At last, a chance to sit down with a (mostly) working computer and try to knock out an update. The computer still has it’s side off, exposing its innards to Quincy’s curious gaze – but so far not his curious digits. And a new hard drive, motherboard, and videocard. Good news is that the old hard drive works enough to copy over our old info, a discovery made after a couple of weeks of sweating it. Chalk up a lesson on the value of backing up your computer!
We have had continued nice weather around here with the occasional sprinkles. We received e-photos from my parents and 4x6s from Nanma Phyllis of some of the piles of snow they are living through. I have just gotten us reservations to head to Tahoe with Thomas & Zoe for 14th & 15th of March where we hope to see snow – although it is quite possible that it won’t even be right outside our door like it was last year. I have been taking lots of snapshots (as usual) with my new camera – and will upload some to ofoto one of these days. Included are ones from a place called Hidden Villa that we visited down near Palo Alto a weekend or 2 ago. What a nice place – in a fairly steep valley – neither of our cell phones would work – and the nation’s purported 1st Youth Hostel is there. There is an organic farm and also some animals that our friendly guide Duncan took us around. There was only us and another family with small kids on the tour and he did a great job of keeping Aidan’s interest for the 90 minutes but also imparting information that the adults could enjoy. He started off with having us try to put our fingers into the soil in the “people places” and the “plant places” – there were raised plant beds that were of course well aerated and hard packed dirt walkways in between. A good way to explain to kids why they need to stay on the path! He cut up a stalk of rhubarb for all to try – Aidan thought it yummy to my surprise. Aidan has become the epitome of preschool picky – “no, peas are yucky!” – leaving me to pick them back out of the mac ‘n cheese – but not a word about them today floating in his ramen noodle soup – and rice in sushi is fine, brown rice with take out Chinese is fine, but any rice that mom makes is sure to kill you… Back to the farm, after that we checked out the composting heaps and got good looks at all the do-gooder worms in action. Pretty amazing how quickly they can convert the greens into “worm poop” otherwise known as nice soil. We learned the hand/body movements to “munch munch, wiggle wiggle, poop poop” – a favorite with the kids as might be expected. We got up close and personal with some sheep and a cow but kept our distance from the goats and pigs. Quincy was fascinated by the animals as usual – and also as usual, a bit terrified. He wanted nothing to do with touching a sheep. We took one short treck alongside a babbling stream in the cool shade of the trees and it looked like there were many other nifty pathways to explore another time. To our sorrow our friends Thomas, Sara & Eric are moving to Redwood City – 35 min away south on a good day. But maybe we’ll go back with them. Thomas is pretty delighted with the move as he will now have a pool, and Sara is looking forward to one of the 5 bedrooms being her craft room. He will continue to stay in his Acrosports class with Aidan and go to his nursery school so we should still see plenty of him hopefully.
Yesterday after my yoga class while the boys picnicked on the grounds of the Legion of Honor we trundled down to Ghiradelli Square for the 1st time in forever. While there Aidan noticed a lot of coins in a fountain. Why are they there? He asked. I explained that sometimes people liked to make a wish and throw coins in the water. He asked for a coin. His wish with his penny? That he could have a playdate with Thomas. Later amended to be a desire for Thomas to come to the Dolphin Club sometime with him. (We stopped in for him to do a poop). Cousin Sue does the polarbear swim there – something like 50 miles in the little cove there during the winter months – no wetsuits allowed. Cousin Phil joined her one winter but now just goes on the rowing boat expeditions. A much saner approach! A few weeks back we joined the Garfields and Eggerths there one Saturday evening (after the twins had their 1st sleep over with Sue & Jeff in the city) for the usual pizza and salad. A few weeks later we were heading back again to meet with the Garfields and Phil, Julia & baby Ellie. Aidan was looking forward to seeing cousin Bobby & Johnny again and Rick “who threw him high in the air”. None of those guys were there, but Phil always rises to the occasion. He took Aidan & Ellie for various wheeled object rides (and Quincy too sometimes). 1st one of the rowboats on it’s little trailer. Then a wheelchair with Aidan clutching both Ellie & Quincy, then a dolly, then a tiny dolly, then a desk chair on wheels – and finally Phil ran out of found vehicles. Yesterday we were supposed to head to Phil et al’s house to meet up with the whole gang + his parents – but Ellie decided to be sick instead. Aidan doesn’t really understand why the Dolphin Club isn’t someone (perhaps Sue & Jeff’s) house – just like he has trouble understanding that his teachers don’t live at his school.
