouble the first day when Anthony asked me, "I touch?" I replied, "No touch." His response: "I touch!" Basically, he'd rip off anything in reach. So, all the ornaments ended up on the top third of the tree.
Below the tree is our advent calendar. You will notice that it is partially disassembled. Every day Anthony would rip it apart on the off-chance that he could find more candy. (I was smart and only stocked one day at a time.)
We had a small crisis one day last week. Anthony was wearing his monkey jammies, hand-me-downs from Max across the street. I walked in as Bob was getting Anthony ready and Bob said to me, "I got the diaper on him, its up to you to figure out how to get the pajamas off." He really was completely unwilling to change out of his monkey jammies.
So, we put his shoes on him and delivered him to daycare like this. He did have a clean set of clothes in his bag. And yes, when I picked him up at the end of the day he was properly dressed.
Last night was the Christmas party at daycare. As usual, they went all out.
The top picture is Anthony hugging his girlfriend Courtney. They do it all the time, its the cutest thing ever! Unfortunately, we couldn't get them to do it facing the camera.
Second picture is Anthony singing Christmas songs. Kathleen's son played guitar and all the kids sang together.
As anticipated, Anthony ran up and greeted Santa Claus when he came in. (The other two year olds pretty much wanted nothing to do with him. Bob got a great picture of William in the process of melting down!)
Santa Claus was very good to Anthony. He got a little "Turbo Car" and in the class gift exchange Patrick gave him a Mr. Potato Head. Anthony was a little unhappy that I wouldn't open the toy right then and there, but there were WAY too many small pieces to lose.
His facial expression isn't the best, but Anthony is showing off his newest trick. He can pedal his bike! He figured it out this afternoon playing outside with Robert. He went from just barely being able to make it go to pedaling it half-way down the block! Mama was so excited!
We're spreading out opening Anthony's Christmas presents. He doesn't understand the concept of "THE day" and this way he gets to enjoy them individually.
This morning we opened one of the presents from Grandpa Vince and Grandma Donna. It was a lego airplane and airport. It was clearly a hit.
For those keeping score, we can now turn his cargo prop plane into a jet and vice versa. The jet plane is also big enough to piggy-back the cargo plane space-shuttle style.
Yesterday (Thursday) was my last day of work for the year. We celebrating by going with Claire and Robert to the California Academy of Sciences. It re-opened after a major remodel last year and the two times we've gone before the museum was PACKED! Not so on a school-day at the end of the year. It was great, we pretty much had the place to ourselves to explore.
No pictures from the rainforest exhibit as flash photography is prohibited. We saw birds and lizards and snakes and lots of butterflies flew around us. They made Anthony a little nervous (his words). After lunch we went to the Africa exhibit. The top picture is the penguin tank. They were a lot of fun to watch.
After the penguins we went outside and played in the "cone" while watching a video on endangered animals. Then it was off to the children's play area. It was so much fun watching Anthony play--he's gotten old enough know to know hoe to play with the exhibits. He enjoyed "gardening" in the backyard, cooking in the kitchen and running up and down the gankplank(?)
It really was a great day! Edited to add: You will notice that Anthony is wearing his "hand-holding helper". He's a bit of a runner, just like his Mama was. This way he wasn't stuck in his stroller and I didn't have to worry as much about keeping him safe. He was a real trooper and walked the whole time!
Anthony isn't quite as oral as he used to be, but he's still pretty bad. Let's just say we have to make sure that all his art supplies are non-toxic! I pulled down the crayons this evening and Anthony immediately took an enormous bite out of the purple crayon. I confiscated the crayons which led to a bit of screaming. I tried to explain that crayons are not for eating, but it was hard to keep a straight face when confronted with purple teeth and drool.
Thanksgiving Sunday we took Anthony to Los Altos' Parade of Lights. For a small town parade, I was pretty darn impressed. There were a bunch of floats, all with lights, seven marching bands and a whole bunch of characters and what-not. Anthony LOVED it. The phrase of the evening was, "Oh Mama!" which he said everytime something interesting marched by.
Now that Anthony is getting older, we're trying out all the different Christmas activities in the community. This picture is from our city's tree lighting ceremony. They brought in snow (really, very icy) and set up a 10'x10' "snowbox" for the kids to take turns with. Anthony wasn't too impressed, he thought it was cold and wet.
Anthony has so much fun in the bathtub. He loves "fimming" and playing in the bubbles. Unfortunately, he does not enjoy the actual cleansing part one bit!
We brought out a mirror this time so he could admire himself with the bubbles in his face and hair. He was pretty entertained by the whole thing!
Last night our friends the Donahue's (Robert's family) hosted a small Christmas party complete with a visit from Santa Claus. (Courtesy of Mountain View Parks and Recreation) Anthony took an instant liking to Mr. Klaus. Really, no sign of fear, I was a little shocked.
Anthony didn't know what to ask Santa for, he hasn't quite figured that part of Christmas out yet. He did enjoy his candy cane and playing with the elf's Rudolph stocking.
(Robert pretty much gave the fat-man the evil eye and the teeny one in the bottom picture wanted nothing to do with him.)
After we left my parent's house, we went down to San Diego for a short vacation. The highlight was a day at the San Diego zoo. Anthony had a great time. He enjoyed the animals, especially the primates and the polar bear. He was a little surprised that he wasn't allowed to ride the elephants like he had before. He really enjoyed climbing on all the bronze statues, too.
