Long December!

Its been a long and busy December, but now we should finally have time to update the blog. Just after we finish and send out our Christmas cards...

Christmas Tree

Today we went to get our Christmas tree. Yay! We took John to the tree lot and let him run around and touch all the trees. Then we picked out a nice Noble Fir tree that would fit on the stairs landing so we can put it up safely behind the baby gate. We have some lights on it, and will hopefully have it decorated for when John and Mary Challey arrive for their visit on Friday.
We went to the gettho tree lot that we have been going to for the past 3 years. Its over by our old appartment.

John's eating better

John has been eating better lately, but last night he still woke up at 4am. He was easy to console, not fidgety like the last few nights. I tried again to take him to bed. He wasn't scared or crying, but he wasn't sleepy, either. He cuddled, then kept changing positions to cuddle in. Then he got up and started playing in the blankets, crawling all over to us, cooing and babbling. That's when I decided that he will NEVER sleep in our bed. If he's feeling bad, he cries anyway. If he is feeling good, he wants to play. Back in the crib John went, he cried for awhile but settled down. He didn't have much milk, but I changed his diaper anyway, so it wouldn't explode. John was happy and good today, with a good appetite.
On Thursday night, we came home from work and John had fallen asleep next to Nana on the couch. We didn't know if he was down for the night, it was only 10pm. We let him sleep and made dinner and ate it (hot dogs and mac n'cheese). Then, at 11:30 John woke up, ready to play! We were up with him late the night before, so we were tired! We tried to put him back in his crib to go back to sleep, but he hated that. We left him downstairs, and he put up a mournful cry. I felt bad for him, I knew he wasn't at all sleepy. So, I called on Nana to play with him until 2am when he was tired again.
Now we know to wake him up from any late naps!

Rough Night

Last night John woke up at 4am and would not be consoled. He has been waking up at 4am for the past several nights. I had been leaving him to cry, but this time I tried taking him back to bed with me. He stilled cried, I think because it was dark. We turned on the bathroom light and calmed him, but he kept tossing and kicking and finally we gave up and he went back to his crib to cry. He didn't last long until he fell asleep. He hasn't been eating much food lately, and instead had been sucking down bottles. I think its his teeth. He wants a bottle at 4am too. Then, even in his super thick over night diapers, in the morning I find his diaper has exploded! The over nights are full of this gel that beads up with the moisture. The gel is everywere! He isn't exactly wet, but....
The solution is to give him less milk, but its hard because he can't eat comfortably. Hopefully his teeth will come in and heal soon.

more teeth

John is getting a bunch of teeth at once. In addition to his 8 front teeth (4 of the middle top teeth, 4 of the middle bottom teeth) which he has had since his birthday, he is getting all 4 canine teeth (his left have broken through) and his second molars top and bottom, on the left side. The molars are almost completely out, the canines, only the tips. They have been causing him pain, and are visibly bleeding. He was getting very cranky and needed baby ibpropehn.
He has been refusing to eat. Maybe because his mouth hurts. He just shuts his mouth tight and shakes his head.

The past few days have been better, I guess because they finally broke through the skin so the worst is over. John has been fairly cuddly the last few days as well. I think he enjoyed the 4 days of having daddy home and having momma home from work. John has been cheerful and friendly.
On Monday, John came and stood next to me on the couch. He5 caressed my cheek and reached up to pat me gently on the head! Soooo cute! He has been doing more baby dances, sometimes when he isn't even being bad! He does a kind of twist. He got up on the coffee table and danced couple of times.
We went to a tree lot on Saturday. Charles was reluctant but I insisted. John ran around and touched the trees carefully. They were very expensive, so we left. I'd like to go to a cut your self place like this place in Santa Cruz, but thats probably too expenive this year. Maybe next year. We are planning to put the tree on the bottom landing of the stairs, so we can keep it fenced off from John.
BTW John can say balloon now. he was saying ball but we kept