It is also interesting watching Aidan try to get some understanding of how time works – or at least all of our expressions for it. Yesterday, today, tomorrow are very hard let alone any expression that refers to a timeframe that is further out. There are some good quotes in this arena if only I could think of any offhand. We are crossing off days on a calendar as I hope that he can see a visual of the passage of time. I think some more cognitive development needs to happen plain and simple though. Aidan is dressing himself top to bottom including buttons and Velcro items. Hasn’t mastered starting zippers (on jackets) nor of course tying shoe laces – but those will be coming soon enough. He has some interesting fashion statements. He will claim that all sorts of colors are his “favorite” or his “really favorite” or “most favorite” but I think orange really is it with red following close behind. Bright. He likes to “layer” – as in wearing 2 shirts. But he is all for layering one short sleeve over another. He does have some logic usually for why he selects what he does (it used to be TOTALLY random) – and usually there is some tiny area of the color of one thing in the other. And he will say “I look VERY cute wearing this shirt and pants”. Not too modest my boy!
Quincy puts up with outfit changes much better than he used to – not so much screaming. And if you ask for specific cooperation he will often give it.
Took Quincy for his 15 month check up today. 76 cm tall I think and only 17 lb 14 oz in weight! The Dr called him “petite”. I think Q is behind where Aidan was in language although his comprehension is very good – his pronunciation skills are still lacking. The Dr said he was right on track though. He is clearly ahead of where Aidan was physically. Quincy went back to waking up every 2 hours for a couple of weeks – I was going crazed. Turns out that 2 more molars did start popping out and just in the last few days he has gone back to more of every 4 hours for waking – SOOO much better although still far from sleeping through the night! I often leave him on Aidan’s bed toward the end of the night – and if I am not in there with him he will wake and come running down the hall. He’ll climb right over Pete if he is in the way. Funny in a pathetic sort of way. Then there are the nights that Aidan comes running down the hall in search of me. There was a night last week when we had the sofabed going to (so we could close door on Q’s crying in crib if needed) and I put in some nighttime hours in each of the 3 beds! I currently have a sinus infection which has been a real drag. Funny too as it didn’t follow a cold. So no real congestion to speak of, just the pain… The kids have been quite healthy although I noticed that today Quincy is coming down with something as he nose has started dripping. First time I think that he has had something before Aidan catching it and giving it to him.
Monday, March 03, 2003
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
I have a feeling that I have lost my blogger audience – but no matter! This is my record of kids development, as incomplete and occasional as that might be.
Aidan is really doing a lot of body exploration – by that I mean that he now runs quite well and is constantly doing “tricks” – standing on one leg, various types of hopping, galloping, twisting jumps, rolls, balancing on various furniture items, balancing objects on himself. It is fun to watch him try new things and master them. We were at Acrosports this morning and I was impressed as how accomplished he already is at 3 ¼. He is clearly a bit more coordinated than Thomas at present, but that has almost always been the case. Today they were hopping backwards down the “fasttrack” (long skinny trampoline) and doing open and closed legs (think jumping jacks) concurrently. I also watched him walk along a balance beam backward with a ring balanced on his head and later just climb right up on the uneven parallel bars with hands on top bar and feet on bottom one and shimmy right along to the other side. He has such fun doing it all too and also seems to very much enjoy his companions (there are 5 total in the class). He and Thomas often hold hands when walking between activities – too cute. I think Thomas usually initiates but however it happens I like to see it.
On the downside, Aidan sometimes has an unbelievably hard time leaving Quincy alone. Quincy is quite self directed in his play and is quite happy to explore (or get into mischief) on his own. But there are days that anything Quincy touches Aidan suddenly NEEDS. Even at the playground the other day – Aidan had 4 shovels – but Quincy picked up an itty bitty pink one – and Aidan suddenly desperately needed it to add to his stash. I wouldn’t let him have it so he kept following Quincy around – “has he dropped it yet? Is he done with it yet?” Sad. Then Aidan of course did end up with it and Q nothing. So I spied a rake – just like one A had only blue instead of red. And guess what – desperate NEED for that one too. Comical if not so unbelievably frustrating! On the flip side, sometimes he can be very sweet to Quincy. He will build towers and tell Quincy he can knock them down – and Q waits until told now – a big improvement!
Quincy has obviously good understanding of language now. I can give him an item in the bedroom like a tissue and ask him to go put it in the trash (in the kitchen) and he will. Cool. You can ask him to point out things in books – where is the bear’s eyes – and he points. Mostly correctly… You can ask him to help put things away or back – and he will especially if you do it as well. So nice to have him help put things back and not just pull them all down. I can also ask Quincy where he wants to go and to show me what he wants and he does – I’ll pick him up and then follow the pointing. Very helpful.
He clearly picks up behavior from his brother. Sometimes now he throws himself down on the ground when not getting his way – he even bruised his forehead superbowl Sunday doing that! This morning I was telling him “no” touching the stereo. He wasn’t paying attention so I had to physically remove him. Then he came over and looked at me and threw the calculator he was holding on the ground. So I told him no throwing and picked it up. Then he started to deliberately empty the study trash can while looking at me so that got removed. All very deliberate testing of the waters. Aidan sometimes (esp at dinnertime when I am home alone with the kids) will say his legs don’t work and flop on the ground – “you have to carry me!”. Not much fun for any of us. But Quincy soaks it all in and I think has decided that maybe this behavior is useful in some way. Oh well!
