Hollister Airshow

Today we went to the 2nd Annual Hollister Airshow. Its much smaller and less crowded than some of the other airshows we've been too, I liked it much better that way.

Anthony's favorite act was the P-51 Mustangs flying in formation. He's been a big fan of the warbirds since he saw "Mike Da Mustang" over a year ago.

We took a break from airplane watching to jump in the bounce house area for a LONG time. Anthony was pretty wiped towards the end. We were getting ready to leave but Anthony decided to sleep on Daddy's lap through the end of the show instead. You'll notice he is still clutching his yellow Mustang.

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Santa Claus brought Anthony a balance bike for Christmas. At first Anthony was kind of unimpressed--it didn't have pedals and it sure didn't compete with his Mary Poppins umbrella.

Then spring came and all his pals had their bikes out. Now he LOVES his balance bike. He's getting pretty good at riding it. We had it at the campground Bob's birthday weekend and he was doing all sorts of tricks. My (least) favorite was propping both feet up on the front fork while riding downhill. Fortunately we haven't had any wipe-outs yet.

Later this summer we'll get Anthony a real bicycle with no training wheels. That's what makes these balance bikes so great. He already knows how to pedal, now he's learning to balance with confidence and then he just needs to put the two together!

Mommy comes to preschool

In the spring Anthony's preschool began inviting parents to come and volunteer in the classroom, basically to see the kids in their "natural environment." So I played hooky from work and spent the morning with Anthony. He was SO excited to have me there!

It was a special day, they were celebrating May Day. Someone left a May Basket at the door of the room and then each child got to bring flowers home to "surpise" their parents. Daddy was actually home first, so we put the flowers on the doorstep, rang the bell and ran. He was so surprised!

Instead of his classes' regular gymnastics time with Teacher Kim, they got to dance around a May Pole. Honestly, Anthony didn't seem to react much to the May Pole. On May Day we saw pictures of a May Pole in the picture and he started talking up a storm about how they did it in preschool.

I had a chance to talk to his teacher about his progress. She said that he's clearly one of the youngest in the class, but that he's doing well. She also said that he and his pal W from daycare goof off together. Sure enough, in circle time W started making faces and then Anthony was too.

I didn't get video of Anthony's favorite part of circle time--dressing Wendy or Willy for the weather. We act that one out a lot at home.

The MayPole video is kind of boring. Oh well.

Male Bonding

Today Bob and Anthony set off in the airplane to Columbia State Historic Park for some "man time".

Columbia is a preserved gold rush town, one of the few that survived intact. Bob and I have always enjoyed flying there for dates.

It sounds like the two of them had a good time. They had ice cream at the Fallon Ice Cream Parlor (mint chocolate chip for Anthony), but the best was yet to come.

Anthony really enjoyed the street musician who was fund-raising for the local school's music program. He knew ALL of Anthony's favorites--anything from Wizard of Oz or Mary Poppins. Bob said they spent a long time there tipping the guy.

Anthony also enjoyed the stagecoach ride, but was afraid of the robber who held them up, guns ablaze. The robber assured Anthony that he wasn't going to hurt him, but then proceeded to hold up all the other passengers. Bob was safe because he used Anthony as a human shield. "Is that wrong?" he asked.

Art at the Farmer's Market

Now that spring is here, the Los Altos Farmer's Market has re-opened.

We go to the Mountain View market every Sunday, but we're still out of fruit by Thursday! (Unfortunately, the prices are CLEARLY higher, even from the same vendors!)

The downtown association had a craft table set up, Anthony had a great time painting. He had a great time eating, too. We came home with Bing and Rainier cherries, organic strawberries and apricots.

A Jungle Safari

Anthony came home from preschool today showing off his binoculars and SO excited about his jungle safari.

As explained by Kathleen, one of the teachers own a good 200 stuffed creatures and set up a jungle safari for all the kids to enjoy. Anthony chattered on about the parrots, the spiders and especially the crocodile, who evidently eats Turkish caviar.