John's First Turkey

John was too young last year for turkey. This was his first turkey. He enjoyed the turkey and the mashed potatoes, found the Brussels sprouts to be acceptable, and thought that cranberry sauce was some kind of crewel joke. He thought the dressing had too much flavor, and shunned it for mashed potatoes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

so, the "flash" cooked turkey, that was supposed to take 2 hours took 3.5 hours. It came out at 8pm and we ate at 9! At least it came out well. Here is what we had:

Brined Good Eats Roast Turkey (11 lbs): Brined in Veg stock I stay up the night before making, along with salt and spices and sugar. Flash roasted at 500 degrees for 30 min to brown, then covered in foil and roasted at 350 until breast meat was 161 degrees (measured with my probe thermometer). Came out well browned, with intense turkey flavor, moist. I roasted on a v-rack covered in foil, that was supposed to keep the nasty wire lines from getting on the underside of the turkey. Instead, kept bottom skin from browning. Won't be doing that again. Did not affect meat.
I think I should have spiced the skin better, other than just salt and pepper. Maybe removed the breast shield in the last 30 minutes or so.
Used large disposable tin roaster. This thing sucked and was hard to brown gravy. Wednesday night we tried to put the brined turkey (sealed in a ultra-thick trash compactor bag) to rest in this and the wire handles tore the bag and spilled my hard-made brine all over the floor! We quickly plugged the hole and put the turkey and brine in a new bag. Totally need a real roasting pan.

Good Eats Gravy: made with roast drippings and wine, reduced then thickened w/ roux I made 2 hours before. Came out pretty good, not salty at all. If anything, a little brown. My first gravy!

Mashed Potatoes: Boiled Yukons mashed and dried out a little over the stove before adding butter and (a little) whipping cream. Came out really well, and I don't even like mashed potatoes! My first mashed potatoes.

Stuffing from a box of seasoned breadcrumbs: mixed with sauteed celery and onion and mushrooms and browned butter and chicken broth from a can. Baked after turkey was out and resting. Good and flavorful. I always make this.

Canned biscuits and canned jelly cranberry with is my favorite kind anyway.

roasted 1 yam in the oven and it exploded and glued onto the oven door. My mom insisted there be a roast yam, but it never got eaten, what with the fresh mashed potatoes and the stuffing around!

Braised Brussels Sprouts: Seamed them for 10 minutes, refrigerated them. Then browned them in butter and garlic in the cast iron. Came out caramelized and good.

Sweet potato pie: Pealed and cut up 3 large yams, cut them into chunks and steamed them for 20 minutes. Mashed them and added them to the stand mixer with 5 egg yolks, yogurt, sugar and spices. baked along with stuffing while turkey rested. Came out pretty well, but the cheap frozen crust fell apart. Now its sweet potato pudding! Its not too sweet, and has a strange yogurt tang. which is good, I guess.

OK, I think that's it! I wrote that mostly so I know what I did and what I can do different next time.

new teeth

John is breaking in all four canine teeth this week. The tips of the bottom right canine is now visible. He is also cutting the back molars. This is making him irritated. This is making us irritated. But John continues in mostly good spirits. I made an excellent tamale pie on Monday, and we all enjoyed it for several days. Then we spent the next few days on cup of noodle in anticipation of Thanksgiving. John has learned some new dance moves, doing a version of the Twist along to his baby TV shows. He also does the "I'm happy because I'm doing something bad" dance and clap. We re-arranged the furniture in the living room and bedroom over the past week.
Charles' work had a pot luck on Wednesday and we brought John. He wasn't interested in eating anything, only running around messing with computers and dry erase markers. I had to kill an hour or so when Charles was finishing work, so I took John out to the courtyard there. There is a large wisteria vine out there that has dropped all its seeds. They looked like large dry beans. John and I picked them up and put them in a Slurpee container we found (and I washed). That kept John busy for a long time. Then we came home and dropped off John with Nana and went to work. It was very busy in Berkeley. People buying puzzles and party games to bring to the family.
Then, we hurried back home so I could brine the turkey, which took me way too long. I had to make my own vegetable stock for it first, which I should have done on Tuesday, but that became relax and nap day. Oh well, I went to bed at 3 am and got up at noon! So, no Thanksgiving dinner until 8pm for us!