Quincy clearly recognizes what “sputter” refers to (him blowing wet raspberries). When you mention the word off he goes! You should have seen the kids in the car yesterday – I am not sure who started it but they were both “sputtering” away and laughing/giggling away between times. Very cute together. Quincy still faces backwards in his carseat so he and Aidan have good views of each other. I can also ask to see Quincy’s tongue and he’ll stick it out for me – and of course I have to do the same back which elicits the giggles.
Quincy walks quite well now and can sustain pretty decent knocks from – oh say his brother – and still remain standing. He lolls a bit as he goes – clearly still a new walker – and one of the smallest kids around you see walking. But he likes to get down and walk and although I think he prefers to head off on his own, he will go along and hold my hand or even have me on one side and Aidan on the other. I really need to find the harness I never successfully used for Aidan – Quincy is surprisingly quick and I can turn around and turn back to find him missing. Not a lot of fun.
I am sinking further and further behind on household tasks like updating Quicken, filing, medical claims etc. I no longer have any Aidan naptime – Aidan will grant me a few minutes to do some computer work after I put Q down for a nap – while he watches Blues Clues or does a puzzle or a poop (like at present – fortunately a long event! And one he recently decided he needed “privacy” for – thus a closed door). He is getting a bit antsy for me to come play with him so I need to go soon. Quincy no longer obliges with an afternoon nap while Aidan is at school so I’ve lost that time. I do have babysitters but that time flies by! I just finished up this year’s solicitations for our coop auction on March 8 – we are each responsible for raising $1000 from at least 10 items. We exceeded this year’s quota thanks in part to Pete working at The Gap and getting $250 from them in 5 giftcards. Hopefully The Gap will continue to employ Pete – otherwise his company would like to send him to Mutual of Omaha in Omaha! Not a place any of us are anxious to visit! The co-op just asked me if I would be willing to step into a Board position starting tomorrow as Parent Participation Coordinator (I am currently Publicity Assistant). And then come June (normal Board transition) to become Vice President and head up the Building Committee and a master plan for school work. Guess I have been a very proactive person to date and they need more of that – I am supposed to beef up the Board position I am stepping into – the current guy was letting things fall by the wayside and not coordinating well with the various parent and Director (teacher) needs. So thanks for all the hard work – is more work… At least I am enjoying it and I want to know all about how things run and who is who and of course I have a lot of ideas for change etc so will get to try my hand. So we shall see.
Well, Aidan has told me 3 times that he is tired of waiting and wants to play Hess Truck (mom should be happy to hear that – he wants to play at least once a day – I am not sure how well they will hold up at this rate tho!).
Aidan is really doing a lot of body exploration – by that I mean that he now runs quite well and is constantly doing “tricks” – standing on one leg, various types of hopping, galloping, twisting jumps, rolls, balancing on various furniture items, balancing objects on himself. It is fun to watch him try new things and master them. We were at Acrosports this morning and I was impressed as how accomplished he already is at 3 ¼. He is clearly a bit more coordinated than Thomas at present, but that has almost always been the case. Today they were hopping backwards down the “fasttrack” (long skinny trampoline) and doing open and closed legs (think jumping jacks) concurrently. I also watched him walk along a balance beam backward with a ring balanced on his head and later just climb right up on the uneven parallel bars with hands on top bar and feet on bottom one and shimmy right along to the other side. He has such fun doing it all too and also seems to very much enjoy his companions (there are 5 total in the class). He and Thomas often hold hands when walking between activities – too cute. I think Thomas usually initiates but however it happens I like to see it.
On the downside, Aidan sometimes has an unbelievably hard time leaving Quincy alone. Quincy is quite self directed in his play and is quite happy to explore (or get into mischief) on his own. But there are days that anything Quincy touches Aidan suddenly NEEDS. Even at the playground the other day – Aidan had 4 shovels – but Quincy picked up an itty bitty pink one – and Aidan suddenly desperately needed it to add to his stash. I wouldn’t let him have it so he kept following Quincy around – “has he dropped it yet? Is he done with it yet?” Sad. Then Aidan of course did end up with it and Q nothing. So I spied a rake – just like one A had only blue instead of red. And guess what – desperate NEED for that one too. Comical if not so unbelievably frustrating! On the flip side, sometimes he can be very sweet to Quincy. He will build towers and tell Quincy he can knock them down – and Q waits until told now – a big improvement!
Quincy has obviously good understanding of language now. I can give him an item in the bedroom like a tissue and ask him to go put it in the trash (in the kitchen) and he will. Cool. You can ask him to point out things in books – where is the bear’s eyes – and he points. Mostly correctly… You can ask him to help put things away or back – and he will especially if you do it as well. So nice to have him help put things back and not just pull them all down. I can also ask Quincy where he wants to go and to show me what he wants and he does – I’ll pick him up and then follow the pointing. Very helpful.