Heifer Sunday

In addition to Mother's Day, today was Heifer Sunday at church. 4-H brought in some animals for a petting zoo for the Sunday School kids. As expected, Anthony really enjoyed feeding the chickens.

Bob's favorite was the little duckling. Its Mama was a chicken.

Jay's Birthday Party

Jay's birthday party was today. Anthony was pretty over-tired from last night's pajama party, but still had a good time. The pinata was the highlight, but his party blower was a close second. Its the simplest toy, but so much fun.

Jay had a space ship party. His mom created the a great set of cakes. It was the sun (big and yellow) with the planets and a space shuttle. We decided to stick with the theme and gave Jay a stomp rocket for his birthday.

Afterwards Anthony looked at his underpants and announced, "I have spaceship underpants, just like Jay's cake!"

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

The San Jose Giants** had an afternoon game yesterday. When we got home from our night out, we found that Jessica had dressed Anthony in Giants' orange, so we went to the ball game.

It was a blast! Anthony was pretty much spellbound for the first four innings. It was pretty funny watching him cheer every time the catcher caught the ball. While I explained a lot to him, its unclear how much he understood.

Then he got restless so we took a bounce house break. We went back for another inning or two, and then it was time to sing "The Baseball Song". As expected, Anthony was an enthusiastic singer!

We then went back to the bounce house area where Anthony tried his hand at bouncy t-ball, with the ball suspended on a stream of air. Bob finds batting lefty hard. I can bat lefty, but I don't think I can hit the ball!

We stayed until the end of the day so that Anthony could run around the bases like the real baseball players.

Afterwards Anthony talked at length about how much fun he had--eating peanuts, jumping, batting, cheering for the game... We just had one complaint--how on earth can the stadium not sell Cracker Jacks???

**Yes, the World Series winning San Francisco Giants are a train ride away. But minor league baseball is so much better. We paid $10 for our tickets, all seats are close in, the food is affordable, there are bounce houses... Really, all we could have asked for were Cracker Jacks.

Jessica came to visit

Jessica from daycare babysits for several of Anthony's friends. He's been so jealous, he REALLY wanted Jessica to come to his house. Meanwhile, I REALLY wanted a night away.

Then I remembered the gift certificate to Campton Place in San Francisco that I had won at a Roche party right before Anthony was born. Fortunately the hotel still honored the gift certificate and we were set for a nice evening out. We had an amazing dinner at Scala's Bistro and a nice relaxing morning with breakfast courtesy of the hotel.

It was a very nice treat.

Meanwhile, Anthony had a nice time with Jessica. He went positively ape when she arrived and was up at the crack of dawn to play with her.

I estimate that between breakfast, parking and the room, that our gift certificate was worth over $500!

Dying Easter Eggs

Anthony was a real pro when we dyed our Easter Eggs this year. In fact, he pretty much did it all by himself. (I mixed the dye.) He did require a little persuading to keep the eggs in the dye long enough to pick up brilliant color. He put the eggs in the dye with a spoon, then lifted them back out and into the egg carton. I was impressed at how superfluous my help was.

He got a pretty good lesson at preschool. The Thursday before Easter he came home with a homemade basket with a truly beloved blue egg inside. Bob took him to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa and the egg came along for every bit of the adventure. In fact, Bob had to repeatedly get Anthony to stop cuddling his egg and put it back in the basket for safe-keeping. He happily ate it for breakfast the next morning!

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Clearly I'm getting caught up on pictures from Easter. Better late than never!

Anthony throughly enjoyed our block's Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Unlike last year he knew EXACTLY what it was all about. He collected a nice big bagful of eggs. He was a bit disappointed though that some of the bags had junky toys instead of candy. (I don't like the plastic toys either.) Really, if it wasn't candy, he didn't care.