Monday, Monday

Wow, last night was one of the first in a long time when we had to get up in the middle of the night to comfort John. He woke up at about 5:00 this morning and cried and cried. Finally mama and I went downstars and he was inconsolable, even when we picked him up and gave him a bottle. Usually he's pretty good about quieting down when he gets what he wants, so when he kept crying we figured that something was up. After a few minues he started to calm down a little bit, but he didn't want to be left alone at all. In fact, he wanted to be held by mama only! After about a half hour or so we decided that he either had bad gas or a sore tooth. He wouldn't let us touch his mouth, so we gave him some ibuprofen and cuddled him for a while. Finally we brought him upstairs with us and gave him a bottle. He drank it and went to sleep between mama and me. The cats woke us up at about 7:00 AM and mama took John down to his crib when she went down to feed the cats. John let mama sleep late, but papa was a tired puppy all day!

Busy Weekend

We haven't posted much since last week, so I'll summarize.
Saturday was actually pretty quiet. I had to sneak away from John while he was sleeping and work in the morning. When I got home around 2 we played around the house. We grownups did housework after that, and mama made grilled cheese.
Sunday I was gone at the game store all day. When I got home I played with John and had the pot roast that mama made. It was Really Good, and we made it last. We had pot roast again on Monday and beef and lentel soup on Tuesday. There's even some soup left today!
Monday I got home from work and we played and I moved some furniature around. We decided to rearrange the living room again, and I started by moving a bank of shelves upstairs to our bedroom. That opened up a bunch of floor space, and we called it a night after we planned for the next day. Finally we all got together and went to the grocery store. John was glad for the change of scenerey, but when we got home he was ready for bed.
Tuesday John got to go play with Lilly. When I got home from work John and Mama were both still gone, so I moved furniature around for a while. When Mama got home John was ready for his nap, so I showed her what I had done and she vacuumed and cleaned while I went to a training for one of my jobs. When I got home I finished moving the couch, chair and crib so that the center of the room would be more open and available for use. So far it seems to be a good setup, though there are some little tweaks that we'll no doubt make. One thing that we noticed that was really exciting was that John got his first molar in! it's on the bottom on his left side. No wonder he's been cranky lately!