He clearly picks up behavior from his brother. Sometimes now he throws himself down on the ground when not getting his way – he even bruised his forehead superbowl Sunday doing that! This morning I was telling him “no” touching the stereo. He wasn’t paying attention so I had to physically remove him. Then he came over and looked at me and threw the calculator he was holding on the ground. So I told him no throwing and picked it up. Then he started to deliberately empty the study trash can while looking at me so that got removed. All very deliberate testing of the waters. Aidan sometimes (esp at dinnertime when I am home alone with the kids) will say his legs don’t work and flop on the ground – “you have to carry me!”. Not much fun for any of us. But Quincy soaks it all in and I think has decided that maybe this behavior is useful in some way. Oh well!
Quincy clearly recognizes what “sputter” refers to (him blowing wet raspberries). When you mention the word off he goes! You should have seen the kids in the car yesterday – I am not sure who started it but they were both “sputtering” away and laughing/giggling away between times. Very cute together. Quincy still faces backwards in his carseat so he and Aidan have good views of each other. I can also ask to see Quincy’s tongue and he’ll stick it out for me – and of course I have to do the same back which elicits the giggles.
Quincy walks quite well now and can sustain pretty decent knocks from – oh say his brother – and still remain standing. He lolls a bit as he goes – clearly still a new walker – and one of the smallest kids around you see walking. But he likes to get down and walk and although I think he prefers to head off on his own, he will go along and hold my hand or even have me on one side and Aidan on the other. I really need to find the harness I never successfully used for Aidan – Quincy is surprisingly quick and I can turn around and turn back to find him missing. Not a lot of fun.
I am sinking further and further behind on household tasks like updating Quicken, filing, medical claims etc. I no longer have any Aidan naptime – Aidan will grant me a few minutes to do some computer work after I put Q down for a nap – while he watches Blues Clues or does a puzzle or a poop (like at present – fortunately a long event! And one he recently decided he needed “privacy” for – thus a closed door). He is getting a bit antsy for me to come play with him so I need to go soon. Quincy no longer obliges with an afternoon nap while Aidan is at school so I’ve lost that time. I do have babysitters but that time flies by! I just finished up this year’s solicitations for our coop auction on March 8 – we are each responsible for raising $1000 from at least 10 items. We exceeded this year’s quota thanks in part to Pete working at The Gap and getting $250 from them in 5 giftcards. Hopefully The Gap will continue to employ Pete – otherwise his company would like to send him to Mutual of Omaha in Omaha! Not a place any of us are anxious to visit! The co-op just asked me if I would be willing to step into a Board position starting tomorrow as Parent Participation Coordinator (I am currently Publicity Assistant). And then come June (normal Board transition) to become Vice President and head up the Building Committee and a master plan for school work. Guess I have been a very proactive person to date and they need more of that – I am supposed to beef up the Board position I am stepping into – the current guy was letting things fall by the wayside and not coordinating well with the various parent and Director (teacher) needs. So thanks for all the hard work – is more work… At least I am enjoying it and I want to know all about how things run and who is who and of course I have a lot of ideas for change etc so will get to try my hand. So we shall see.
Well, Aidan has told me 3 times that he is tired of waiting and wants to play Hess Truck (mom should be happy to hear that – he wants to play at least once a day – I am not sure how well they will hold up at this rate tho!).
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Had lunch with a some friends from the “old days” – used to get together with 4 or 5 others from San Diego every once in a while at a local (downtown) dim sum place. Funny how we all ended up here. Could have been a lunch 3 years ago – time goes by and yet so little sometimes changes… Of course I have 2 great little kids to show for my 3 years J
Having a rainy time of it today. Another great Acrosports class to start off the day for Aidan – he had so much energy and was so bubbly. Kept chatting away too telling the teacher stuff (what I’m not exactly sure). Quincy seems to be on the upswing from his cold too. Finally had a long nap today (which I was gone for at lunch) and a reasonable night last night and no fever etc. Now if I can get my sinuses back on track and if Pete doesn’t come down with it like he looks to be doing we’ll move on… We know people with Chicken Pox, Strep & Hand,Foot & Mouth disease so a common cold has almost been a blessing ;-)
Aidan was cute – I changed out of sweats for lunch today. He said “mom – you look pretty! I LIKE your pants! And look! They match your shoes! They match!”. Makes you feel pretty good until you remember the interesting outfit he wore yesterday that “matched”… He also is into preferring a couple pairs of his socks – and when he takes them off at night he says he wants to wear them again tomorrow… he wore his “zebra” socks today and picked out some blue on blue camouflage patterned fleece pants to go with them – said they looked animal like so would go with his zebra socks. Interesting.
Quincy has been able to milk this sick thing a bit. We have had him sleeping in our bed as he was waking so much – and a couple of evenings he had a late nap so got to stay up way past Aidan’s bedtime. The one night he started out just about comatose on Pete’s shoulder while Pete watched the playoffs. Then the Tylenol must have kicked in – boy was he raring to go. Pete and I kept looking at each other wondering what happened to the sick little boy who had woken up! At one point he grabbed the tambourine and one of the sticks and was walking around drumming away (Aidan was asleep at this point).
