Days Two & Three with Gramma & Grampa

Since we had not completely worn ourselves out with our day in the city on Friday, we kept on truckin' through a very busy weekend. Saturday morning we went to gymnastics as usual, but this time B was putting on a much bigger performance since her grandparents were there to watch. After class, we headed to the aquarium in Monterey. They have completed their much anticipated "Secret Lives of Seahorses" exhibit since we were there last, its very impressive. Once we got our fill of sea creatures, we walked along Cannery Row and then headed up the coast for pizza in Santa Cruz (because the best pizza is really at Woodstock Pizza). In Santa Cruz we saw a man with a sign asking for a burrito ("I dream of a burrito"), so J and B introduced themselves and took him to a taco place and bought him a burrito of his choice. Turns out he was heading to Eugene to visit his daughter, and J chatted with him a bit about having lived in Eugene. The man was so grateful for the meal, and for the kindness. It was a really good opportunity to teach B a lesson in compassion and empathy. We each talked to her about how the man was hungry and that he didn't have any food so we gave him some. It seemed very simple to her, and not at all out of the ordinary. After all, we give her food whenever she's hungry and doesn't have any. It was a reminder to us that we really have to live the life lessons we want her to learn. Its not enough to tell her that the man begging in the streets is a person, the same as us, and that he deserves out compassion as we would want compassion if we were in his place. We have to show her what it means to treat that man with respect and compassion.

Sunday, we went about our normal activities to give Gramma & Grampa the real Four Fischies experience. That means the library, the grocery store and the park. It was really a delightful day and a delightful visit over all. Many thanks to them for making the trip and for spoiling all of us while they were here.

A Friday in the city

Gramma and Grampa are here for a visit and J was able to take the day off of work so off we headed into the city for a fun filled day. If only the overheated weather had lasted for our excursion to the Golden Gate Bridge! The brisk day was a bit too cold and a bit too windy on the north side of the bridge, don't think the kids were crazy about that part of the day. We've been wanting to get up there to take photos since C joined the clan...Golden Gate family photo: check.

After the bridge, we headed over to the Exploratorium in Golden Gate Park. This might be the most fun place we've visited with the kids since we moved here. Its sort of like OMSI, but maybe a bit more stripped down. B and her Grampa loved all the hands-on exhibits, C slept through most of it, and the rest of us just tried to keep up. Best guess is that we actually only experienced about a third of the museum! We will definitely be spending another day at the Exploratorium.

Happy Earth Day!

Let's celebrate our beautiful home by each learning more about the planet and committing to do at least one thing to make it a happier, healthier place.

National Geographic's The Green Guide

GreenBiz.com

EPA's Top Tips

Fun stuff to do with your family from Caboose

Visualize Whirled Peas

The goal was to exclusively breast feed C for the first six months. He'll be six months old this coming Saturday, so we almost made it! He's been showing a lot of interest in our food lately and T's been having a hard time keeping him full, so we went ahead and introduced baby food to him for the first time today. We bought the BabyCook the other day and T made C some yummy peas for dinner tonight. He was opening his mouth and taking bites, which is pretty impressive for a first timer, but he didn't seem to be a big fan. Or at least not yet. There's a whole batch of pureed peas going in the freezer, so he's got plenty of chances to develop a taste for it. For now he seemed quite relieved to go back to his tried and true method of getting food.

Step one: steam the peas...

Step two: puree the peas...

Step three: display how yummy the homemade baby food is...
Step four: Enjoy!!!

Step five: spit it all up and then get the good stuff instead

Swim little Fischie, swim!

The weather here this weekend has been absolutely glorious in the mid-80's (a little too hot for T's liking but she didn't really complain). After much running around on Saturday it was very nice to have a quiet day at home today. Once the shade arrived at the pool, at about 5pm, we went for a swim and it was so nice! This was C's very first time in the pool and he did surprising well. He wasn't very excited about his floating ride, and it may not have been the best way for him to enter the pool for his first dip. Other than that first minor upset, he seemed to really enjoy the pool. B had a great time too, she's starting to kick and jump. She really wants to do everything on her own these days, hopefully taking swim lessons this summer will help the situation and not give her an inflated sense of confidence. Either way, we're all very excited to start the Parent-Tot classes in June. Don't know how we'll document it though, since we'll all be in the water. Maybe we'll have B draw some pictures of it for the blog.