playdate

John woke up late on Tuesday and I was glad, because I was tired from all the cleaning and moving and cooking lately. He got up at 11:30am and I changed his diaper and his clothes and gave him some milk. I had a slice of apple bread I baked the night before (I've been baking quick breads for Charles to eat in the morning, and I have some too). I got on the computer and Christi Lee Instant Messaged me. She asked if I wanted to come over to her house and let John play with her daughter Lily. We've gone together to baby cafe before. So, her husband same came to pick us up. We put John in Lily's car seat (Lily stayed home with mama). We picked up some sandwiches and went over. They made their dining room into a little playroom full of toys and soft cushions for Lily. John was surprisingly shy for a good 20 or 30 minutes, hiding his face in my lap and peeking out. Lily stared and stared at me, but then got used to a stranger in her room and started playing and trying to pet John's hair. She wanted to sit in my lap and John got jealous. Soon, they were playing together (kind of) turning on all the electronic beeping toys, and stripping the toy shelves of all toys. We left them alone for 30 minutes or so to watch TV and they were sort of chasing each other. John would drop his blanket when he went after something, and Lily would pick it up and go after him to give it back. Then we checked on them because Sam saw Lily was eating John's shoe. But, having had their mama's back, they wouldn't let us leave the room. We tried to go watch Teletubbies together, but John wouldn't sit still. He wanted to rip apart their living room. They had exposed electronics he wanted to get. They had a large cat tree that he climbed and took all the cat toys out of. He found one of Lily's old pacifiers (she never took to a pacifier) and kept it (I forgot to bring his). Then the babies were cranky and it was nap time. Lily went to sleep in her cute little room, but John wouldn't go to sleep in the playroom. He cried and cried and kicked and made the "I'm scared" cry, even thought he had mama's lap and his favorite blankie and a baba. The only thing that calmed him was a little music box toy that played Moonlight senata.
Finally, Lily went to sleep and Christi could drive us home. John nearly went to sleep in the car for the short 5 minute ride home. We had to back down the driveway because Charles was home and she couldn't fit the SUV up the driveway. Then we had to walk up the driveway. We finally got home and Daddy was there! Moving furniture. John got very happy to see Daddy, but Daddy had to leave to go to training class. Then it was finally nap time! But John didn't want to go to sleep. His crib was in the middle of the room and the visit with Daddy gave him a second wind. I left him in the crib and took a shower. John finally stopped fussing and went to sleep. I crept down the stairs and cleaned up until he woke up, then I vacuumed. John likes the vacuum. Meanwhile, I made some lentil soup. I boiled half a bag of lentils in the broth I strained from the pot roast. I had chilled it and threw out most of the fat. The broth had a lot of gelatin in it from the bones left in the roast. I threw in the meat tidbits I pulled off the night before, and the vegetable mash left in the roast, plus half a can of veg all. It came out pretty well. Needed a little salt.
I've decided I need a baby safe playroom, and its a shame to waste that extra bedroom we have. its too cold to have as a bedroom like I would like, so I can at least clear it out and make it safe if cold. Its a lot of work! we'll see how it goes.

Matching Games

Yesterday Windy and I were getting ready to go to the store with John. I was changing from my work shoes into my sneakers. As I untied my work shoes on the couch, I realized that my sneakers were over by the door. The action that followed went like this:

*John lookes a little bored (by that I mean hitting me with a board book)
*Me: "Hey John, go get me the shoes!"
*John: Looking where I point, confused look.
*I ask him again; he goes over and picks up the ball next to my shoes and brings it over.
*Me: "Good John!"
*John: laughs and claps; cuteness goes everywhere.
*I try again; "Get the SHOE!"
*John: Blank look. Slightly frustrated look. Run off to grab something that isn't a shoe at all, but looks like fun.
*Me: Get up, go over to the shoes, take one and goes back to the couch.
*Me: "OK John, go get the OTHER SHOE"
*John: Happy face, run to shoe in question, brings it to me, hands it over, laughs, claps, dances.
*All: Short break for the appreciation of the galactic amounts of cuteness just generated.
*Me: (Going for broke): "OK John, now take these work shoes and put them over by the door"
*John: Smile, laugh, take one shoe, carry it over near the door, stick it in the trash can, take it out, run back to me laughing, hand me the shoe.

OK, so we have the basic skills down; now it's just fine-tuning. :)

On Pain

Last time we were at Totland, John ran right under the big boy swings as a 5 year old was vigorously swinging and got kicked right in the mouth and knocked down. He was really crying and bleeding from his cut lip and gums (his pumpkin pacifier got kicked into his mouth). I mopped him up with my sleeve and consoled the kid and his mom. It wasn't really their fault. The older boy couldn't stop, he was in mid swing. The mom wasn't right on her boy because he was a big boy and could swing all by himself. So I quickly wiped up John and rocked him until he stopped crying. He got over it and went off to play, but was sensitive to every time he fell.

John is usually a tough little guy. Once, when were were at the smaller baby park, he was all sweaty and wet and playing in the sand. Then he decided he wanted to go up the slide. He started to climb up the slide, slapping down his sweaty hand and pulling himself up by the traction of his wet hand, like a lizard. He made it halfway up when he slid down. I picked him up then I noticed that he had sand stuck to his wet hand and he had ground it into his hand climbing up like that. He was bleeding and he showed no sign of noticing! He'll run into things with his head and not cry, too. Other parents comment on this at the park.