Both boys (at Quincy’s instigation) are enjoying what I like to term “shopping” – they grab brown bags from beside the frig and walk around with them and deposit items inside. I must have spent 15 min looking for my sneakers one day – only to discover after I came home that they were in a brown bag under some toys…
Aidan has been very jealous (?) the last few days of Quincy. Anything Q shows interest in A has to have – yank it out of his hand if that is the only way he can get it. And there has been a lot of “my legs don’t work – pick me up and carry me there”. You should see how pathetic he can look lying in the hall with one hand stretched out and up and him blubbering “help me help me”. Fortunately I know he is not alone in this behavior. Apparently Thomas is a victim too – only Thomas has even more parts that don’t work – hands, mouth etc – “I can’t put the food in my mouth”. Oh well, I know that this too is a phase and will pass…
Having a rainy time of it today. Another great Acrosports class to start off the day for Aidan – he had so much energy and was so bubbly. Kept chatting away too telling the teacher stuff (what I’m not exactly sure). Quincy seems to be on the upswing from his cold too. Finally had a long nap today (which I was gone for at lunch) and a reasonable night last night and no fever etc. Now if I can get my sinuses back on track and if Pete doesn’t come down with it like he looks to be doing we’ll move on… We know people with Chicken Pox, Strep & Hand,Foot & Mouth disease so a common cold has almost been a blessing ;-)
Aidan was cute – I changed out of sweats for lunch today. He said “mom – you look pretty! I LIKE your pants! And look! They match your shoes! They match!”. Makes you feel pretty good until you remember the interesting outfit he wore yesterday that “matched”… He also is into preferring a couple pairs of his socks – and when he takes them off at night he says he wants to wear them again tomorrow… he wore his “zebra” socks today and picked out some blue on blue camouflage patterned fleece pants to go with them – said they looked animal like so would go with his zebra socks. Interesting.
Quincy has been able to milk this sick thing a bit. We have had him sleeping in our bed as he was waking so much – and a couple of evenings he had a late nap so got to stay up way past Aidan’s bedtime. The one night he started out just about comatose on Pete’s shoulder while Pete watched the playoffs. Then the Tylenol must have kicked in – boy was he raring to go. Pete and I kept looking at each other wondering what happened to the sick little boy who had woken up! At one point he grabbed the tambourine and one of the sticks and was walking around drumming away (Aidan was asleep at this point).
Both boys (at Quincy’s instigation) are enjoying what I like to term “shopping” – they grab brown bags from beside the frig and walk around with them and deposit items inside. I must have spent 15 min looking for my sneakers one day – only to discover after I came home that they were in a brown bag under some toys…
Aidan has been very jealous (?) the last few days of Quincy. Anything Q shows interest in A has to have – yank it out of his hand if that is the only way he can get it. And there has been a lot of “my legs don’t work – pick me up and carry me there”. You should see how pathetic he can look lying in the hall with one hand stretched out and up and him blubbering “help me help me”. Fortunately I know he is not alone in this behavior. Apparently Thomas is a victim too – only Thomas has even more parts that don’t work – hands, mouth etc – “I can’t put the food in my mouth”. Oh well, I know that this too is a phase and will pass…
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
well, Quincy is asleep (nap) and Aidan is occupying himself doing puzzles. His current activity of choice when I nurse Q down is puzzles - I have to take the pieces out (it is too hard mom!) and he puts them back in. He is simultaneously working on 4 puzzles I believe (altho the pieces are kept separate). No more TV these days for him interesting enough. This a.m. we had our 2nd "big boy" Acrosport class. He is in a class with Thomas and there are 5 kids total - all 3 and 4 yr olds - and one teacher. Moms (and Dads and siblings) have to watch from the bleechers way up high. Q gets excited to see his brother running around below. The kids all do great and it is a much better class than the old one. They call it "Tootsie Rollers". They have a trampoline they call the Fast Track - it is maybe 5' wide and I don't know - 50' long - and the kids hop down it - I think you could use it when learning to do vaulting etc. Anyway - today they had the kdis hop, hands on hips, half way down, jump on a mid-way mat and Freeze then turn around and hop the rest of the way backward. You should have seen Aidan go! I didn't know he could do it backward. You will have to come watch...
Aidan & I both have colds. Ick. Aidan came down with his Sat nite and I feared it would be a bad one but despite not getting his normal amounts of sleep he has been in a good mood and doing really well the last few days. Hopefully Pete & Quincy avoid it. We'll see.
I changed YMCAs and now work out at the Presidio - it is nice seeing the bay again frequently. They have all the free yoga and pilates classes I could ever want. I took a Pilates for the 1st time since early in my pregnancy with Quincy and did remarkably well. It was the intermed/advanced class with my old teacher who remembered me right away.
We had been doing well with Quincy before Portland re sleep - alot of 6 hour stretches at night. Now he's under 3 again. Molar #1 is almost all the way in... But we are also letting him cry it out at least once (w/out milk) to try to get him back on the longer stretches. The downside to that is that Aidan was finally sleeping thru the night in his own bed (Ijust jumped in and nursed Q when needed) and now we have to relocate him to another room so that the prolonged crying doesn't disturb him. He isn't woken by short amounts of crying (of course neither is his Dad!).
