A beautiful Saturday in Sacramento

Yesterday after breakfast and cleaning, I was messing with the printer when we heard a kid's voice outside. Zadie loves to watch kids, so we hurried to the door. It was our neighbors, so we popped outside to talk with them. The kids both ran to the door of our other neighbors' house, so all six of us adults and two kids then talked and played on their lawn for a while. It's nice to have good neighbors. We kicked a ball around, and Zadie tried very, very hard to keep up. Then the kids wanted to sit on the porch swing. Finally we went in for lunch and a nap.

Our neighbor had told us about a puppet show in Land Park, but we didn't get up from our nap until 2, so we missed it. Instead we went to Midfest. The newspaper had touted breakdancing demonstrations, skateboarding, art, live music, and a family-friendly atmosphere. What we found was a DJ and a beer garden. There were a few food vendors, too, but really, it wasn't much of a -fest. Luckily, there was a playground there, and Zadie had a ball. There was a tunnel between two slides on the play structure, and she was living it up in there. There were little portholes she could see out of, so we played peek-a-boo. She also went down the slide by herself for the first time. There was another little girl there named Aaliyah who was enamored of Zadie. She kept asking us questions, ("What's her name? What's your name? What's her middle name? What's her daddy's name? What's your daddy's name?") and at one point Zadie wanted to be held by her. Keep in mind, this kid is 3, and Zadie reaches her arms up and says "Up!" Aaliyah picked her up (don't worry -- I was right there) and took her to the ride-on dinosaur. Then they rode the dinosaur together. Zadie even said "Liyah." So although the festival was sort of a bust, we had a good time.

Then we went grocery shopping and came home and made dinner. I put Zadie to bed at her normal time, but she was screaming "mama!" A friend had invited me via Facebook to the first meeting of the "Bad Moms Club." We went to the Shady Lady and had drinks and talked. It was fun, if a little loud. It was cold last night, too! We had tried to sit outside because it was crowded inside, but it was far too cold. Finally we got a table inside. I liked the Shady Lady. It has an old speakeasy vibe and the bartenders and waitresses dress the part. My favorite drink is a whiskey ginger, but many bars don't have ginger ale, so I asked if they did. Apparently they make their own ginger syrup which they mix with soda for drinks. It was a great drink.

Today I'm not sure what we'll do, but it may involve a long-awaited trip to Home Depot for a planter bed.

Swim lesson two!

Well, we had a great second swim lesson. Zadie was able to dunk her head underwater many times. She blew bubbles for the first time. She let herself fall off the edge into my arms three times. We practiced paddling her arms. We even did some "releases," where I hold her away from me and whoosh her through the water on her tummy. One of the instructors was talking about how to deal with the "separation anxiety," since she was clinging to my neck, but as soon as he reached for her, she reached for him so he would hold her! The only thing she wasn't really into was floating on her back with her head on my shoulder. We tried it several times, and the last couple, she reached over, grabbed hold of my hair, and yanked herself around. Anyway, she was doing a great job. One of the instructors said "She's going to be an Olympic swimmer!" She gave another of the instructors several high fives. She also learned to cling to the side (a safety technique).

You should see her when she sees the fish painted on the wall and makes the fish sign, or when she realizes we're in an echo chamber and shrieks in delight, or sees the little Japanese baby crying and looks concerned, or comes up from underwater blinking in surprise. She's such a frickin' doll. I just can't wait to spend the summer with her.

Every picture tells a story, don't it?

Odds and ends

Apparently today she had a verbal mini-revolution.

She pointed at Mom, then herself, and said "girl, girl" and then said "Mommy girl."

She can now say "wheel."

She said "Bye bye Boompah."

She said "Mama school." (My mom always tells her "Mama's at school with the kids.")

Also, I took her for ice cream tonight. I have given her chocolate before, and she's eaten it like a starving Berserker, but tonight I got her strawberry to see if she liked it. She said "no no" to the strawberry and asked for water instead. She's my kid, I think.

She says some stuff she clearly doesn't know she's saying. "Agape" (divine love), "Miyagi" (sensei to the Karate Kid), "Darry" (eldest of the Curtis brothers in The Outsiders), and "umami" (the Japanese word for one of the five tastes).

