Anthony has Adventures

Ski School

2012-01-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

Anthony LOVED ski school. We arrived a bit early the first day to watch him in action. I was pretty impressed with what he accomplished in one short (exhausting) day. He was shuffling around on his little skis and could glide down a short hill under his own power.

At the end of the first day he graduated to level 2. The instructor warned me that level 2 was hard as 4 year olds don't really have the muscle development to snowplow. She was right, we're going to do at least one more round of level 2. That's okay, he's having a great time and we are thrilled to death!

Snow!

2012-01-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think Anthony is leading a very deprived childhood. When we were in Omaha, he saw a small pile of very old, very dirty snow and wanted to touch it; it was the only snow he'd seen in a long time.

We headed up to Tahoe for a weekend skiing. Anthony woke up just as we pulled into the resort (11:30 pm) and was SO EXCITED to see snow out the window.

There wasn't much snow, its been a remarkably dry winter. However, there were a few piles of it and we let Anthony play for awhile before ski school. He refused to wear gloves leaving the condo. One touch of snow, though, and he wanted them on his hands!

Monkey Boy

2012-01-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

He made it across the monkey bars all by himself!

Surprise Birthday Party

2012-01-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

We had a surprise party after church today to celebrate Pastor Mark's 60th birthday. Anthony was VERY excited to see the pinata, but then a little worried about how it worked. At his parties, the kids can see the pinata, its stationary and then they try and hit it with a bat. Then, they don't make a dent in the thing and the grown-ups finish it off.

It was pretty funny watching Anthony watch Pastor Mark hit the rafters of the fellowship hall rather than the pinata. He was very concerned about the whole thing. He was also a bit reluctant to take his turn at bat until I reassured him that he didn't have to wear a blindfold.

I was actually quite impressed with the behavior of the other kids today. Generally I think that pinatas bring out the worst in kids with the greedy scramble for candy.

Three highpoints:
1. Anthony randomly started near the front of the line with a few of his little friends behind a bunch of ten(?) year olds. The bigger kids saw the little ones and pushed them to the front of the line.
2. Another big kid gave Anthony a piece of his candy. I assume it was with parental prodding, but it was still nice.
3. Anthony was chewing away on his lollipop and holding two pieces of chocolate when I noticed that his girlfriend M. was out of candy. I asked him to share with her and he did so willingly.

I mean it when I say that M. is his girlfriend. They are SO cute together. She looks forward to seeing him as much as he's excited to see her. (The other day they had a rough time getting out the door. M's mom said, "I bet Anthony will be there" and out she skipped.

First Place!

2012-01-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

We rode the tandem + trailer in the Los Gatos Street Scramble today. Despite our late start and our team member who wanted to abandon the race for the playground we passed, "Bob, the Babe and the Boy" came in first place!

I'd hoped Anthony would be able to participate a little more than he did. Most of the "clues" were too hard for him. The numbers we had to spot were too high, or finding the last word on the first line of the plaque was just too tricky. And, of course, it was a race and Mama has a brutal competitive streak. (Even when I knew we had no chance due to our late start.) Well, we managed to beat the other team in our field of two. Yep, stomped the Boy Scouts.

I'm actually pleased with how we did. Bob and I worked well together as a team** and my navigating skills improved significantly over past events.

We're bit of a Street Scramble Powerhouse, if I don't say so myself. We won our first race with Janet (Bob and the Babes). I know we placed in our 2nd Millbrae Street Scramble. We're choosing to forget the San Francisco Day and Night (3hr, 6 hr and 12 hr options) where we were so late that we had zero points.

**If you overlook the part where we put the tandem rack on the car.

Special Student

2012-01-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

This week was Anthony's turn to be special student at preschool. We made a poster to share with his friends. It included pictures with his friends and family (Mommy, Daddy and his cousins) and pictures of his favorite things to do like riding his bike, playing dress-up and camping.

The Special Student gets all sorts of privileges including doing the calendar, counting students leaving the playground, and of course, ringing the bell.

Fun in the Pool

2012-01-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

Ask any child what the best part about staying in a hotel, and they will respond "the pool". Anthony is no exception, he was a veritable fish. Or shark, actually, as demonstrated in the top photo.

He's gotten pretty brave. He had a great time jumping off the side of the pool. He kept making me back up so that I could no longer catch him! Basically he'd just jump in the water and then I would scoop him up.

I'm really looking forward to swim lessons starting next summer!

Pop-up books

2012-01-03T06:26:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I became aware of the work of Robert Sabuda. His pop-up books are AMAZING and The Wizard of Oz is no exception. Anthony LOVES the copy Joshua gave him for Christmas. It even came with a pair of green spectacles.

Twins!

2012-01-02T06:04:00.000-08:00

Bob's Aunt Kathy gave the boys matching Huskers shirts for Christmas. When she gave them the packages, she told me that they wouldn't actually like the presents. Safe assumption, what kid likes getting clothes? She was so wrong, the presents were a HIT! The boys really liked their matching shirts.

Second Christmas

2011-12-31T19:19:00.000-08:00

Anthony was a little confused when we had Christmas AGAIN at Jessica's house. Grandma and Grandpa were FAR too generous. Most of the presents are going to be mailed, but we brought home some of the favorites including a new airplane toy and Bigsby, an interactive story book from Auntie Jessica.

Bouncy Boys

2011-12-27T19:08:00.000-08:00

It was a long trip to Omaha. 9 hours in a car for Joshua and almost that long in airplanes and airports for Anthony. Our first full day there a trip to Pump It Up was in order to burn some energy. The boys had a blast and played nicely together the whole time.

Anthony made it nearly to the top of the climbing wall this time!

Reindeer Food

2011-12-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

When I was kid, back in the dark ages, the reindeer were lucky to get carrots. Now there is apparently a whole institution surround reindeer food. Anthony brought home a bag of it from preschool. Evidently modern reindeer eat a mixture of oatmeal, marshmallows and colored sprinkles. You are supposed to sprinkle this stuff on the lawn, but we decided they'd prefer to eat off a plate. I added in carrots for good health. (You'll notice that Anthony ate a number of the marshmallows.)

Minor parental screw-up Christmas morning. It was cold and dark Christmas Eve, so neither of us wanted to go out and make the reindeer food go away. Next thing we know I was desperately trying to distract Anthony, who REALLY wanted to go out while Daddy was dumping the food. It was pretty cold, the water was frozen over!

Ho Ho Ho!

2011-12-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice Christmas. Anthony got all sorts of great toys and books. Santa was VERY good to him. He managed to eat ALL of his Christmas candy before breakfast, which he didn't eat. Surprise!

Daddy's big present was a scooter, so he could keep up with Anthony on his bike. Of course, he still can't keep up!