Quincy is just clearly communicating more and more. The other day I asked him which chair he wanted to sit in (at the little snack table) - he picked the yellow one and pointed to it. He and Aidan now both sit down at the little table for snacks and some meals. I was impressed when I gave Quincy a graham cracker the other day - he then promptly went over to the cupboard and pulled out a bowl and put it in it then returned to the table to sit down. Of course a bite or so later he carried both over to the trash and dumped the graham and then the bowl into the trash... Guess he was done! He also loves to "read" and is pretty active about it. I tell him to pick a book and climb into my lap - and he does! Then we look at the pictures and he turns the page (on command) and we touch the various textures etc or point to animals. He loves dogs - but is a bit afraid of them. There is a new dog downstairs and he loves to look for it in the window - but if he sees it then he wants to be held!
Well, I think Aidan is tired of playing by himself - it has only been an hour! So I should go.
Aidan & I both have colds. Ick. Aidan came down with his Sat nite and I feared it would be a bad one but despite not getting his normal amounts of sleep he has been in a good mood and doing really well the last few days. Hopefully Pete & Quincy avoid it. We'll see.
I changed YMCAs and now work out at the Presidio - it is nice seeing the bay again frequently. They have all the free yoga and pilates classes I could ever want. I took a Pilates for the 1st time since early in my pregnancy with Quincy and did remarkably well. It was the intermed/advanced class with my old teacher who remembered me right away.
We had been doing well with Quincy before Portland re sleep - alot of 6 hour stretches at night. Now he's under 3 again. Molar #1 is almost all the way in... But we are also letting him cry it out at least once (w/out milk) to try to get him back on the longer stretches. The downside to that is that Aidan was finally sleeping thru the night in his own bed (Ijust jumped in and nursed Q when needed) and now we have to relocate him to another room so that the prolonged crying doesn't disturb him. He isn't woken by short amounts of crying (of course neither is his Dad!).
Quincy is just clearly communicating more and more. The other day I asked him which chair he wanted to sit in (at the little snack table) - he picked the yellow one and pointed to it. He and Aidan now both sit down at the little table for snacks and some meals. I was impressed when I gave Quincy a graham cracker the other day - he then promptly went over to the cupboard and pulled out a bowl and put it in it then returned to the table to sit down. Of course a bite or so later he carried both over to the trash and dumped the graham and then the bowl into the trash... Guess he was done! He also loves to "read" and is pretty active about it. I tell him to pick a book and climb into my lap - and he does! Then we look at the pictures and he turns the page (on command) and we touch the various textures etc or point to animals. He loves dogs - but is a bit afraid of them. There is a new dog downstairs and he loves to look for it in the window - but if he sees it then he wants to be held!
Well, I think Aidan is tired of playing by himself - it has only been an hour! So I should go.
Monday, January 06, 2003
I spy a new tooth! Bottom right a molar has appeared - to join the 8 other existing teeth. This means a little gap between the front ones and the molar - guess that one will appear later.
Beautiful weather - spent 3+ hours at Crissy Field (beach just about under GG Bridge) yesterday with friends. Kids had a blast.
Quincy is our little squirrel. He deliberately hides things. Latest casualty - one of his new shoes... he didn't really like wearing big boy shoes and figured out how to get out of it. I have NO IDEA where it is. The cleaners didn't turn it up either. I have watched him (unbeknownst to him) pick up a random (to me) object and take it to the end of the house, open a drawer (like in the Secretary in the Hallway) and deposit said object then hurry away. Eek! He also enjoys depositing items in the various trashcans around the house...
Beautiful weather - spent 3+ hours at Crissy Field (beach just about under GG Bridge) yesterday with friends. Kids had a blast.
Quincy is our little squirrel. He deliberately hides things. Latest casualty - one of his new shoes... he didn't really like wearing big boy shoes and figured out how to get out of it. I have NO IDEA where it is. The cleaners didn't turn it up either. I have watched him (unbeknownst to him) pick up a random (to me) object and take it to the end of the house, open a drawer (like in the Secretary in the Hallway) and deposit said object then hurry away. Eek! He also enjoys depositing items in the various trashcans around the house...
02/12/31 update…
seems like I will never actually get around to writing unless I start… it has been a long time and I always make mental notes of things I want to write about (mainly something too cute that one of my boys has been doing of course). Ouch – I just went back to look and the last one was early November! Tells you something about our life… we kept quite busy doing this years edition of Cole Valley Herald. It seemed to take on a life of its own and grow and grow… Then it was time for the calendars… now I just need to trim the file sizes to something that will open from the CD for Kinkos to handle – apparently 125mb files just don’t work – and that is only ½ the year in pics only. Oh well.