on Monday, we took our walk down to the mailbox. I had the doggie harness on him. He wanted to cross the street so we went over to the neighbors driveway. It is a very steep concrete slope with rocks. He tried to go up it with his treasure bucket. The slope was too much for him and he fell flat on it and slid down a little. He dropped his bucket and all his nuts went rolling down into the street. Then he started really crying. I thought it was from loosing his nuts, because he didn't fall far, he was pretty much crawling up the slope. When I picked him up, however, he was just covered in blood! Way more than when he got kicked in the face. I couldn't really mop him up, because he kept bleeding. I rocked him and when he settled down some, I carried him (and the half empty bucket) back up our driveway. By the time I got to the house, he felt better and was playing even as I was getting some wet paper towels to clean him. He wouldn't let me look in his mouth much, I was worried about his teeth. He seems to have cut he gums but his teeth looked ok. I gave him a cold bottle and he eventually went to sleep.
At least I know he can feel pain, I guess.

Sunday at Totland

Sunday again. We went to church, where John ran around and squawked and Charles had to take him out into the foyer. As usual. Then we went to Berkeley so Charles can play 40K at GoB. I took John to the larger play park, Totland, after stopping at the alternative medicine pharmacy in Berkeley, Elephant Pharmacy. There, we picked up some expensive, all natural, organic cotton baby wipes in hopes it would help John's worsening diaper rash.



We got to Totland at about 3:30 or 4 and already the sun was casting off the long golden rays of late afternoon. It was the first day after Daylight Savings ended. John ran around and played. I made sure he stayed clear of the swings, since he got kicked last time.



He played in the toy log cabin there, and then got into a little car you can sit in and drive with your feet like the Flintstones. As sundown came on us, I put him in the swings, which he loves. He sat there, with a cookie clutched in one hand, the swing chain in the other. When I pushed him slowly, he took a bite of the cookie (he had it from church, he likes to carry it, not eat it). Then he started to do a slow, long lick of the swing chain! Gross! It must be filthy. He kept licking it and it was sooooo funny! Hahahaha! I would have stopped him, but I figured it was too late, he already caught plague and cholera, might as well enjoy the show.



Finally, I got him to get out of the swing as it was growing pretty dark. He ran around in the grass. Then, a little dog came squeezing under the gate. He was some sort of Jack Russell mix. He ran all over the park, eating up all the little scraps of food the babies had dropped during the day. The remaining babies chased the little dog, but he was very nice about it. He'd run away, but if they gave him food, he would throw himself down on the ground and roll on his back and let them scratch his belly! What a funny little dog! Then, a large fluffy Persian kitty came under the gate. I went over to him, but he ran away. Bad experiences with kids I guess!

I went over to the little dog and John gave him some cookie. He rolled over and we pet him. I looked at his tags. Eleanor, Milo foundation. Looked like a boy to me, but I guess not. Milo foundation rescues hard to place dogs from the shelter and then finds them homes through a rigorous placement process, after training them. The kind of place Ellen was crying about last week. Anyway, this old homeless guy who was in the park said, "That's little Eleanor. She lives next door. She always comes at night and cleans up the park. What a good little dog! Always sweet."

We said goodbye to Eleanor and went back to GoB. John drank some water from his water bottle and talked to himself for a bit but then fell asleep before we reached the store. Then we loaded him into the car and went home.

Happy Saturday

We had a really nice Saturday. We got up late (well, after Windy went and fed the cats at 9) and had a nice brunch (John got his very own pancakes!) After breakfast we went down the hill to the mailbox and walked up and down the street looking at everything. We played some more upstairs. John's favorite games are "eating my favorite book" and "taking the phone off the hook until it makes that funny noise." Then we had a nap. After our nap John got a bath, which was a lot of splashy fun. Mama made one of our favorite dinners, red beans and rice with kielbasa! She also made garlic spinach, which was really yummy. John got some spinach and rubbed it all over his face. After we cleaned that up we played some more and then it was bedtime!

