The Small Family     

Well, after a lovely run of sunny skies and warm temps, we’re back to cold, damp fog. Sometimes we get a couple hours of sun in the afternoon, which is great--but that’s while Theo is napping, so we don’t get to enjoy it much. So, to combat the fog doldrums, Theo and I went to a couple fun indoor places this week. I took him to Wacky Tacky on Wednesday morning, and he played for a good 90 minutes. He was one happy boy after that! (It’s a giant indoor play structure for toddlers/preschoolers, and the occasional slightly older kid. They have things to climb, a giant slide, a little “zip line” kind of thing, a huge ball pit, etc.)

And on Thursday we checked out another place right near Wacky Tacky--Bounce U. They have limited open-bounce hours during the week, when they don’t have a private party scheduled, so we took advantage of that on Thursday morning. They have a bunch of bouncy houses and slides, some other bouncy-themed activities, and a big climbing “spiderweb.” Theo had fun overall, but he was kind of whiny and crabby that day, so it wasn’t quite the success of Wacky Tacky. Still, it passed an hour of our time and gave the boy a chance to get some energy out. And when we were leaving, who did we see trotting along the sidewalk but Peekaboo, my Mom’s dog!! The kennel Peeky’s staying at is right next door to Bounce U, and they had Peeks out for a walk when we were leaving. She was prancing along as jauntily as can be, and she had a little pink bow in her hair. So I’d say Miss Peeks is doing pretty well, even while being stuck at the kennel for a few more days.

Which brings me to good ol’ Semicolon, who I’m pleased to say is recovering well. She’s at home now (since Thursday), and she’s able to move around enough to make her own meals (limited as they are at the moment), shower, etc. Her doctor says she can even start driving again in another week or two, when she feels up to it, so I’d say she’s doing pretty well overall! My sister was able to come up Thursday and handle her discharge and get her settled at home, which was a big help. I was wondering how I was going to accomplish that with Theo in tow, since Theo loves, loves, loves to give Grandma Diane hugs and sit on her lap, which obviously he can’t do right now.

I’m sorry to report that our weekend wasn’t overly exciting, thus the distinct lack of pictures in this week’s album. Chris is busy with work and freelance projects right now, and I’ve been busy with much the same. We did, however, take a short trip to Napa on Saturday morning, since Scientopia had open-play day. (They’re often closed for private parties on weekends, but Saturday was an open day.) Theo played for about an hour and then announced repeatedly that he wanted lunch, so we headed to lunch a bit earlier than planned. We went to our usual Peruvian place, located right next to Kara’s cupcakes….mmmmm! Besides the fact that they have outstanding cupcakes (they’re always moist--how do they do that?? Cupcakes are notoriously dry.), I also love Kara’s because they happen to have a big selection of mini-cupcakes--little two-bite wonders. So we always get four mini-cupcakes and share them, and then rate which ones we like the best. That way, we each get four sinfully delicious bites of goodness! This week, we both liked the coconut cupcake best--perhaps surprisingly, because it was the only non-chocolate one. (I’m usually a sucker for chocolate, but I do love coconut--and it was fantastic.) Coming in second was the chocolate peanut-butter ganache cupcake, and third was the java cupcake. In fourth place but still delicious was the chocolate raspberry cupcake. This wins a great honor in that it is the only chocolate/raspberry combo I have ever really liked. I generally do not like chocolate/fruit combinations. I love chocolate, and I like fruit--I just don’t like them together. But this one had just a very subtle hint of raspberry, and it was delicious. Not as delicious as the other three, but still quite good--high praise from me, the avowed chocolate/fruit-combo hater!

Theo and I met Auntie Jeanette for breakfast on Sunday, which was tasty and fun, although Theo was having a Tyrant Morning, so we didn’t actually stay too long.  Who knows what goes on in the mind of a toddler? He’s usually quite good, but Sunday morning he was just in a mood.

But let me leave you with some cute Theo bits, rather than the image of him being a turkey. First of all, he has become quite the savvy traveler in terms of directions. He tells me where to go to get to places he likes, and he is correct more often than not. He’ll say, “Wacky Tacky over there, Mama!” and point in the correct direction, or “Grandma Diane live dat way!” and point down the correct street. I guess he got that from me, since a good sense of direction is not among Chris’s many strong points. ;-)

Theo’s other amusing new development concerns his decisive nature. I think I said a few weeks ago that I really admire how decisive Theo is, since Chris and I tend to be more on the indecisive side of things. Lately, he has proven very decisive (and very detail-oriented!) with regard to what he eats. I’ll often ask him what he wants to eat for a meal or a snack, and I always expect the typical toddler response of, “Chicken nuggets!” or “An apple!” or something simple. Not Theo. The other day, I asked him what he wanted for lunch, and he replied, “Feo want chicken nuggets and ketchup and asparagus and water.” Hmmm, he gave me a full menu--okay! Another day, he said in the car, “Feo want snack. Feo want a couple peanuts, a couple pretzel fish, and chocolate bunny crackers and yellow bunny crackers.” (The bunny crackers are small graham crackers shaped like bunnies--honey-flavored and chocolate-flavored.) Once again, a very detailed order! That boy makes me laugh. Another day, I asked him what he wanted for a snack, and he was much more vague, announcing only, “Feo want green snack.” So I gave him some Granny Smith apple pieces, some green grapes, and some broccoli. He ate the entire thing. Guess he did, indeed, want a green snack!

The bunny crackers lead me to another bit of total sweetness that I’ll share before signing off. On one sunny day, we were at the park, and Theo got hungry. I had a bag of peanuts, pretzel fish, and bunny crackers in my purse, so we sat on a bench while he ate some. Every time he came across a chocolate bunny cracker, he would put it in my mouth and say, “Mama yuv chocolate!” I was so touched that he would give me all of his chocolate crackers, even though he, too, loves chocolate, just because he knows I love them. Such a sweet little boy! Sniff…I’m going to be sad when he’s old enough that he no longer thinks I’m the coolest person on the planet and worthy of his chocolate bunny crackers! Ah well, I’ve got a bit more time before that comes…..

Hope you all have a wonderful week!