This year's Christmas Cookies

2011-12-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

The gingerbread men are nearly gone, so I decided to make Spritz Cookies to help along our cookie platter. The recipe is from my new favorite recipe source--the King Arthur Flour blog. Anthony was very helpful mixing the dough and pressing out the cookies.

(He also can't be trusted with the unbaked dough.)

I think they came out looking quite nice!

Gingerbread house

2011-12-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight we decorated our gingerbread house. I bought it a few weeks ago, but we finally had both the time and the temperment to decorate it.

We had a really nice time. I piped on the icing and Anthony and I decided together where the decorations should go. I asked him where Santa should go. His response was, "On the roof next to the chimney, of course." So, we constructed a chimney and put Santa on top.

Now if I can only get him to stop trying to pick the candy off.

Gilroy Gardens

2011-12-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

While Gilroy Gardens is known for its amazing gardens and circus trees, the highlight is the rides.

Our first time on the cars, Bob asked Anthony if he was going to drive. Anthony's response was that he didn't know how to drive a car, and he seemed a bit worried about the proposition. Daddy reassured him that he'd help and they had a grand old time. 2nd time though Anthony wanted to drive all by himself. Bumpiest ride ever! Oh, the ride showcased the 12 days of Christmas, all in lights.

Holiday Lights at Gilroy Gardens

2011-12-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went down to Gilroy Gardens for their annual Holiday Lights event. The park, which is always beautiful, was just magical with all the lights. We couldn't stay until the laser show at 8:30, way too late for a boy who goes to sleep at 7:30.

We were thrilled to find the Peanuts gang greet us as we walked in. Anthony really doesn't know who they are. He drives Bob crazy by calling Charlie Brown "Caillou". Still, he was happy to greet the characters and give them hugs. They put on a stage show during dinner and Anthony was enthralled.

Daycare Christmas Party

2011-12-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Kathleen's annual Christmas party. She really puts on such a nice party for the kids. They started out with outside playtime while the adults chatted. Then they all came in for some singing while her son-in-law played the guitar. Then who should come but Santa Claus with presents for EVERY kid, including a bunch of alumni. After Santa we then had a nice potluck dinner.

About dinner… The kid darn near drove me crazy. I was in line for food, and every time I turned around Anthony had another handful of cheetos. I'd move the bowl to the very back of the table, but then it was up front again. I'm thinking a big kid helped him, "Here Anthony, let me help you reach the bowl." I can't imagine an adult indulging his habit. Between the cheetos, Christmas cookies and the frosting off a Sprinkles cupcake, he didn't eat much dinner. Oh well.

My contribution was Gingerbread Men, made using my favorite spice cookie dough. They were beautiful and taste fabulous!

Up on the rooftop

2011-12-15T23:27:00.000-08:00

Step in time!

Chimney sweep, gutter sweep, what's the difference?

School Christmas Program

2011-12-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

Today was the annual Christmas program at Anthony's preschool. He wasn't quite on his game as much as Halloween. I know he knew the songs, we certainly practiced them. He spent a good part of the first few songs being a busy-body, looking around, checking things out… Eventually he got down to some good singing, though.

After the program was over we all went back to his classroom for snacks and then a special visitor came. Thank goodness we were near the front of the line.

Christmas Caroling

2011-12-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday night was our neighborhood's annual Christmas Caroling party. The group started at Miss Sharon's house** and went down our street. Anthony had a GREAT time. He loved singing, but he really just enjoyed going door to door seeing everyone. He turned to me at some point and said, "this is just like trick-or-treating".

Our exit from the fun went brilliantly. I told Anthony at our last house that we had to leave to rush home so that we could answer the door for the carolers. Sure enough, we went home, changed into jammies and then they were at the door. Then it was straight to bed.

**Miss Sharon is the children's librarian. It was quite a trip for Anthony seeing her outside of her natural environment.

Sand table

2011-12-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

When I bought our sand/water table two years ago, I knew that if I put sand and water in it simultaneously, we'd just have mud.

Last winter the table sat un-played with, too cold for water.

This year I bought the most beautiful sand for our table. Its nicer than any beach sand, so fine through your fingers. Everyone LOVES playing in it, if only it would stay in the table. (I got the sand at Lakeshore Learning, it was pretty expensive, but worth it. It even molds nicely when wet.)

Decorating the house for Christmas

2011-12-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

Anthony was VERY excited to help Daddy put Christmas lights on the house, until he discovered there really wasn't much fun stuff for him to do. He wasn't allowed on the ladder, after all.

We ended up with a few neighborhood kids over and they decorated the playhouse for Christmas instead. It was covered inside and out with chalk; very colorful indeed.

On a related note, last night we took Anthony to our church's Christmas concert. It was AMAZING. Over a hundred performers from four choirs. All the performances were amazing, but it was spectacular when they combined together. We had seats right in front. Anthony enjoyed it, but did have to take a break in the middle. (He ran into his friend Marley and they had a lovely time running around together.)

Ciaran Time

2011-12-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

The Daddies were off (A's was flying, C's on a business trip), so we took the kids where else but to Happy Hollow. Anthony and Ciaran are so wild when we get them together that outdoor time is best. The park was nearly empty when we got there, we had to wait for enough kids to ride the carousel.

We actually visited all the animals this trip! Anthony generally likes the bees the best.

Fall Fun

2011-12-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Tree

2011-12-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

Anthony spent all year talking about how he yelled "Timber" when Daddy cut down the tree last Christmas. I figured with memories like that, he'd be disappointed to buy from a Christmas tree lot, so we headed off to Patchen Christmas Tree Farm this afternoon.

We got a perfect little Douglas Fir. Amazingly, its just the right height to fit in our living room. I let Anthony pick out a wreath for our front door, too.

When it came time to decorate, I found that the difference between 3 and 4 was stunning. Last year he was destructive. This year he was VERY enthusiastic about hanging the ornaments on the tree. He had a hard time sticking to the non-breakable ornaments, but he treated all of them with respect, so it was okay. Loved his enthusiasm.

(In case anyone is curious, it was a 4 candy cane day.)

Creekside Christmas

2011-12-03T22:54:00.000-08:00

Today was our church's annual Christmas craft festival. It was pretty darn amazing. They had at least twenty crafts set up for the kids to enjoy.

Anthony's favorite by FAR was the snowglobe. There wasn't much to making it, but he was very proud of it and loves carrying it around. His favorite to make was the cross filled with layers of colored sand. He had a ball doing that.

Suprisingly, he didn't really enjoy any of the bead-stringing crafts. He usually enjoys that sort of thing, he's made yards and yards of fruit loop necklaces. I completed his jingle bell door hanger and its on the front door right now.