Hottie Auntie

Here are some pictures of the t-shirt Aunt Elizabeth sent. As with all these pictures, by the way, if you click on photo, you will be sent to the larger picture stored on the blog. Also, if you click on the title of each post, you will see the post by itself, on its own page.

Acorn Collecting

Its a very warm day today. Indian Summer. We walked down to the mailbox. John brought his "treasure bucket" with him, carefully carrying it down the stairs with him, and down the hill. He held onto my hand with his right hand, and carried the flower pot in the left. Every so often he would drop my hand, crouch down, and add an acorn or a conker nut to his bucket. He didn't make it down to the mailbox. He stoped halfway down the hill to sit down and scoop up acorns. Yesterday he did the same thing, but we didn't bring the treasure bucket that time, so he insisted on carrying two full fistfulls of acrons all the way up the stairs, climbing up the stairs with his fists.

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

Halloween disapointment! We left GoB at 9:15pm and headed out to Russel st, where the trick-or-treating stays late and everyone does up their house in a big way. Alas, the teenagers had run amok and the police had shut the place down. The houses were dark and locked up tight! No trick or treats for our little lion! He was even being very good and walking around holding onto his plastic pumpkin bucket (and only throwing it down once). Mama was very sad and disappointed. Fortunately, John is still too little to be disappointed. I will make sure not to work on Halloween. The store was deserted for the last couple of hours, too. Total waste of our time. So sad!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I have to work at GoB until 9:30pm (boo!). We have John here, and will go trick or treating as soon as we close.

Lion on the loose 2!

Picking up acorns

chasing a squirl

chasing geese

I had been looking forward to going to Fairyland for some years now, before John was born, even. I have dim memories of the place, or photos of me at the place. I had the key somewhere for a long time. There are story boxes by the exhibits that read out the nursery rhymes if you insert a special key. We bought a new one for John. I think he liked using it. We'll have to go back there again so he can spend more time looking at things.

The day was almost tragic, as we came to believe the day after that we lost our video camera there. Charles was very distraught the following Monday over the loss, and stayed home so we could call the park and find out the fate of our beloved camera (and beloved footage!). Unfortunately, the park is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. On the off chance, I called our church to see if we left it there when we went to the teen haunted house there after coming back from Fairyland. On Tuesday, we got an email from the intern Pastor Josh. He found it in the community room! hooray!

lion on the loose

Reporting on the big story

Fairyland little miss muffet

Rub a Dub Dub 3 men in a tub 3 men in a tub
Ghepetto's workshop
Little Miss Muffet

Fairyland exhibits

the sign here points out the mini church, and the crooked man's crooked house.

Fairyland!

We went to Fairyland on Saturday. John had gotten up early, and then didn't take a nap, so when we put him in the car at 1pm to drive to Oakland, he fell asleep. He was pretty sleepy and groggy when we got there. He surprisingly let us put his lion costume on. Dad was dressed as a 40's reporter, and I was Autumnal Mother Nature. Most parents weren't dressed up (but some were, including an elaborate Glenda the good witch mother and her daughter Dorthy and son Scarecrow). John had one of the best costumes there, so I was pretty proud.
He wondered around bewildered for awhile. The park is aimed at 3-4 year olds, with little nursery story exhibits. Some had little rides attached, or you can climb inside and there is a slide. John was just happy to be wondering around in a safe place. His favorite was all the acorns on the ground. He kept trying to pick them all up. He met a dragon costume character, but was too shy to go over to him. He followed the dragon at a distance, trying to get his tail.
John finally perked up, but then it was closing time!

Animal Identification

I was sitting on the couch and John brought me his Baby farm animals Little Golden book. I opened the first page, which is a black lamb. I said "baby sheep is called a lamb. BaaBaa". Then I said, "lets find the piggies (middle of the book)" and John said "snort!" So I found the piglets and snorted. Then, John left and came back with a plastic lamb, that was white, but had the same body shape as the lamb in the book. Very good! Baabaa! Then he went and got the a plastic pig, that bore a good resemblance to the one in the book! What a smart baby! Snort snort, baabaa.
Then he brought me another book, which a rhino. Snort! says John.
Well, he does have a very similar body shape, but I point out the horn on his nose and say "Rhino, not Piggy". John picks up the plastic pig, and holds it up against the rhino illustration. They have the same silhouettes, except for the horn. So, A for effort. A+ because he tried to convince me it really was a piggy.

