13 Months 1 Week - Daddy Day Hike #6 - Rodeo Lagoon

Daddy Day Hike #6 - Rodeo Lagoon Loop Trail

This month, we hiked somewhat familiar terrain as we visited Rodeo Beach and the Lagoon just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Rodeo is a great beach that also allows dogs, so we have visited numerous times before with Hayden in tow. However, we have never hiked the Lagoon Trail, so, on this quasi-foggy day, we ventured out over the Bridge and found our way along the trail.

It was absolutely stunning with wildlife (mostly birds) and many blooming flowers. We ran across an old colleague of mine from my school-teaching days on the beach. She now lives in Santa Fe with her husband and little baby daughter of about 9 months. You can see some of the pictures, including some nice ones of the Golden Gate Bridge on our return trip, by clicking here.

13 Months - Toddler's Paradise!! Habitot

Ground Control to Major Tom!
Ava, Bettina and Dean play "Rocket Scientist"

My friend Tiffany and her son, while flipping through their "Babies By the Bay" book, came up with a great idea to visit this children's "museum" in Berkeley called "Habitot." Especially designed for kids 1 - 4 years (toddlers to pre-schoolers), it is a very popular place - rated 5 out of 5 stars both in "Babies By the Bay" and "The Lila Guide" (both exceptional books and "must-haves" for new-moms looking for outing ideas.

I found it a phenomenal idea and one of those, "Why didn't I think of this,"-type places. Basically, they've created these fantastic and imaginative play spaces where everything is baby-proofed, but also exceptionally inviting to curious and imaginative toddlers. They have a number of different play spaces, each with it's own theme. There's the space shuttle and controller's tower built with every kind of button/lever/joystick imaginable, the stage and face-painting area, a crawling maze, a train table, a grocery store, the art studio with clay, paint and a structure project, a soft-mat crawling place (meant for little ones and pre-walkers), and of course, the water room, filled with ponds, rivers and pumps of water. Even though they provide the kids with laminated art and water aprons, they recommend you bring a change of clothes, just in case. Ava, of course, being the waterbug she is, was drenched and got cold after playing in the water room. We definitely were glad to have the extra clothes for her!

The best thing about this place: The kids can make a mess and YOU DON'T HAVE TO CLEAN IT UP!! :-)

The price is a little hefty: $6 for kids (infants under 1 are free) and adults $5. It will probably be the only time that the adults play for less than the kids! A year membership for the family is $110. Again, a bit pricey, but if you live nearby and you've got a lot of kids, it's probably the golden ticket to sanity! Bonus: you get reciprocity membership with the Discovery Museum (we have yet to visit) in Sausalito.

The photos of our visit are precious! You can see them here.

Family Photo on Father's Day

Just a cute photo for Father's Day. We hadn't done a family group shot since November...

Funny, But Real to Life, Twins Article

I came across this article from the New York Metro, passed from another MOM, and thought it was GREAT!

It was written by two new-ish parents to twins who live in New York. The whole article was waaaayy too long to post the entire thing, but here are a couple excerts to which I personally could relate:

"Living in New York, he [the dad] imagined they’d be the people arriving at rock shows with their kid in a sling. “But there was no way,” he says. “You know, I’d imagined what it would be like to be the president of the United States and to be an astronaut, but somehow it never came on my list to be a father of twins.”

“Oh, it was so beyond anything I’d imagined,” says Alice. “On the one hand, it’s unbelievable joy and it’s everything you wanted and you wanted so badly to have these kids. But I was just remembering those moments where it’s Saturday morning and you’ve each slept about half an hour a couple of times during the night and you’re each holding an upset baby and you say, ‘Can I give you both babies so I can brush my teeth?’ And your husband’s like, ‘No, I’ve been waiting for two hours to make the coffee,’ and you’re like, ‘Well, can I just take my puked-on shirt off?!’ And he’s like, ‘No! I have to pee!’ And you know that there’s, like, fifteen hours ahead of you before bedtime where nobody’s going to get sleep again.”

[Another excert from parents of triplets] "Fortunately, triplets tend to be well behaved. They have no choice. They understand early on that because the babies outnumber the parents, screaming in the crib won’t necessarily bring a response. So their sleeping schedule tends to stabilize quickly. A similar discipline takes hold for eating—if they don’t take whatever food is offered, their siblings surely will and they’ll go hungry. “We don’t have to mess around with ‘Open up for the flying airplane,’ ” says Jean-Marie. “It’s a total assembly line.”

If you're the parent of mulitples or are just trying to gain some insight into the mysterious life it dictates, I suggest you take the 15-minutes and read the whole article. There were a couple of truths that I wouldn't dare admit to parents of non-multiples.

One Year 3 Weeks - Climbing

We have been looking for more activities to do that take us outside the house as Paul officially broken ground in our basement. The pick-axe hit the concrete this last weekend and we've already filled up one concrete debris box. So, the kids, dog and I met up with friend Tiffany and her son Dean at the Lafayette Reservoir.

The girls go often to the Reservoir tot lot as their nanny, Rocio, usually takes them there when she comes twice a week. Rocio has told me how much they like the slide, so I decided to watch them. Just after Tina's feet hit the ground, she let out a giant grin and proceeded to toddle over to the play structure again and, to my amazement, started climbing the structure all the way to the top where she waited for me to help her slide down. She did this numerous times until I finally videoed so that Daddy could see this passion and talent himself.