You can see in the top picture that Anthony is finally learning to make an "A" for Anthony. He wrote some O's on the bag for good measure, too.

Three and a HALF

Yes, the half is important! I think its time for an update. Let's see:

1. Anthony is getting a LOT more capable and independent. He pours his own milk, puts on his own shoes and buckles his own carseat. Woe to the parental figure who accidentally does this for him.

2. He's a lot more mature. Its probably a mistake posting this, but he's generally stopped running away. When we were in Denver earlier this month, he did GREAT at staying with us. When we were unloading the rental car and repacking, he just sat on the bench and enjoyed a treat. In the airport security line (a nightmarish time to run) he just followed directions. Last Saturday it was just the two of us at the farmer's market and he didn't run once.

3. He claims he can pump by himself. He hasn't actually demonstrated that ability but we hope its in the future soon. The kid can swing for hours!

4. No more naps by parental decree. If he does take a nap, he's up until 9:30 or 10:00 easily! Occasionally we use this to our advantage, but generally naps are verboten.

5. His grandparents (who hadn't seen him in awhile) think he's a LOT more verbal. Basically he carries on much more sophisticated conversations than he used to.

6. He is WAY into pretend play. Easter Sunday we played "Wizard of Oz" for over 30 minutes, maybe closer to an hour. I've witnessed him twirling his space station around as caught in a tornado, too.

7. Physically he just LOOKS like an older kid now. His legs are long and skinny and he just has a more mature look to him. I don't know his height or weight, but 3T clothes fit him well, although he has a few that are on the short side. I have a mix of 3T and 4T for summer. The 4T are huge, but the 3T won't fit in August!

Easter Bunny

We're busy getting ready for Easter. We had our block Easter Egg hunt, Anthony carried his palm branch at church today and yesterday we visited the Easter Bunny. Anthony thought he was quite friendly.

(We have more photos to post, but are setting up a new computer so it may take a few days.)

Wizard of Oz

Background: Anthony has been SERIOUSLY obsessed with the Wizard of Oz for MONTHS now. When I saw that the American Family Theater had a production at Villa Montalvo, I knew we just had to go. I was a little nervous when the show started and I realized that the musical numbers were NOT the ones from the movie. It didn't matter, Anthony was enthralled. He was just enraptured through the whole show. Afterwards the cast came out for a meet and greet with the kids. Anthony had brought his "Wicked Witch of the East" action figure** and I'm positive he got extra time with the actors because of it. He was pretty nervous approaching the Wicked Witch, but eventually he came in for a hug. (Of course, I didn't manage to get the picture.) This evening he was asking to go see it again. Alas, it was a one day engagement. We might take him to see the Broadway touring production of Mary Poppins this summer. I think he'd enjoy it, though the show is MUCH longer. (This one was only an hour long.) **Dolls are cuddled and loved. Action figures get houses dropped on them. This one is an action figure.

Bounce Bounce Bounce

The last morning of our trip to Colorado we took the boys to a local bounce house/trampoline place.

Boy did they have fun. Anthony must have jumped for an hour and a half straight. Well, that's not completely true, after awhile he complained about his tummy hurting. (Can't imagine why!) We took a break and played air hockey for awhile. It was fun, though the kids did NOT understand the point.

(The bottom picture is Anthony doing summersaults on the trampoline.)

More snow pictures

These were taken in front of the condo the day we arrived in Colorado.

It was a warm day and the snow was lousy, but Anthony didn't seem to care.

The next day we got a foot of snow. The boys were having a great time playing until Anthony did a total face plant. Then he decided to be done for the day.

Snow Fun

I've got a bunch more snow pictures coming up, but this is a start. Saturday morning while everyone else skied we took Anthony and Joshua to the "Critterland" snow-play area. They had this great merry-go-round thing that moved the tubes in a circle, a small sledding hill (that operated under Daddy power), a playhouse and a jungle gym. The boys had a great time playing, then we had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa and back to some more snow play. It was a great day.