Late Night with John

The other night I stayed up after Windy went to bed and played some computer games. John had been sleeping and so the living room was quiet and dark. About 1:00 or so, John woke up and looked around. He decided that he didn't want to go back to sleep, so he stood up and started yelling. I shut down the computer and went over to him. He raised both his arms, which is his sign for "pick me up," and squawked at me. When he's tired he holds his small blanket in one hand, so it looked like he was waving a flag at me. I picked him up and carried him over to the changing table, changed his diaper (which was wet) and zipped his jammies back up. I then carried him with me into the kitchen and rinsed and refilled his bottle from earlier in the evening. He was only mildly interested in the bottle, but having it calmed him down. I carried him back into the living room and pushed 'play' on his goodnight CD. He didn't want me to set him down, so I held him. Blanket still clutched in his hand, he laid his head down on my shoulder and sucked on his pacifier. I could tell that he was sleepy, but he didn't want to be by himself in the crib. I slowly walked around the room, John sitting in the crook of my left arm, his cheek resting on my shoulder. I put my right hand on his back and listened to him breathe. I almost cried. There is really no way to describe the experience of holding my son as he sleeps peacefully. I know now what parents mean when they say they would do anything for their children.
He finally drifted off into deep sleep, his arms and legs limp in the way that Windy and I call "floppy baby," I laid him in the crib. He woke up for a moment, just long enough to look at me with his eyes half open and roll onto his face. He pulled his blanked up onto his face and tucked his knees under his body so that his butt was stuck up in the air. A moment later soft snores told me that he was asleep again. I put a blanket over him in case the room got cold and tip toed up the stairs to bed.

Boy, its cold today

Boy, its cold toay. Hope it doesn't rain this weekend. It had been very warm, which was both nice and sometimes uncomfortable. I suppose the change in the weather will help San Diego.

looking forward to Childern's Fairyland

Autumn Walks 2

We went for a walk again today (Wednesday), but this time I came prepared. I bought a small tote bag to bring up the mail, water bottle, and camera. I also put John's doggie backpack leash on. He was a little hesitant to go down the front stairs. I guess he remembered the fiasco that went on yesterday, poor baby.
We walked down to the mailbox, and I got the mail and put it in my bag. I also dumped some recycling. John wanted to look at the road. I let him look at the reflectors and yellow paint for a moment, but then took him out of the street. He threw a fit and thew himself toward the street, but I just held his leash tighter. I moved him up the driveway a bit and then put him down as I sorted the junk mail into the recycling bin. He threw himself on the ground and screamed and screamed, but I didn't have to worry, because he couldn't get away. I just kept telling him, "no street, dangerous." eventually, I put the mail away and carried John halfway up the driveway. I set him down, and he came along nicely with me, then crawled up the stairs by himself! Good boy! Now, if he can only get used to not going in the street and if he would only stop screaming and kicking when I say no...
This is the Eddie Bauer Harness Buddy, we got it at Target. They make other cute animals. The leash tail detaches, and its a backpack. John likes to hold and pet the doggie.