So, we end the year with a little toddler – and he really does. He now only crawls if he is moving a vehicle around the floor – just like his older brother. Vroom vroom. It was fun to watch the progression just in Portland from wanting to walk to almost exclusive walking. I took the boys shoe shopping on a rainy day the Thurs before the holidays. Aidan got a very nice (expensive) pair too and was very happy. Quincy wasn’t happy at all about having clunky shoes put on his feet – he thought maybe he should just sit down and scream about it. A short while later he forgot about it (at a friend’s house afterwards) and toddled around in them. The toes are already nice and scuffed. I would have put him in Aidan’s old shoes except that he is younger than when Aidan got his first and as I suspected, has smaller feet. We love to watch the glee in his face as he does his best Frankenstein impression lumbering around – usually with something in one hand and the other raised about his head – like he wants to hail a taxi. With nothing in either hand it is both hands above his head – rather hysterical.
Like the rest of Quincy’s development, the move to walking has been progressive. About a week before his 1st birthday he started letting go and taking a few steps – I even captured some of the earliest on video and sent it forth across the web to the grandfolks. Just a week ago before we headed north I watched his persistence in walking the length of our hall (long as you know) – he stumbled maybe 5 times but only crawled perhaps 4’ out of the total length – he just kept getting up. Now he thinks nothing of the hall and back.
I have been interested to see his language skills blossoming the last week or 2 as well – interesting that he is working on both at the same time. He does have clearly distinguishable words now for some things (clear if you are his mom that is!). Mostly things that start with “B”. Ball, Boom, Book. Pete is thrilled that pointing has become a big part of communication. He can be very clear in his intent now. He seems very interested in animals too (I don’t remember this kind of interest from Aidan). He was trying to say “cat” and “meow” and then “woof woof” for dog. He seems to have decided that all furry 4 legged creatures work fine with a “whooo whooo”. Last night at a party he was excited to see a cat “whoo whoo” and we watched it go outside. Several times during the course of the evening when I had him in my arms (usually to distract him from some mischief) he would point to the kitchen then the door and tell me “whoo whoo” – it was clear he wanted to go find that cat. He is ignoring my effort to get him to sign – although he is interested in watching me do it and seems to comprehend my signs.
seems like I will never actually get around to writing unless I start… it has been a long time and I always make mental notes of things I want to write about (mainly something too cute that one of my boys has been doing of course). Ouch – I just went back to look and the last one was early November! Tells you something about our life… we kept quite busy doing this years edition of Cole Valley Herald. It seemed to take on a life of its own and grow and grow… Then it was time for the calendars… now I just need to trim the file sizes to something that will open from the CD for Kinkos to handle – apparently 125mb files just don’t work – and that is only ½ the year in pics only. Oh well.
So, we end the year with a little toddler – and he really does. He now only crawls if he is moving a vehicle around the floor – just like his older brother. Vroom vroom. It was fun to watch the progression just in Portland from wanting to walk to almost exclusive walking. I took the boys shoe shopping on a rainy day the Thurs before the holidays. Aidan got a very nice (expensive) pair too and was very happy. Quincy wasn’t happy at all about having clunky shoes put on his feet – he thought maybe he should just sit down and scream about it. A short while later he forgot about it (at a friend’s house afterwards) and toddled around in them. The toes are already nice and scuffed. I would have put him in Aidan’s old shoes except that he is younger than when Aidan got his first and as I suspected, has smaller feet. We love to watch the glee in his face as he does his best Frankenstein impression lumbering around – usually with something in one hand and the other raised about his head – like he wants to hail a taxi. With nothing in either hand it is both hands above his head – rather hysterical.
Like the rest of Quincy’s development, the move to walking has been progressive. About a week before his 1st birthday he started letting go and taking a few steps – I even captured some of the earliest on video and sent it forth across the web to the grandfolks. Just a week ago before we headed north I watched his persistence in walking the length of our hall (long as you know) – he stumbled maybe 5 times but only crawled perhaps 4’ out of the total length – he just kept getting up. Now he thinks nothing of the hall and back.
I have been interested to see his language skills blossoming the last week or 2 as well – interesting that he is working on both at the same time. He does have clearly distinguishable words now for some things (clear if you are his mom that is!). Mostly things that start with “B”. Ball, Boom, Book. Pete is thrilled that pointing has become a big part of communication. He can be very clear in his intent now. He seems very interested in animals too (I don’t remember this kind of interest from Aidan). He was trying to say “cat” and “meow” and then “woof woof” for dog. He seems to have decided that all furry 4 legged creatures work fine with a “whooo whooo”. Last night at a party he was excited to see a cat “whoo whoo” and we watched it go outside. Several times during the course of the evening when I had him in my arms (usually to distract him from some mischief) he would point to the kitchen then the door and tell me “whoo whoo” – it was clear he wanted to go find that cat. He is ignoring my effort to get him to sign – although he is interested in watching me do it and seems to comprehend my signs.