Santa Claus

2011-11-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

I anticipate many more visits with the fat man over the course of the season. There is the daycare party, preschool Christmas program, Christmas Craft Fair at church… Still, the first sighting of the season is a nice milestone. It actually took Anthony a few seconds to decide to approach Santa, the most stand-off-ish he's ever been.

Sea World

2011-11-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving found us at Sea World. Anthony and I rode a few rides while we waited for his cousins to arrive. Then we headed off to the dolphin show which was a HIT. It was VERY flashy with aerials and divers in addition to the dolphins.

Anthony's favorite animal was the walrus. He would spit out his food and then eat it again. It was pretty disgusting and kind of cool, all at the same time.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T19:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we flew down to Southern California to visit my family. My mom prepared cookies for the grand-kids to decorate while we waited for the turkey to cook. Anthony LOVED squeezing enormous amounts of icing on his cookies. He also enjoyed a spoonful of blue sprinkles.

Cartwheels with Friends

2011-11-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

I came home from my new job with an 18 lb organic (fresh) turkey. We're going away for Thanksgiving and it seemed like a sin to freeze the bird. So we invited friends with teenage boys over to help us eat the thing.

We had a lovely evening, a low key dinner, the kids played Wii, the adults chatted... At some point Anthony conned Riley (aka King of the Little Kids) into teaching him how to do cartwheels.

The turkey was pretty good. Would I spend that much of my own money? Doubt it. But it instigated a nice evening and we had plenty of leftovers, even though we had TWO teenage boys to help.

"Helping" Daddy

2011-11-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

Anthony was MORE than happy to help Daddy fix his airplane. Daddy even let him run the drill a few times.

A New Medium

2011-11-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

Last week we explored a new art medium--shave cream on cookie sheet. Anthony LOVED it. In case you can't tell, he drew a picture of my cat Tigger.

You can easily tell the picture was taken last week--he's wearing short sleeves. We went from summer to winter in about two days last week!

Discovery Museum

2011-11-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

One of the disadvantages of working full time is that all the fun stuff is CROWDED on the weekends. The Discovery Museum is particularly bad, it gets really noisy. So, today we headed off to San Jose to play in the museum when it was nearly empty. Anthony had fun at the sand table, but the water area was (as always) the hit.

The bottom picture is a favorite toy in the water play area. You fill up the pneumatic tube with balls while another tube fills with water. Then you pull the rope, the water drops and the balls fly! The musem provides little waterproof aprons, but a full change of clothes is generally required.

I didn't get pictures, but we spent a little while visiting the new mastadon exhibit. The star of the show is the mastadon fossil that was discovered right by Bob's office when he worked at Rockwell-Collins.

Fun Day Off

2011-11-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of switching jobs and am taking the week off! I spent today doing all the things I normally CAN'T do. I started off by volunteering in Anthony's preschool class. I would say that it was nice seeing him in his natural environment, but my presence definitely disturbed things. Basically he was pretty darn clingy and FAR less cooperative than usual.

His teachers said he was doing well. He needs more work on his fine motor skills, and we're starting to make a conscious effort for that. Mrs. Rooney thinks he's on the verge of being able to read! I think she exaggerates, but he certainly enjoys saying words out loud and figuring out what letter it starts with. If he knows, for example, that Subway starts with "S", he can then find "Subway" on the package of apples.

After preschool we had lunch with Daddy and then headed home for some rest time. Then we met up with Ciaran at a local park for a few hours. The best part of Heritage Oaks park was the rock climbing area. They spent awhile climbing on the rocks and Anthony could make it all the way across the climbing ropes by himself.

He was pretty worn out by the end of the day.

Tossing the Dough

2011-11-06T19:32:00.001-08:00

Anthony spotted a recipe for "Cinnamon Critters" in this month's "Highlights High-Five" and wanted to bake them with me. He LOVED playing with the dough. The highlight of Pizz'a My Heart (where we eat far too often) is watching the employees spin the pizza dough. The treats came out nicely, though I was careful to make sure that Bob and I ate the ones I had made. Anthony's were a little too sampled.

On a related note, we LOVE High Five magazine. We got Anthony the subscription for his 3rd birthday. The first few months we just read the stories and the comic strips. Then at closer to 3 1/2 he discovered Hidden Pictures and thinks those are tons of fun, too. Its an expensive magazine, but worth every penny. I loved my subscription to Highlights and am happy to continue the tradition.

Boys' Day Out

2011-11-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Anthony's birthday present to Robert was a trip to Happy Hollow together. They went with the Daddies and were there ALL DAY. They left our house at 10 and didn't return until 4:00. Anthony is finally big enough to ride the roller coaster unchaperoned, so he and Robert took multiple turns together.

They didn't see the puppet show, but they did visit all the animals down in the hollow. Anthony came back with soaking wet legs and feet. There's a little pond(?) with stepping stones across it. Guess who missed a step? Fortunately Daddy was holding one hand to keep from going in all the way.

"I'm a Carrot Farmer"

2011-11-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

Imagine small person dancing around the house singing, "I'm a carrot farmer." Well, that was the start of our morning.

As Anthony enjoyed his summer zucchini plant so much, we planted another crop in our self-watering containers for fall. We did one pot of sugar snap peas (the birds loved the baby plants) and one crop of carrots. As expected, they were well loved.

Today we harvested our first baby carrot and Anthony was thrilled to no end.

There's no sign of frost, so we'll let the other continue growing as long as we can.

Milestone towards winter

2011-11-03T17:34:00.001-07:00

Turned on the heat today.

Bob had planned to take Anthony on a field trip to see the zeppelin today, but the event was cancelled on account of inclement weather.

Bummer.

Bouncy Birthday

2011-11-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

In addition to all the Halloween fun, last weekend we helped Anthony's pal K (preschool and Sunday School) celebrate her birthday. Anthony had a GREAT time. There was a large selection of jumpers but Anthony clearly liked the gigantic slide the best.

I was glad to meet some of the parents of his classmates. There's a pair of kids that Anthony talks about ALL the time. I got to know their mother so hopefully we can have a playdate soon.

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

First words out of Anthony's mouth this morning were "Is it time to go trick-or-treating now?"

Finally the time came and we were off! Ciaran came over (3rd time in a row, though people have stopped mistaking them for twins) and they had a grand old time RUNNING from house to house.

They still were more than happy to stop and enjoy the decorations. One house had gravestones where the top would life and a ghost would come out. It was pretty funny watching Anthony peer behind it, trying to figure out how it all worked.

I gave out books again this year. Reception was generally positive, "Oooh, books!", especially from the parents. One Dad and I really had to convince a child that he really wanted "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Silly child! A few kids rejected books and then were sent on their way! I'll do it again next year. House hasn't been egged yet.