First Haircut!

This is what B has been looking like lately:So we had no choice but to find a fun kids salon and get B her first haircut. As soon as we made the appointment we started telling her that she would get a hair cut, that someone would take scissors ("cut?") and cut her hair so it would be so pretty. She wanted to go right then! Such a diva, our little honey B. We found a place in Burlingame called Just Kids Cuts which is decorated with a space theme...planets floating above your head and a cool mural in the waiting room, even space ships to ride. They have little TVs at every station, while we were there they were all playing Disney's Bolt. But we also saw video game consoles at the stations, so J wants to get his next haircut there.

Our new friend, Karen.Funny little coincidence, there was a fun candy store directly across the street from the salon (imagine that). Since B was so wonderful through out her first salon experience, we took her for some strawberry sorbetto.

Muzzy!

This clip is in English. The DVD we have also has Spanish, French, German and Italian.

Everybody's talking!

Not sure if we mentioned it before, but C is now saying "mama" and "dada." It doesn't seem like he really knows what they mean yet, but we are thrilled. We think it may have something to do with him hearing B say it all the time. Wonder how many other things he will do early because of his older sister's influence?

And B is becoming quite the little conversationalist. Its so adorable! She always seems to advance in mighty leaps, and overnight it appears she's learned a novel's worth of words and phrases. And she really seems to understand a lot more of what we say now. Its absolutely enchanting to talk to her and to be able to have a real conversation. We're falling in love with her all over again!

We recently ordered the Muzzy language system and it just arrived last night. Already we can't say enough good things about it! We watched a couple of the dvds before B went to bed last night, and this morning she asked to watch it straight off! She just went down for her nap and all she's watched this morning is Muzzy. Mostly we've been watching it in French, but also once through in English and a bit in Italian. She's already using more words in English, and she only watched the vocab dvd once! Its so amazing. She's obviously a genius.

Little Bunny Foo Foo came hopping through the forest...

Easter turns into a bigger and bigger event in our lives every year. This year it was a three day celebration as we went to a hunt at J's work on Friday, which totally ruined our plan to put fruit loops in the eggs again this year. Once B found out that there was candy in those eggs, any hope of a healthy substitution was completely out the window. Saturday we went to a local celebration here in Redwood City. We had no idea it would be so big! Live music, crafts, face painting, and egg hunts divided by age group. The mayor and the Easter Bunny arrived on a big red fire truck. It was big fun and we are excited to go again next year. The only downside was that they put tootsie rolls, gummy fish and sour patch kids in the eggs; not the greatest fare for a toddler who has yet to get all of her teeth. On Sunday we were all delighted to see that the Easter Bunny had left goodies in the kids' baskets on the patio. He really went all out on the decorating this year, with festive sticky eggs and flowers on the window. We think he did that because he felt guilty about only getting one kind of candy (orange creme kisses and coconut creme kisses), we have a feeling he may have waited until the very last minute to stock up. B loved the stickies though, and she played with them for days! A much bigger hit than any of the actual toys she got in her basket, interestingly. He also hid eggs all over the living room, which B found throughout the day (although a bit more quickly than we had anticipated). She loved looking for eggs and got so excited every time she found one. In fact, when she woke up Monday morning she immediately started looking for eggs (with her patented hunting walk: sneaking around with her hand over her eyes, a bit reminiscent of Elmer Fudd looking for that Wascally Wabbit). We had to spend the morning explaining to her that the Easter Bunny only comes once a year and she would have to wait until next year for him to leave her goodies.

PDI Egg Hunt

Redwood City Easter Egg-stravaganza