On the word front, the other day she moved her favorite chair into the hall. Later, I was carrying her and couldn't see over her to my feet. I tripped over the chair and said "shit!" She immediately said "shit shit shit!" I said "that's right -- we SIT in the chair. Sit." For crying out loud - she's been trying to say "sit" for 6 weeks and still only can say "sss," but she can say "shit" with no practice at all.

Okay, I think that's it. Take care, all.

Camping: Saturday and Sunday

It was a little cold Friday night, but we slept okay. Still, we woke up far too early. We nursed (not long), had a bottle, got dressed, and got up, where breakfast was waiting. I made oatmeal, and then walked away to make lunch. In the meantime, Zadie took my spoon and was dipping it into the oatmeal and then licking it. One of the kids said "Baby, that's not how you eat!" She got oatmeal all over herself and I had to change her.


We went first to Hopkins Marine Station, a research facility associated with Stanford. In the parking lot, we saw a goose family.

We were there a little early, so we looked around the coastal area (we couldn't go down to the beach because of the sea lions). You may want to click this picture to see it larger -- there were about 26 sea lions, including babies, on and around this beach. There was one dead baby sea lion and one dying one up on the beach. The kids were really crushed that we couldn't do anything to help them. It was sad.

You can see how close we were to the aquarium.

At 9, we met two grad students who showed us their labs. My favorite were the wind tunnel and the machine that replicated high-speed waves. Our grad student/guide, Kevin, admitted that "for research" they had all stood in front of it and let the waves knock them down.

After our tour, we went to the aquarium. It was rough finding parking (I couldn't leave my car at Hopkins), and we ended up only having a little over an hour all told. I had to give Zadie lunch, and I really wanted something from the gift shop, so we didn't get much time looking at exhibits. We saw the new seahorse exhibit, which was PACKED. They had done a good job trying to make it visible, but seahorses are small, so when people are crowded around, you really can't see. I did see a weedy sea dragon, which was super cool.



We then went to the kids' play area, where Zadie spent about twenty minutes crawling in and out of a simulated whale blubber tube. Every time I thought she was ready to leave, she'd turn back around and head for the blubber. Other kids would go in and out, and she'd just stay there, lord of the blubber tube.


We then saw the outer reef area, where there are sharks and giant tuna mainly, and she was pretty into it. She made the fish sign over and over. We also saw the otters, and she got several good belly laughs out of their antics.

Then we had to rush to meet the group, and we all headed to Point Lobos. I've been there with Mom, but I didn't remember it, so it was like a new experience. We parked on the street and walked about a mile to the trailhead. Two teachers and half the students headed down the sea lion trail and the rest of us went in small groups down the Cypress Grove trail. It was lovely, like an enchanted forest with ocean views. About 1/4 of the way through the loop, we saw a doe and got pretty close to take good pictures.


Then we caught a glimpse of movement to our left and saw a buck coming closer. He got about five feet away from us. It was cool, even though I know that it means the deer are used to humans, which isn't great for them. Here is another view from the trail.


We were supposed to then switch trails, but we were running short on time, and the other group wasn't even back yet (they'd stopped to play in the surf), so we tried to gather everyone up and went back to the bus and car. By the time we got back to camp, it was time to make dinner.

We had a nice dinner, talked for a while (the kids played with Zadie), and then roasted a few marshmallows. Then Zadie and I brushed our teeth and retired, and everyone else had a campfire and sang and stuff.

We woke up early again and Zadie ate very little for breakfast.


Then we broke camp and went to Elkhorn Slough. I have to admit that of all the places we were planning to visit, a slough was pretty low on my excitement list. But it was wonderful. The visitors' center was very educational and well put-together. My favorite part was a display of freshly cut wildflowers in water, each displayed with a label of its name. It was very helpful for later when we were out on the trail. I was able to identify what I was seeing. Anyway, the trail was 2.2 miles, and it was just lovely. I mean, yeah, partly it was marshy yuckwater, but most of it was overflowing with wildflowers and birds. We saw probably twenty rabbits on the trail. It was brimming with plant and animal life, and was really a very pleasant walk. Here's a bunny.