Anthony's haul was pretty heavy on "the good stuff". Unfortunately for him, he prefers the horribly sweet stuff--laffy taffy, skittles, candy corn, lollipops. He's been pretty generous about sharing his candy with Mommy and Daddy. Probably the last time that will happen.

Halloween Fun

2011-10-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today was all about Halloween Fun. The kids all wore their costumes to church this morning. Then we headed home for a quick lunch and off to the airplane museum to see the witch drop a pumpkin from the helicopter. No disappointment, it was a lovely SPLAT.

After a (too-long) nap, we headed off to some haunted houses in the neighborhood. The first was at a nearby elementary school. It was pretty dark and spooky, I was afraid that Anthony would be too scared. He LOVED it and was disappointed that we could only go through once.

We then headed off to DC Cemetery, which has won national awards for best haunted house and was even featured on the Today Show. Its their twentieth year in action and was stunningly impressive for a volunteer run display in someone's front yard! We were there during the daytime (children's hour) but it was still a pretty impressive display. And once again, Anthony was fascinated.

Scary Pumpkins

2011-10-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

An eagerly awaited day finally arrived, the carving of the pumpkins. Daddy and Anthony carved quite the scary trio, including a vampire jack-o-lantern.

About Anthony's shirt. He barely got to wear it this season as its been so warm. It was actually really too warm for today but I wanted it to be worn!

Halloween Program

2011-10-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

Today was Anthony's Halloween Program at school. He did GREAT!

Mrs. Mead, the director, started off with her standard spiel, about how much she loves Halloween, about how kids can grow up to be anything they want to be, and about how Halloween is the day where they can be WHATEVER they want. She then went on to describe some of the costumes--a twirling fish, muscled girls and bejeweled boys.

Art Work

2011-10-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Anthony has been doing some great artwork lately. All of a sudden a light clicked on and he really started to enjoy coloring. I print coloring pages on the computer and he loves to sit at the table and color with markers. (Not so into crayons, maybe the color isn't intense enough.)

The first picture is actually a "cognitive activity" from preschool--sorting and counting. I appreciate his attempts at writing his name. The 2nd picture is one of the first coloring pages he did. I was pretty impressed with how hard he worked at coloring it nicely. The third picture is an art project from preschool. I'm particularly fond of the portrait of yours-truly he drew. It even has eyebrows!

Robert's Birthday Party

2011-10-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today was Robert's birthday party. For an event that was eagerly anticipated, Anthony really didn't have much fun. I'm not really quite sure why--it was all kids from the neighborhood that he knew. They were mostly older, though, and the party got off to a rather rambunctous start with a game of tag. Anthony generally dislikes playing that kind of game with bigger kids.

He did enjoy eating cake and ice cream out of his very own doggie dish.

3-2-1 Blast-off!

2011-10-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Jay gave Anthony a vinegar and baking soda powered rocket for his birthday. Bob saw it and said, "That's so cool." Tonight we finally took it out for a spin.

The learning curve was a bit steep--too tight on the launcher and it wouldn't go, too loose and Bob gets covered in baking soda.

When done right, though, Wow! Bob even got to retrieve the rocket from the roof.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-19T20:13:00.001-07:00

Saturday we headed down to Swank Farms to visit their pumpkin patch. There are other, closer farms, but we like Swank a lot. It was our third year and even though the activities are the same, Anthony's interests keep changing. In addition to the "kiddie coral", we bought Anthony a ticket to ride on the "cow train". The Donahues arrived just as we were wrapping things up, but the kids did enjoy their train ride together. (Then the Daddies did the pumpkin sling-shot. Anthony was pretty bummed that he didn't get to "help".)

We enjoyed the maze, with the story of "Spookley, the Square Pumpkin". Anthony now understands how to follow the arrows to read the whole story. There was plenty of bounce house jumping and a pile of hay, too.

Fabulous New Toy

2011-10-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

We used the birthday money from Grandpa Vince and Grandma Donna to buy a toy I've been eying for YEARS--a Haba marble run.

Its definitely a parent/child activity as Anthony is probably a few years away from being able to set it up on his own. That being said, he really enjoys it and is starting to understand how it works. (Its also a quiet time activity, wild boys knock it over. That's what he was doing before he understood how cool it was when it was finally set up.)

Now, of course, I'm already lusting for some of the cooler elements, the sound staircase, the ringing track, and the funnel (which even included the ringing track).

Sorry, the video quality is lousy. Anthony was in the way AND I was on the phone with Grandma.

Worn out

2011-10-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Anthony was wiped out last Sunday afternoon and pretty much collapsed on the sofa. I think its the first time it happened. (Old post, this was the day after his birthday party.)

On a related note, we "reward" him with 4 skittles to stay in bed until clock turns yellow. A few days ago he sang (and played in his bed for almost 45 minutes. All for FOUR skittles. Works for me!

Oh yeah, he dressed himself, too. Makes me cringe just thinking about it. Normally I give him his choice of shirts and then pull out the matching shorts. Sunday he was in time out for refusing to change out of his church clothes. He overcompensated.

Camping with Old/New Friends

2011-10-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great time camping with my college friends Don and Sarah and their two boys this weekend. We went to Henry Cowell State Park and camped among the redwood trees.

Anthony was a bit stand-offish at first. It was strange, usually he loves other kids. Then he said, "I thought we were going with my cousins Joshua and Emerson." Joshua and Anderson, Joshua and Emerson, they sound similar, but are oh so different.

The boys had played together before, but now Anthony was finally old enough to really play with the big kids. Boy did they play together. Anthony even taught Anderson the "flying monkey game." Anderson showed off his loose/missing teeth, which made Anthony SO jealous.

We went on a few short hikes and found some geo-caches. (Bob and Anthony hadn't been geocaching in YEARS.) Anthony did great on the hikes, the longest was about a mile and a half and he didn't really get tired until the very end.

The highlights of the trip included marshamallows (of course), playing inside the various redwood trees, including one big enough to hold SEVENTY FOUR people, and petting "the muppet tree" which had an immensely thick layer of lichen.

The best part of all, of course, was visiting with old friends.

Good-bye jungle gym

2011-10-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

It got played with TWICE. Once when the Deckers were here, once at Anthony's birthday party, by the other kids. I finally got the enormous piece of plastic out of our backyard by selling to a local family. Meanwhile, the kids had so much fun playing with all the disassembled pieces.

When will I be five?

2011-10-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

365 days!

(Next year is a leap year)

Four Years Old

2011-10-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Anthony is four years old today!