Autumn Walks 1

Since Monday, I have been taking John for walks up and down the driveway. I get the mail and drop off some of our never-ending recycling (paper junk mail and empty milk jugs). Yesterday (Tuesday) was just hell! I was carrying John's water bottle and the camera and when we got to the bottom, he just kept running into the street. If I tried to hold his hand, he was throw himself down on the ground and yell. I had a ton of mail that I was trying to carry. I had to drag John by his hand out of the street as cars came whizzing by. I finally had to carry him kicking and screaming up the driveway. When I was half way up, I set him down to see if he would give up on the street and walk up with me. He clapped and ran down the hill! When I yelled "No!" he ran faster. I caught him and lugged him uphill, dropping my mail. I put him on the stairs, and again he ran to the driveway! I yelled at him and took him up to his crib and made him stay there for 15 minutes! That was SO not the fun I thought it would be.
The photo above is John's metal water bottle. It has an innovative twist open spout that he has an easy time drinking from. He hasn't taken to sippy cups very well. He won't suck on them if they have the no drip valve, and he pours the water all over himself if they don't have the valve in place. This cute bottle is made by the swiss company Sigg. They are very trendy right now, especially since most water bottles, sippy cups and baby bottles are made from a type of plastic San Franciscans think will give you cancer or will destroy your aura, or something.

Large fire in San Diegob

Edit: The fires are over now, and Charles' Aunt and Uncle have returned to their home in Valley Center, which was spared. "A lot of people are going to lose their homes today." This was the headline today in the
SF Chronicle. San Diego, as well as other parts of Southern California (where I am from), is beset by wildfires. It has been a long, hot dry season and California is always at danger from fire. Many more Californians live in fear of the fires than the earthquakes.
I got a call today from Elizabeth, as part of a family phone tree. Charles' Aunt Peg and Uncle Fran have been evacuated from their San Diego home, which they have been trying to sell. They and their dogs are safe, lets hope their house is also spared. Their daughter Kayla lives nearby, but has not been evacuated as of yet.

19,000 Navy families have been evacuated, and this is sure to add stress to many overseas at war, as the New Orleans flood did. Somber news day.

There aren't any serious fires in Northern California at this time. We had a scare earlier this year, but were just below the evac. line.

Fisher Price has free shipping

Fisher Price is having free shipping for the next few days (if you use this link from my email). Of course, after that lead fiasco, they probably should be offering more incentives than that! Not that I distrust FP, at least they came clean quickly after THEIR OWN TESTS found lead. Notice, the government didn't have to crack down on Fisher Price products. They test their own products and recall right away. I think that's pretty responsible. Other brands that have no scandal attached may still be dangerous, they're just not testing/telling. :end rant:

I bought this Little people Nativity set because it was just crazy that they even make such a thing! Hahaha. When it was delivered, I opened it to play with the toys (John can play with it, once, on Christmas. If he's lucky). Good thing I opened it up, because I found I had two Mary and Joesph dolls, and no angel or baby Jesus! I called Fisher Price and told them the mishap. They laughed and said they would send me a whole new set, and donate the old manger. I don't know if I want to donate a manger missing the baby (the best part), although it does play music and light up (which John has been enjoying. See, I let him play with the defective set).

I also got the little people Thanksgiving feast with two Indians, two Pilgrims, a roast turkey and a feast table. Because that was too crazy to pass up,too.

soooo cute! etsy.com

Etsy.com is website where people sell their handmade items. Much is surprisingly affordable, and you get a unique gift that supports an individual artist. I got this Sarah Jane print from that site, it was too cute to resist.

Nightmare Before Christmas 3D

We went to see this movie this Saturday. It was pretty cool. The details were a little mutted, but it was nice to see the movie on the big screen again. We left John with Nana at 3, then drove to the Bart and took the Bart into the City to see it at the Metreon at 5pm.

Little Farm

This is Little Farm in Tilden Park, Berkeley. Its a free, which is awesome. You can feed the animals if you bring your own lettuce or celery (only foods allowed so they don't get fat). They have some cows, a pig with piglets, chickens, goats, sheep, rabbits and geese. When the animals put their noses over the fence to be feed, the kids can pet them. There is also a free tiny nature center/museum and a scenic level hiking path that goes into the hills.

John gave me a gift to remember him by

The other day I was on the Bart to work when I looked in my bag. Inside was a chewed Foot Book. I guess John saw my bag was open and drooped it in for mama to read. Or, just to have somewhere to put it...

our house

Treasures

Treasure pot

walnut husk "juice" and mud on john's face