Then it was a mostly uneventful ride home. Zadie ate a full bottle of soy milk, a breakfast bar, half a banana, half a pb&j, and then fell asleep and slept all the way from Casa de Fruta to home (about 2 hours). We did piss off a CHP officer -- there was an accident at the place we were trying to get on 101, and there were cones, but it was unclear what the cones were doing, so we thought we could still go left (I say we, because I gave another chaperone a ride home). The officer gave us a dirty look and gesture, and then directed us to turn right. We couldn't turn around, so we took a right off the freeway and ended up... wait for it... right back at the same intersection. We at least went right this time and avoided eye contact, but there were two other cars in the left turn lane, and he went over and yelled at the first guy. I was like "At least we didn't get yelled at!"

Anyway, then we got home and took a bath and saw Sweetie and went to dinner with Grandma. It was a very nice trip, and I'm happy to have been able to take her on her first camping trip.

Just a side note -- partly because she was so distracted and partly because her SNS wasn't working right, Zadie was not much interested in nursing this weekend. I really thought this was it -- she was going to wean. I was bummed, because even though I said I'd be happy to let her wean when she was ready, I wasn't prepared for it. But as soon as we got in the bath, she attacked my boobs, and then she wanted to nurse off and on for the next hour until we went to dinner. She also nursed to sleep. So we had a blip, but it looks like she's still going strong.

Phoning it in

Excuse brevity; using phone. Yep-- in a tent in the wilderness and on the Internet. Never would have predicted this in my childhood.
Good car ride-- lots of snacks. Z is world's newest superfan of McNuggets. Ate like a Viking and threw the box down. mission San Juan Bautista's gardens are lovely. Campsite is right outside of old monterey. Water, bathrooms near,nice playground. Had a hike, then burgers, salad, fruit, and toasted marshmallows. Mom thought Z might say "tent" but instead she said "cocoa" loud and clear several times. Now everyone is on a night hike. Z just passed out. I'm going to read. Good night all!

Be vewwy, vewwy quiet! I'm huntin' wabbits!

That was tonight's adventure. I went outside and saw my next-door neighbors across the street. I asked what was going on, and they said they'd seen a rabbit. It was in the bushes in crazy-lawn-lady's yard. (A quick recap for those of you who missed it: my across-the-street neighbor is obsessed with her lawn. It looks like a putting green. She waters every day and I have seen her on her hands and knees trimming it.) Anyway, Zadie and I went over mainly so we could see the rabbit. But soon we were involved in neighbor Ed Begley's dilemna -- what do you do?

It wasn't a wild rabbit. It was clearly domesticated. So do you catch it? And if you catch it, what do you do with it? I offered a cat carrier, but you can't just leave it in one. The neighbors suggested their backyard, but thought it might eat their garden. I thought of my backyard, but it would be easy to escape from. Their house, with a mean cat, was out. My house, with a cat and a baby, was also out. Animal control was out, since it probably meant certain death for the rabbit. Their garage was a possibility. I thought of putting up flyers, but finding a flyer that said "Hey, we saw your bunny a couple days ago in this area" probably isn't that useful. If you catch it and hold it, do you wait for someone to see flyers or try to find it a new home? Is there a Sacramento House Rabbit society? We decided to catch it, put it in the neighbors' garage, and put up flyers.

But catching it proved difficult. It allowed itself to be caught once by Ed Begley's wife, but it squirmed and kicked out of her grasp. We chased it through three yards, occasionally diving and falling to the ground in an attempt to grab it. It went under a car, and when we chased it out, it went under another car. We spent about half an hour between planning and running, and finally it ran under a fence into another neighbor's backyard. They knocked on the neighbor's door to see if she could help, but started with "You don't happen to have a rabbit, do you?" As it turned out it WAS her rabbit, so it was safely home.

Anyway, Zadie said "hop hop" and showed Ed Begley all her dance moves, and I got to walk on the sacred lawn! I walked across it a couple times for good measure. Ed Begley's wife pointed out that I was leaving footprints, so I made sure to walk off the lawn in the direction of their house.

I can hardly keep up

Last night we went to the Asian Food Center and Kamon for sushi. She happily ate edamame, sunomono, and avocado-rice balls. In fact, she was shoveling the rice into her mouth.