Time for an update:

1. He's about 40" tall and 35 pounds. That means he's holding steady at 75% for height and 25% for weight.

2. He's really blossoming in terms of physical skills--he can pump on the swing, hop on each foot extensively, skip, walk a short balance beam and ride his bike without training wheels.

3. He's incredibly verbal with a fairly impressive vocabulary. (Latest declaration: "Burping is uncouth." Yes, I know he's just quoting me verbatum. He also knows EXACTLY what it means.) He also speaks VERY clearly.

4. Socially he's coming along. He still has a rough time having friends over. Now its not the sharing of toys as much as uncooperative play. He wants to play what he wants, not necessarily what his friend wants. That being said, he's started talking about the new friends he's making at preschool and is always playing cooperatively with a group when I pick him up at daycare.

5. He's fascinated by phonics. He seems to have fairly good mastery at B, S, M and W. If you clearly say a word that begins with one of those letters he can correctly identify it. Its kind of hit and miss with others. We practice a LOT as he find it interesting.

6. His favorite toys are his dress-up clothes and his bicycle. He also really enjoys his Highlights Hi-5 magazine. He's gotten pretty good at the Hidden Pictures and thinks those are a lot of fun.
7. "Mommy, buy me" has entered his vocabulary. It used to be, "I want". I first noticed it when we were looking through a Halloween catalog a few weeks ago. I thought we were just looking at the costumes and trying to decide what he wanted to be. Next thing I knew it was, "buy me this!"
8. His fine motor skills are still work in progress. We've been signing thank you notes and he still sometimes holds a pen in his fist. He can write a wobbly A, but not the rest of his letters. (He brought homework back from preschool last week practicing his name.)

9. He can count pretty high, but usually transitions straight from 26 to 37.

10. No more sippy cups! He hasn't NEEDED them for a long time, but he LIKED them. 4 year olds use big boy cups.

Helping Mama Make Birthday Cupcakes

2011-10-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

Funny... When Mom makes her own birthday cake its a bit of a bummer. When almost-four-year-old gets to make his own birthday cupcakes its a great treat accompanied by the licking of the beater.

Daycare cupcakes are chocolate with cream cheese frosting and topped with witch hats I made from gum paste and fondant.

The preschool cupcakes are also chocolate, but I've come to my senses and will just be buttercream and sprinkles.

No Training Wheels!

2011-10-02T18:20:00.001-07:00

We gave Anthony his big birthday present today--a 12" bike with no training wheels. It took a little while for him to have the confidence to ride it. He was much happier with Bob's hand on his back for reassurance. This video was shot within seconds of getting on the bike. By the end of the afternoon he was a pro!

A few more party pictures

2011-10-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

We were really too busy hosting Anthony's party to get good pictures! The top picture is playing "Pin the heart on the tinman." None of the kids had ever played before--old fashioned party games have gone out of style. I think they enjoyed playing!

We went straight from there to the pinata. Anthony had been begging to whack the witch all morning. Heck, he's been begging for his party all morning. We told him his party would be after lunch. As we were sitting down to breakfast he asked, "Is it lunchtime yet?" Of course, the cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream (Anthony's favorite) were enjoyed by all!

At dinner, he asked if he could have a wicked witch pinata for his birthday party. I assume he meant next year!

Wizard of Oz

2011-10-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

We really enjoyed the Wizard of Oz theme. I asked Bob to make a yellow brick road leading up to the house. He went wild with the chalk and did a great job! (The bounce house was labelled "flying monkeys only.")

Birthday Cake

2011-09-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Made it myself!

I had to order the witch cake pan on-line as it was discontinued by Wilton ages ago. Anthony was SO excited when it arrived. He is completely infatuated with the Wizard of Oz.

This was my first experience doing a Wilton character cake. I think it turned out pretty well, and really wasn't as time consuming as I had expected. The top looks pretty darn amazing, if I do say so myself. The sides, not so much.

B is for Banana

2011-09-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Letter of the week at preschool is "B". We spent a LONG time listing all the things that begin with B. Despite some other good ones (book, Bonanza, biplane) Anthony decided he wanted to take a banana to preschool. Alas, he wouldn't take a plastic banana, he wanted a REAL one.

That poor banana was loved to death. He came home at the end of the day looking forward to eating it. He was a bit disappointed to learn that it was more suitable for banana bread than eating.

Afraid of the Dark

2011-09-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Anthony's fear of the dark is getting worse and worse. He sleeps with his light turned on fairly high. No real problem there, but it was a bit of a drag sharing a hotel room with him.

Then he woke in the night a few nights ago complaing about "the dark out there". Referring, of course, to the hallway. I turned that light on and went back to bed. Bob doesn't like the hallway light reflecting in his eyes, so fortunately that's not a common occurrence.

"Who is going to sleep with me?" is often a code for, "I need another stuff animal." Its hard to remember that in the night. Sometimes a parent end up in his bed when another teddy would do. (Notice he is also sleeping with his parrot umbrella.)

Birthday Party #2

2011-09-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Our 2nd birthday party of the weekend was at the park. It was a great time!

Our birthday party schedule may seem ridiculous, but its temporary! Anthony is one of five four year olds at day care. There are 3 three-year-olds. Eight kids total in his peer group. Five of them have birthdays in a 2 1/2 week time period. How's that for crazy stats? Of course, Robert's birthday is at the end of October!

BIG Day

2011-09-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

We had a BIG day today. We started off with a bike ride to the firestation for the firefighter's annual pancake breakfast. Anthony watched the rescue demonstrations, (sort-of) put out a fire with a fire extinguisher and got to spray a real fire hose. I liked the "safety house" where he learned to dial 911 and crawled through a smoke-filled room and out the window with the assistance of a firefighter. His analysis of the morning, "But I thought I was going to have breakfast with a fireman!" Serving us breakfast (in t-shirts) evidently wasn't good enough.

After lunch we saw Lion King in the theater. Anthony got a bit restless, but enjoyed the movie. Of course, now we're having a lot of discussions about WHY Mufasa died and EXACTLY what happened. At least they didn't off the mother in this one, unlike all the other Disney movies.

Our day ended with Austin's birthday party, the first of five in five weeks. He bounced up a storm and had a great time.

Let's just say Anthony went to bed pretty easily!

Fun with the Family

2011-09-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

One of the nicest parts of a family wedding (besides watching them get hitched) is getting to visit with family we seldom get to see. The top picture is Bob and his cousin Travis swinging Anthony. (Travis and his siblings were Bob's closert cousins growing up.) The bottom picture is Anthony and Joshua blowing raspberries at Travis' wife Shelly. Lovely.

(Considering how much we hauled around the camera, we didn't get THAT many good pictures.)

Fun with Joshua

2011-09-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

We took a few days off last weekend to head to Colorado for Bob's cousins wedding. Of course, we made plenty of time to visit with Grandma and Joshua, too.