Since then, I've found her at home standing on top of boxes and attempting to climb the crib and file cabinet. She's rather enjoying her new-found talent.

Ava tries to mimic, but isn't yet willing to get on her knees and doesn't yet trust her balance with such a large step. She enjoys sliding, especially on her stomach when she can slide unaided.

Email Fun - The Crying/Manipulation Game

I'm sure many of you, especially if you have kids, have seen this one come across their email accounts....


If not, consider it insight of what may come, should you be looking forward to the pidder-patter of little feet sometime in your future.

This family has the right idea... take it with a grain of salt and a little bit of humor. It will make a great showcase as your little one is getting ready for their Prom date!

One Year 2 Weeks - Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush

Well, Ava decided this weekend that she really didn't need to hold onto a finger to get herself around. She's running around like gangbusters and chasing Tina around the house. The two of them get a big kick out of seeing each other walk. Most of their playtime is spend following each other around the house like a parade - one with the MP3 player changing the music at whim. They giggle at each other as they sneak around the corner circling "the Mulberry Bush" that they imagine stands in our house. (Pay close attention to little Ava's shoulders and hips - she love to invent new dance steps!)

I swear, if you have toddlers, you have to look into getting one of these MP3 Players. My kids love it some much they fight over theirs. I've even beginning to think that for the first time I may need to get another one just to keep the peace.

The other exciting thing that happened just today: Bettina's god-father, Scott, welcomed with his wife their new daughter Victoria Charlotte. Mom and baby are doing fine after a tough birth. I got the call while the girls and I were in the library. And, what calls more attention to oneself than to have a cell phone ring in the library? The stream of tears that comes with the good news. Just like my last entry, my emotions are a mess - gesh!

Cha-Cha-Changes!

There is something about motherhood that changes you. I don't just mean in an "I'm more mature" kind of way. I am convinced that pregnancy and childbirth chemically change your body. My body doesn't look the same. Even though I'm the same size, my clothes don't fit the same way, I don't react the same way to similar situations any more; even my courses (sorry to be crass) don't happen the same way. I have completely changed. It's like the little aliens while moving around in my body re-programmed me and I will never be the same again. I need to figure out who I am all over again and get reacquainted.

Just an everyday example...

Since Devil's Slide took out Highway 1 just south of Pacifica, I have to drive down the 280 to the 92 and go through Half Moon Bay to get to the barn. Not a big deal - it just adds about 20 minutes, assuming I'm not hitting commute traffic when everyone from the Coastside merges onto the simple country one-laner for the 13 miles to the ocean. So, my view is a bit different taking the inland detour.

I noticed today, for example, a group of cyclists on the frontage road by San Bruno. "A pretty big club," I thought to myself as I continued down the freeway. I was surprised just how big... 3 miles down the road there was another group coming onto the freeway for a short distance. I then noticed the police escorts on the side of the road helping to deflect the traffic from them. "This must be a local charity ride," I thought. "Perhaps they're riding to San Jose." A sign on a chase/support van next to me on the freeway told me they were doing an AIDS LifeCycle ride. When I saw them at the north end of Crystal Springs, I thought they'd go under the freeway and head inland for the Camino Real and down to San Jose. However, at the 92 junction, they were snaking their way right instead of left. "They're going to Santa Cruz!" I thought. Winding my way up the narrow country road with them, I started thinking about them and wondering about their individual stories. Being that close, you can make out more details of them, see their muscles, some clearly trained for cycling and others just look like weekend warriors. Some of them rode in groups with jerseys all alike, clearly a team within a team. Others treated the ride with more humor and added tutus to their bike shorts or tiger masks to their helmets, reminding me of the Bay to Breakers crowd ("So San Francisco," I mused).

Along the climb up the mountain, small groups of people had pulled over to clap and cheer in support of the athletes. Some with boas on the head or sporting signs. One of the signs indicates that the group is cycling for Los Angeles. "That's impressive," I think. "It will take them a week to get there." I have been following this parade of sorts for about 20 miles now and have been amused, slightly intrigued, and, yes, impressed. I come up to another sign held up by a woman festively decorated and sitting in the bed of her pickup: "I was sick and you visited me - thanks for the support."........ I burst into tears! What happened?! I was just really enjoying myself - the beautiful weather, the curiosities along the road, the reward of seeing my horse... now I've been thrown into a mess of tears by a sentimental Hallmark-esque sign.

I was discussing this with my friend Deborah just yesterday. There was something on TV (neither of us could remember what) and the story line involved an unexpected event - like a fire or earthquake or something - and a small child was trapped inside. Deborah and I (although we were watching it separately) had the exact same reaction: unbridled panic. It was bad TV, obviously fake, but we couldn't help having physiological reactions to it. I happened to be watching it with my husband. I literally stood up, said "Get the baby!" aloud with tears in my eyes, and paced the floor for the 15 seconds as the drama unfolded. My husband, clearly confused by my actions, states the obvious: "It's only a movie. It's fake!" Of course, I know this. It unfortunately can't change my now natural and physical reaction.

I guess I didn't realize that in birthing my babies, I'd be rebirthing myself as well. Whether I like it or not, it seems, this additionally emotional and protective person is now me. I'm not sure how it happened, but it seems (thankfully) that I'm not the only mom that's found herself changed. I guess it's time to come to terms with it. So, I'll "turn and face the strange" and learn how to with these post-pregnancy cha-cha-changes!!