This morning we went to the gym to practice our new skills in the pool. The pool there was a little cool for her, so we went in the spa and practiced. When we get to the gym, I always hand over my driver's license. Usually, when I hand someone a card, Zadie says "Money!" and I say, "yes, mama has to give the man money." Today as I handed my license over, she said "money." I said "No, this is my I.D. See, it has a picture of mama on it." She looked interested.

When I got it back, she said money again, and I said "No, remember, this one with the picture of mama is I.D." She then said "I.D.! I.D.! I.D.!" all the way through the parking lot and in the car on the way to the co-op. At the co-op, we shopped, and then went to the check-out line. I got out my debit card and she said "Money." I got out my license and showed it to her and she said "I.D." Isn't she amazing?

She also said "toe" in the context of "baby toe" many times this weekend. And this morning we took a picture of her with the giant sack of rice Sweetie wanted to get at the Asian Food Center. We said "rice" and she went "ri... ri... rice!"


In Daddy's shoes.


On a giant sack of rice.


Pretty in yellow.

Swim lesson

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

I would go ahead and call our first swim lesson an unqualified success.

I wasn't sure we were going to go tonight, although I'd been kicking around the idea for quite a while. I kept thinking I would wait until it was closer to summer, and now, heck, summer is almost here! So at the last minute, I got us ready for our first class.

We did the administrative paperwork thing, and then I spoke with Amber, who told us how it would go; we would play around in the water, and once in a while, an instructor would come by and work with us for 30-60 seconds, but mostly it was play time to get her used to the water.

Sure enough, after we had only been in the water a couple minutes, an instructor named Anna came by and introduced herself. She knew it was our first time, so she suggested starting Zadie off slowly by first just swinging her from side to side, and then maybe dipping her ears. If that went well, she said, we could dip her chin or even her mouth.

So we swung her and dipped her ears, and she was doing just fine. Another instructor came by and said she was doing very well. She asked if Zadie could blow bubbles. I put her mouth under, and she didn't blow bubbles, but she didn't freak out, either. The instructor asked if she could hold her. I handed Zadie over, and she said "Okay, I think we'll try the elevator." She then dipped Zadie all the way underwater! Zadie came up blinking and smiling! We did the elevator many more times, and all Zadie ever did was blink, smile, and laugh. We also practiced entering the pool from the side and we played with a duck.

She especially enjoyed looking at all the other babies. I really liked the vibe of the class, and I'm looking forward to using the other three sessions I've paid for! I also will practice some of our new skills in the pool at the gym and, as it gets warmer, at Grandpa's house.

Yay for my water-baby! I knew she'd take to it...

I forgot a few

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

This still isn't nearly all of them, but she's saying toe, shoe, door, kitty, more, and eat.

Also, as of yesterday, she recognizes blue and can say it! It was cute, because Mom was saying "Zadie, what color is the bag?" and Zadie said "book book book" and went and got a book about colors and brought it to me. I opened it to the blue page and she said "BOO!" Then I turned to the yellow page, said "yellow," and she yelled "YELLOW!" back at me.

Also, apparently while she plays on the swing, Boompah has been playing a game where he hides his face behind some leaves of the tree. He is otherwise totally visible. She thinks this is hysterical. He did it yesterday, and with a sly little sideways smile, she turned her palms up (the sign for "where") and asked "Oom-pah?" Mom said it was super-cute, like she was in on the joke.

Here she is with some Tupperware. She loves the Tupperware.

She is also destined to be an accessories girl. She walks around the house with shoes and purses all the time, and has now on three occasions tried to steal some other little girl's pink footwear. Once was at her music class, and she did it twice with different pairs of shoes at the park the other night. It's like she sees abandoned shoes and thinks "Sweet, free shoes!"

The park and stuff

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Originally uploaded by countmockula

Not much going on right now. We used the bike trailer to go to the park. She's not crazy about the trailer. I hope she gets used to it.

Tonight she kept wanting to follow the big kids around, and they were going up this ladder a lot. She tried, but just managed to get her legs through. Still, she said "Whee!"