Saturday morning we headed off to a Jefferson County festival. Anthony worked up the courage to hand a post-card to the bomb squad robot. He was pretty freaked out by it at first. He and Joshua had a great time playing on all the bounce house inflatables. Then we watched the Sheriffs' dogs go through their paces. Those puppies were VISCIOUS.

Saturday afternoon we headed down to Ft. Collins. We swam with Grandma, various Aunts and his new cousin Emerson (age 2). Then we had a dance party in Grandma's room, an early dinner and off to bed.

It was a great day! I loved the stair-step cousins. Anthony is exactly a year older that Joshua and two years older than Emerson. He took great care of Emerson--every time she dropped her lovey bear, he made sure she got it right back.

Lindsey's Wedding

2011-09-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

I was a bit nervous taking Anthony to Lindsey's wedding. I vividly remember his last family wedding--we left out the side aisle while the bride walked down the center aisle.

What a difference two years makes. Before the ceremony I explained to Anthony EXACTLY what was going to happen and exactly what I expected of him. He rose to the occasion. The only faux pas--as the bride's father sat down directly in front of him, Anthony shrieked (in his best three-year old shriek), "I CAN'T SEE!!" Bob shifted, Grant shifted, problem solved. (Fortunately he decided that the bagpiper was NOT a pirate and was not scary.)

He had a great time at the reception. The kids ran around on the dance floor while the adults ate. (You can see him learning to slide from the bigger kids.) He danced with the bride, he had cake. Really, what wasn't there to like.

Eight Years

2011-09-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Art and Wine Festival

2011-09-11T21:35:00.001-07:00

Today we went downtown to Mountain View's annual arts and wine festival. As usual the ratio of junk to good stuff was pretty high, and Anthony generally doesn't enjoy shopping so we headed over to the kids' area.

I bought a handful of bounce house tickets, but Anthony was fascinated by the climbing wall. He wasn't quite old enough (you had to be four), but the guy let him climb anyway. The guy actually did a good job with Anthony; he taught him how to climb and helped him with some of the handholds. Anthony made it about 2/3 the way up the wall when he decided it was too high.

Palo Alto Airport Day

2011-09-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today we headed up to the Palo Alto Airport for their annual airport day. We had a nice surprise in store for us. Bob took me over to meet his friend Paul, from the Beech Boys. They were just getting ready to take off for their big formation flight over the airport and he invited us to ride along in the lead plane. It was pretty neat. (Anthony was unimpressed. We'd just started talking about lunch and he didn't understand why he was riding the coolest Young Eagle flight EVER instead of eating a hotdog with mustard.)

In addition to planes to watch, they had volunteers from the Junior Museum showing off animals. I liked the hedgehog the best. They even had pony rides. The pony rides was by far Anthony's favorite part, we even let him ride twice--the pony once and the big horse once.

About lunch... After our airpline ride I got Anthony his hot dog with mustard. I ate off the MoGo truck. It was AMAZING. It was my first experience with gourmet catering truck food and I was impressed. The menu looked a bit strange, but I followed Bob's advice and took a leap of faith. It was worth it!

Long Awaited Day

2011-09-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a day that Anthony had been waiting for a LONG time. The first day of preschool. I hadn't realized how much he loved his time at Children's Center until he didn't have it all summer.

Bob went to "Meet the Teachers" last week, I was stuck at work. This year sounds a lot more academic. Each week there will be a letter of the week and on Wednesday they bring in ONE thing that starts with that letter. There will be a wood-working project that each child will get to do, and then show off to the class. Meanwhile, everyone else get to practice anticipation.

We're definitely working on sharing. Specifically, the "A" on the circle time rug. Last year Anthony sat on the A every single day, and the one time he didn't get it, he was a bit bent out of shape. (A is for ME!) Well, there are 3 other kids who start with A in his class. Today he sat on "G", but he didn't seem too upset about it.

A Jolly Holiday

2011-09-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

Labor day felt more like the holiday weekend that I'd been anticipating. We invited the Donahues and took our kayak out to Shoreline Lake for a paddle and a picnic. It was perfect, we took turns paddling and those that weren't in the boat were picnicking on the shore or playing on the playground.

We need to take the boat out to Shoreline more often. Anyone want to come play with us?

(Elkhorn Slough is next! Any takers?)

When we got in the car, the first thing Anthony asked was how long the drive was and whether it would make his tummy throw up. He is just not a car riding kid.

Watsonville Airshow

2011-09-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

Alas, it was NOT the weekend we had planned.

The plan was brilliant: fly into the Watsonville Airshow (in formation with the Beech Boys) Friday evening. Then we'd do the spaghetti dinner, the evening airshow and camp overnight next to the airplane. In the morning we'd watch Daddy fly the airshow, enjoy the rest of the show and drive home. This was an event Bob had wanted to do for YEARS.

How it happened: Anthony got Grayson's cold. We decided that Bob would fly Friday (he was already committed) and camp overnight. Then Anthony and I would drive up Saturday morning so we could still watch Daddy fly. Then, Anthony developed an ear infection overnight Friday. No airshow, just a trip to the pediatrician to get antibiotics. A bit of a bummer.

"I call this game fun in a box" said the cat

2011-08-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon Claire and Robert got a new sofa. It came in a box and boy was there fun to be had! Poor Bob pretty much wore himself out in his roles as tornado, wind, waves for the pirate ship, etc.

Sunday afternoon C & came over asking if Anthony could come play with the box again. They made it quite clear that Bob was expected to come too!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

2011-08-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday we finally took Anthony to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It wore him out pretty quickly, but I think he had a good time!

We breezed through the members' entrance (thanks to Bob's coworker who has a super-duper membership and lent us his guest passes), admired the scuba diver in the tank, the octopus and then to the touching area. Honestly, the touching stuff made Anthony pretty nervous. He enjoyed the empty abalone shells, but he would NOT touch the abalone that was IN the shell. He did eventually get brave enough to touch a sea urchin.

We then headed over to the BIG tank just in time for feeding. We ended up right in front and enjoyed the show. I enjoyed watching the turtle lumber around eating abalone, but I think Anthony liked the big schools of fish swimming past the best.

Poor Anthony was pretty worn out by the time we got to the sea horse exhibit. I was determined to see it as it closes after this weekend. The next day, though, he did a great job talking up everything he had seen at the aquarium.

He slept the whole way home. A nice change from the drive there when he started asking, "Are we there yet?" at the 15 minute mark.

New Washer and Dryer

2011-08-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

I finally declared that Bob's old washer and dryer were done. The washer sounded like a jet plane taking off and the dryer was trying to set our house on fire.