Spring Sing Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the Spring Sing. In the first picture the kids are all making their little flowers, it was quite sweet. After the concerts parents go to the kids' classrooms for snack time. Today's special snack was "fishing" for goldfish using pretzel rods and blue frosting. They seemed to really enjoy it.

Spring Sing

Today was the Spring Sing at Anthony's preschool. This time he was actually trusted enough that he didn't have a teacher sitting directly next to him! Of course, he did plenty of waving (to Mama) when he was supposed to be paying attention to Mrs. Mead. Oh well. We were very proud.

In case you have a hard time finding him in the crowd, he's the one with the green shirt. (Second row, third from the left.)

(I'll have still photos coming soon, as well as the photos from our trip to Colorado.)

Playdate with Ciaran

Now that Anthony is getting a little better about sharing his toys, we've been able to host playdates. Well, that's not really true. Now that the weather is nice(er) and the kids can play outside we can have friends over. Ciaran came over yesterday and IMMEDIATELY asked to play in the bounce house. Oh, they had fun. The best part was this game Bob plays with them. Basically he makes claws and "roars" and they shriek and run.

An Evening with Robert

When Anthony was little(er) we got in the habit of going to Robert's house to play practically every evening after daycare. In the summer we'd play out front and in the winter we'd be inside. It was fun, I loved visiting with Sarah, but it made preparing dinner a bit of a pain. Friday night Robert came over to our house instead. The boys played with the airplanes/aircraft carrier briefly, then went outside. I was able to cook dinner and it was so much easier than having JUST Anthony home.

Eggslent Eggs

We've been having fun shopping at the Farmer's Market on Sundays. A week ago I spotted some quail eggs and somehow was persuaded to bring home two dozen. I hard-boiled them and Anthony eats them for breakfast. Its a lot more work than standard chicken eggs as I have to peel three of the tiny suckers for one meal.

Sunday Bob spotted emu eggs. I was so excited, I just had to have one. Since they were $10 each, one was about all the budget could handle. Anthony was *very* excited too and really wanted to carry the egg around. A big no to that one.

Bob made an omelet for dinner last night using the emu egg. First he drilled a hole in the shell and we used a bike pump with a needle valve to flush the egg out of the shell. (Obviously I could have cracked it like a chicken egg, but I spent $10 on this thing!) The omelet itself didn't taste appreciably different from those made from grocery store eggs in cardboard cartons, but I still enjoyed it. Ironically, Anthony refused to eat his, but he happily ate three hard-boiled quail eggs.


He hasn't quite made the connection between the eggs that hatch in "Make Way for Ducklings" or "Hedgies Surprise" are the same eggs that he likes to eat. We'll just keep that our little secret.

A thousand words

Happy St. Patrick's Day

My first thought when I picked up Anthony at daycare today was that I was surrounded by a herd of leprechauns. (Do they come in herds?) No one was over 40 inches tall and they were ALL wearing green. Anthony was excited to share the highlight of the day--while they were eating lunch a leprechaun came and scattered gold (chocolate) coins on the ground for the kids to find.

Fortunately preschool sent out a note reminding us to send the kids wearing green. I'm not sure I would have remembered otherwise. (Bad Mommy!) Anthony even had green underpants!

Edited to add: I figured it out, leprechauns come in colonies!

Playdates

I really enjoy playdates with Anthony's daycare friends. He spends all day with these kids yet I never really get a chance to watch them play together.

Saturday we had a playdate with his pal C. C is 2 months younger and they were near instant friends at Kathleen's house. When he took a particularly bad fall as a toddler (into the brick planter at the side of the yard) she was the first one there and tried to pick him up.

They were so cute together when they were tiny. We had them trained to hug on command and it was just precious.

The playdate went really well, much better than some of the ones we've hosted. C's mother thinks that since C has a sister, she's already used to sharing her toys. (C's sister had a really rough time having friends over at this age, too.)