She now has four molars. She's saying new words so quickly I can't keep up with them. Notable ones of late are: stick, kick, kid, help, up, down, out, book, apple, ring, purse, shoe, potty, sit, ride, and to my shame, Elmo and TV. (Some of those she had tried before, but they're much clearer now, like apple, which finally sounds like apple instead of ap-ap!)

She's obsessed with letters, and points to them and says "E." If we correct her and say J or D or whatever, she really tries to say them, too.

I made her a scrapbook of her family in the Pacific Northwest. Last night she kissed everyone's picture and tried really hard to say Maryam (Mee-am).

And there is your Zadie update!

What a difference a year makes.

Mainly I just wanted to show you the photos. Life's been pretty good around here. Testing at school is finally over, thank goodness.

I've been on an organizing kick, and I cleaned my crafty closet and I'm halfway through the hutch where I keep stationery and computer stuff. I also got rid of a bunch of stuff, partly on Freecycle and partly to Goodwill.

My intention today was just to get a few things out of the garage, but Sweetie motivated me (and helped me) to do a more thorough cleaning. So now the new bike trailer fits while assembled, yay!

Tonight Monkeygirl and I went to Second Saturday. We started at Sideshow Studios, which was a great show, and then on to midtown, where we went to Bodytribe, Deep, and a few other places we don't normally stop in.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so we'll stop at the farmer's market tomorrow morning for the freshest stuff, then make brunch. Then we'll go on the David Lubin garden tour, which we take every year.

I suppose that's about it. I hope you're all well, readers.

Take care,
CM

It's Oh So Quiet

Empty Classroom
Originally uploaded by thiyaga

My seniors took an exam this morning and are excused from their afternoon classes, so only a few of them are here studying. Fifth period is awfully quiet now...

Zadie is a helper

Gynagirl and Drummergirl just got the keys to a new place together (I'm so happy for them!). Today we were painting (well, I didn't help that much), and Zadie "helped," too.




On the go.


She wanted to sit on the step-stool.


She stepped in paint, so we took her overalls off. Then she climbed this stepladder all by herself!

Yay, weekend!

So as much as the work week sucked, the weekend is making up for it.

First I stopped and bought diapers and candy at the Nugget market (candy was not on the list, but I'm a sucker for saltwater taffy). I also got cash out for my second purchase -- a bike trailer I found on Craigslist. It's this model: http://www.bikemania.biz/BEBELOVE_Bicycle_Trailer_p/bpi_462-1.htm

When I got to the woman's house, I was blown away by how small a town this really is sometimes: she lived in the other half of a duplex my dad once lived in! I bought the trailer and she showed me how to fold it down to put it in the car (I put a small tear in it doing this, but I'm not worried about it).

Then I went home and fed the baby. Next, we went to dinner with an old friend of Sweetie's (whom I really like) and her husband at Tower Cafe. Sweetie and I had decided on Tower because it can suit any taste, and we weren't sure whether they were into ethnic foods and such. But we talked, and they are, so next time maybe it's Maalouf's. The baby was in a really good mood for about the first hour and twenty minutes, and then she wanted desperately to walk around, so we called it a night.

This morning we did our usual -- breakfast, baby feeding, cleaning house, reading the paper -- then Zadie and I went on a shopping spree! We went to REI for their anniversary sale and bought Sweetie a shirt he wanted, shoes for me, and a bike helmet for Zadie.


I've been really coveting Keens for a few years, and I'm going on a camping trip at the end of the month with a great deal of hiking, so I figure I can justify the purchase. Also, they were on sale.


It's called a "Nutcase." Don't worry: I figured out how to adjust the chinstrap after I took the photo.

Then we went and bought a new camera. You may have noticed we haven't posted many pictures lately. Our camera was on the fritz. I consulted my online buddies, and they said it had pretty much lasted as long as I should expect a camera to, so I gave in and bought a new one. I'll post the bad, flash-less pictures at the end of this post, and that'll be the end of the old camera.

Zadie and I had lunch, then came home for a nap. After that, I made a Thai green curry, and now I'm writing this! Here are those pictures:


She wants to carry mom's purse and wear dad's shoes.


We put her in the laundry basket. Because it made us laugh.


The smoothie incident.


Now that's what I call laid back.


Baskin Robbins was selling 31 cent cones for charity, and we believe in being charitable.