The new machines arrived today. Anthony and I both were excited to see them in action. bob offered to bring popcorn.

Wormy Worm

2011-08-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Anthony was SO EXCITED about his first real garden project--a zucchini plant that yielded a single squash, that I decided we needed another project for fall.

We headed out to the nursery and came home with carrot seeds and sugar-snap pea seeds. Anthony had a great time planting them in our self-watering planter. Of course, now he examines the planter hourly trying to understand why they haven't sprouted yet. Patience, my boy, they tell me its a virtue.

While we were working in the yard, Anthony found a small worm. He named it Wormy Worm and carried it around for at least an hour while telling me how much he loved it.

The next morning I had a realization. He tells Bob and I that he loves us with the same degree of affection that he had for Wormy Worm.

Swimming in the river

2011-08-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

I just like the picture, clearly this isn't of us swimming in the river.

Andrea and I scored AMAZING campsites in Wawona, right on the bank of the Merced River. Every afternoon we went for a "refreshing" swim in the river. Refreshing, of course, is a polite way of saying cold.

Anthony really enjoyed playing in the water, even though he kept calling it a pool!

A highlight of our trip

2011-08-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Yet poor Anthony isn't in the picture. Nor do we have audio of him exclaiming "awesome" or yelling high to everyone and everything we saw on our stagecoach ride. ("Hi people", "Hi sign", "Hi mud")

I estimate that I've made at least 19 trips to Yosemite. At some point I decided that I wanted to do something new on each trip. This time our new adventure was to visit the Pioneer Village in Wawona. I'm not sure I even knew it was there before we started planning this trip.

Honestly, I wasn't too impressed. The buildings were authentic and furnished inside. But the doors were all shut so all you could do was peer into the windows of a dark room. The boys enjoyed playing in the powder stores/jail. It was DARK in there.

The real highlight was the "stagecoach" ride. It wasn't a stagecoach, it was a buggy. The boys still enjoyed it. A 15 minute ride was nice, but it felt like an uncomfortable way to travel.

How big is the Giant Sequoia?

2011-08-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

On our walk through the Mariposa Sequoia grove Anthony repeatedly compared his height to that of the Giant Sequoia. Needless to say, he was off by a bit.

Bike Races

2011-08-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Bob says that the bike races were his favorite part of the trip. All three boys brought their bikes and would race them up and down the road in front of our campsite. The order of winning was pretty predictable--Kurt was usually the first, aided by a chain ring. Poor Erik on his tricycle with the teeny wheels brought up the rear. They clearly had a great time!

Famous Last Words

2011-08-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

When we pulled into Yosemite I actually had the nerve to comment that Anthony finally arrived at the park without being carsick. (He'd been there twice before and both times had gotten sick before we even made it to the entrance.)

This morning we all loaded into my sister's brand new minivan and drove down into the valley. Let's just say that Anthony broke it in. I had packed MANY changes of clothes for him, but they were all back at camp. I rinsed out his clothes, but he wandered around in his Elmo underpants for awhile while we waited for his shorts to dry a bit and to get to a gift shop for a new t-shirt.

Now we know. Again.

Fun with Friends

2011-08-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a great day. Bob's former housemates Ercilia and John were both in town with their families. Its been over a year since we've seen Ercilia and we haven't seen Kerry since our wedding and we hadn't even met their two youngest kids!

Anthony and Zach were instant best friends. Zach even took Anthony on the roller coaster; Anthony's first time riding without a parent. (He isn't quite tall enough to ride by himself, but Zach is old/tall enough to be his chaperone.)

They all came over to our house for dinner. I was afraid the bigger kids would be bored. We just don't have many big kid toys. They all climbed around on the jungle gym, played with Anthony's toys... It was a blast.

The six adults ate dinner outside, the six kids ate dinner inside. It was a little reminescent of our first party at the house when we discovered that ALL the kids were inside unsupervised. It was a really great day.

We're kind of suffering today to make up for it. We didn't get Anthony in bed until 10:00. (We knew it was futile while his friends were here.) He's a wee bit tired today.

Obon Festival

2011-08-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

We took Bob's mom to the Mountain View Buddhist Temple's Obon Festival when she was visiting last month. We arrived just in time to see the Taiko drum performance.

Anthony found the big drum a little intimidating. He had a great time pounding the smaller one, though.

I think his favorite part of the festival was the shaved ice!

Trip to the dentist

2011-08-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

Anthony had a good check-up. Bob reported that there was some "negotiation" about getting his teeth cleaned and flossed. He did cooperate at the end and even got his fluoride treatment, which he hated as before.

He is head over heels in love with his new toothbrush. It has a suction cup at the end and he's been running around sticking it to everything!

Dinner Theater with Friends

2011-07-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

Last night we joined Ciaran and Sophie's families for dinner theater in the park. The show was "The Wish Peddler". I don't think any of the kids particularly enjoyed the show. As Elly said, it was kind of "talky". Anthony and Sophie are both in love with The Wizard of Oz, maybe we should have gone to Saratoga to see that. Meike and I both thought it was a long drive in rush hour, though.

Afterwards Sophia from daycare joined up for some nice running around time. What a treat!

"I'm Batman

2011-07-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

And batman doesn't wear clothes!" announces small person as he swoops around the room wearing (only) his hooded towel like a cape. Off the bed, around the room and back on the bed.

It was quite the scene.

Final Cake

2011-07-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the last night of my Wilton Fondant Class at Michaels. I really enjoyed the class and I thought my daisy cake came out pretty darn spiffy. It should be yummy, too. The filling is strawberry buttercream and was amazing!

We signed on for a #2

2011-07-21T20:39:00.004-07:00

Today Bob and I made the trip up to Pleasant Hill to sign on with our agency for adoption #2. Its been a long time coming, and we're very excited to get started again.

The second adoption should be much easier than the first. It certainly feels less stressful--I'm familiar with the homestudy process and its not nearly as intimidating the 2nd time around. Its still going to be a lot of work--fingerprints for Bob and me, physicals, four letters of recommendation, etc. But, less work than the first time.

IAC has also made some changes that will make it easier. They have design templates for both the website and the "Dear Birthmother" letter, for example, so you don't have to create them from scratch.

As for the picture choice for this blog post. Bob and I were in the reception area when we noticed a picture of Anthony on the bulletin board. Looking closer we realized that there were tons of pictures of Anthony and his pals that Bob took at the IAC picnic that first year. We were so proud!

Kids Love Soccer

2011-07-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today was Anthony's first day of soccer class. He was a little apprehensive, mostly because he didn't know what soccer was. He had a GREAT time! They played all sorts of ball games. They dribbled the "toys" into the toy box. They used their feet to stand up cones that had fallen over, and then they used their soccer balls to knock over the cones to put out fires.

I was VERY impressed with the program. The instructor was fabulous. He kept the kids entertained and on task. They learn their basic soccer/gross motor skills but in an age appropriate manner. We need to get shin guards and a soccer ball so we can practice our "little kicks" at home.

Swim Lessons

2011-07-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

Anthony's swim class finished their day by jumping into the pool. He's a little more nervous than some (little blond kid doesn't wait for an instructor), but he clearly enjoys it.

He got a pretty good report card from round 1 of swim lessons. He's accomplished nearly all the skills they require for moving on to level 2. Of course, the ones he hasn't mastered are the hardest--moving his arms and legs in tandem. But that's okay. We're signed up for another round of level 1, anyway!

Swim Lessons

2011-07-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

We signed up for two 2-week sessions of swim lessons through our local parks and recreation. Its going so well that I wish we'd signed up for more. I only did four weeks because its pretty rushed going from work to daycare to swim to home to dinner to bedtime. Phew.

Anthony has made no real progress in actual locomotion, but his confidence in the water has skyrocketted. Before lessons started he enjoyed the water, but really needed to be held tightly the whole time. He wouldn't allow us to help him float on his back, for example.

After his third lesson he was jumping off the side of the pool into his teachers' arms, and after the fourth lesson he jumped directly into the pool. He'll bob his head all the way under and blow his bubbles as they float him around the pool. I'm very pleased!

The only thing he really doesn't like is swimming/floating around the pool on his back, he complains about the sun in his eyes. I don't blame him.

Our New Wading Pool

2011-07-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

Anthony had so much fun in his cousins' wading pool that we decided we needed one of our own. We made the conscious decision to get a bigger/deeper (18") pool, rather than a smaller kiddie one with sprayers. Why? Because Anthony is the one kid who doesn't like the sprayers.

C and R came over and they had a lovely time together.

I'm not entirely convinced we're keeping said pool. It takes a TON of water and its quite hard to drain. Plus, the sides are so high that Anthony can't cannonball in. I wonder if we'd be happier with something smaller and shallower. But, the price was right!

Cannonball!

2011-07-12T05:41:00.000-07:00

Anthony enjoyed playing in Kurt and Erik's wading pool. I'm afraid he chased poor Erik out of the pool with his enthusiasm.

Beach Day with the Cousins

2011-07-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

My cousin Christina and her fiance are in Irvine for a month, so we flew down to my parents' house to visit.

The number one thing on my list for the weekend (besides catch up) was a beach day. I wanted Anthony to enjoy the "warm" water of southern California. The water there is still cold, but its a good 10 degrees warmer than here.

The boys didn't play together too much while we were at the beach. Andrea's boys like the sand and Anthony liked playing in the surf. Christina and I spent awhile holding his hands and playing in the waves.

Firefighters Came to Meet the Plane

2011-07-10T23:36:00.000-07:00

We just came back from visiting my family in southern California. A few minutes after taking off, Bob noticed that one tank had a MINOR gas leak caused by a loose gas cap. We diverted to land and fix it. No big deal, Bob clarified multiple times with air traffic control that it was NOT an emergency.

Upon landing we were greeted by four fire trucks, two police cars and a police helicopter. Basically, we were victims of a game of telephone. Evidently the ground tower interpreted "non-emergency gas leak" as "engine fire".

The firetrucks were sent back home immediately but the airport guys (the ones who would clean up the fire retardant foam) stayed behind and let Anthony wear their boots.

Anthony can swing all by himself

2011-07-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

For months now Anthony has been talking about how he can pump a swing all by himself. I even commented on it in his 3 1/2 year old update. Yet, when we'd go the park all I'd hear is "Push me Mommy." When I picked him up at daycare last week he was pumping away. I was so excited that he could FINALLY pump by himself. Maria looked at me and said, "He's been doing this for months!" The little stinker.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July.

The highlight of the day (besides swimming at Rengstorff Pool) was the 4th of July concert at Shoreline Amphitheater. Each year the theater gives away 2000 free tickets to Mountain View residents. Bob was pretty much the front of the line! We arrived early and enjoyed picnic dinner on the lawn.

The show was the San Francisco Symphony, in conjunction with Radio Disney. How's that for contrast? Radio Disney did the pre-show including a performance by Amber Lily that Anthony just loved. At the end she threw wrist-bands out in the crowd. Meanwhile her mother handed one to Bob for Anthony because she thought he was so cute.

While generally the music was "accessible", with a California theme--some folk songs, some cartoon theme songs, with video, Anthony found the concert to be rather long. Mostly, he didn't understand why we had to sit through all this music stuff when he wanted to see the fireworks. (He was tired, but really, he wanted to see the fireworks!) A bag of cotton candy kept him entertained for a long time. He'd never had cotton candy before and was thrilled!

Finally, the fireworks came and he was CAPTIVATED. Fortunately he wasn't afraid of the noise at all. Well, he wasn't afraid of the noise from the safety of my lap. It was a great show and it was my first time seeing fireworks with live music!

One thing we did REALLY REALLY right. We rode our tandem bike with the trailer behind. It was still ridiculously crowded getting out, and the bike trail was crowded too. However, we arrived home 45 minutes before our next door neighbor and 75 minutes before another friend. (We still didn't get home until 11 pm.) I put him to bed with his cotton candy as I didn't have the energy to fight it, but I removed the candy when he fell asleep. First words out of his mouth in the morning were, "Where's my cotton candy?"

Paul's 50th Birthday Party

2011-07-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor Paul's 50th birthday party was today. It was a great affair, they had a balloon artist/face painter AND a puppet show. (Paul has two young children, as did most of the crowd.) Anthony had a GREAT time.

He'd been wanting a balloon sculpture from the farmer's market for a long time. They're pretty expensive, so I always say no. He was so excited about his big blue flower.

Jungle Joe put on a pretty cool show, too. Very funny. It was aimed at slightly older kids, but Anthony still really enjoyed it.

Dinner Theater

2011-07-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

We've found a new Friday night tradition. Peninsula Youth Theater puts on a number of two-week camps through the summer. The camps culminate in a performance at our Center of Performing Arts' amphitheater. The performances are really quite good, given they're put on by a bunch of 8 and 10 year olds. They do the set, make the props and everything. (Okay, honestly, its you get what you pay for theater, but picnic dinner under the redwood trees is pretty nice, too.)

Last week we went with Ciaran and saw, "The King Who Loved Lollipops." Anthony loved it, so this week we went back for more.

Tonight's show was a musical; Henny Penny, aka Chicken Little. Anthony loved it and came back home singing the main number, "The sky is falling." After the show he had his picture taken with Henny Penny.