Thursday, September 12, 2002
OK, so now it is almost halfway through September and we flew home on September 1- but I want to try to record the balance of our trip anyway. So, where was I – Sydney day 2 Ithink…
Time to walk through Darling Harbor (a few blocks from our hotel) to get to the Aquarium at the far end. Aidan as per usual greatly enjoyed the fountains – and there was quite a variety of water features to admire. One was a “wall” of water set in front of some restrooms under a freeway on-ramp (I think) that would periodically start and stop. I had a great deal of trouble persuading my son to move on – and this was only the 1st one we came to! There was also a rather nifty playground – unusual use of small manmade hills and canopies that made for an nice sculptural area to look at from passer-byers perspectives. Aidan saw a little tram go by a few times – a fake train thing. Of course he NEEDED to ride on it. It just cruised the length of the Harbor area for $5 or something like that. I put him off hoping he would forget about it… So we finally made it to the Aquarium. You get to thinking sometimes that these places are very large as they take so long to traverse with a toddler. Yet when you walk them alone a few days later in under 15 minutes … Aidan certainly adds a dimension to your perspective of a place!
The Aquarium was fairly large and a good one. I think there is at least one other Aquarium in the Sydney area but I think this is the main one. There is rightfully an emphasis on Australian critters. Just inside the entrance is a Platypus viewing area. I guess they are nocturnal creatures as both here and at the zoo the area was dark. They were smaller than I imagined but fun to watch zipping around. Dave & Aidan were captivated. As I sat in the dark on a bench with Quincy, a couple of Asian women managed to see and be captivated by my youngest. As usual, wanting to hold him. We spent a lot of time in the first area which had smallish tanks with various “local” fish and crustaceans and pooped out for the latter stuff which was really probably the better stuff. There was an outside area where you could watch seals laying around and go in a tunnel thru the water to watch them swim by – should they ever get off their rocks… (they didn’t for us). There is a nifty shark and friends (?) area where you are in a glass tunnel so they can swim on either side and above you. Aidan liked the frogman cleaning the tank with a vacuum hose. Quincy screamed. He is NOT good about napping anywhere/anytime in his stroller etc like most kids. He found the Aquarium too stimulating and couldn’t let himself go to sleep. It looked like there was an equivalent tunnel tank for reef type fish that wasn’t open which would have been good. There were some decent reef exhibits tho to view. Pretty fish. The closest we would come to the Great Barrier Reef – this trip anyway. Pete had tried to get us there but the cost at such a late date made it seem a poor choice. We grabbed a so so bite to eat in the café before exiting. Then Aidan reminded me of my promise of a tram/train ride… So we left Nanma & Pop in possession of Quincy (peacefully sleeping at last) and headed off to the other end where we could visit those toilets under the freeway next to the water wall… Nanma & Pop caught up with us quickly. They headed back to the Aquarium in the evening as it was open til 10 and tickets were good all day - while I put the kids down. I was envious. I am sure we must have done something else that day – perhaps that was our Vietnamese dinner night.
Tuesday morning we caught a bus outside our hotel to Circular Quay (the central area where buses, trains & ferries all stop very close to the Opera House). It is a short walk into the Botanical Gardens leading down to the Opera House. I planned to take Aidan on the little tram ride 20 minute tour of the Gardens that we had taken when we had our few hour stop over at the very beginning of our Down Under Adventure. Phyllis & Dave elected to join us for the ride and save their legs a few steps. It was quite a different experience than the first time – mainly in that the gardens were relatively empty. I had last been there on Anzac Day – a national holiday. The weather was still nice although perhaps a bit cooler – and a nice spring day instead of a nice fall day… I then saw how Aidan was nodding off so we headed home on the train for a nap. After a long naptime the boys and I went out for a mid-afternoon meal down at near the ferry wharf on the otherside of the Aquarium. I had spotted this place when visiting the Aquarium – they had nice pizzas and salads and outside seating with large umbrellas to keep the sun off. We had a very pleasant time of it. Afterwards we just killed some time while waiting for the ferry by watching the monorail (or model-rail as Aidan calls it) and taxi boats and tourists. We took a ½ hour ferry ride to Circular Quay – the wrong direction from our hotel and by myself I could walk there in that time – but that wasn’t the point. Trying to get in as many vehicles as possible in one day! Did I mention that we rode the monorail to get from our hotel to the harbor for lunch? Bus, train, tram, monorail, ferry – pretty good huh? The ferry ride was also at sundown and took us across the river to the giant face at the closed down amusement park. Cool. Talked to a nice South Afrikaner woman – she and her husband and 2 boys (both about 2 yrs older than mine) had been in the same monorail car as us. She had done the bridge climb and highly recommended it. Maybe next trip… We met a lot of South Afrikaners in New Zealand too (including my hairdresser). Phyllis and Dave, well, I don’t really remember what they were doing with their time – either ferry to Manly or visiting the Opera House or??? They were home after kiddie bedtime.
Wednesday I think was zoo day (I may have my Tues and Wed confused here). A nifty set up whereby you need to take the ferry across the river to get there. Beautifully situated so that you have vistas back to the Opera House and bridge and skyline at various points. A great sunny start turned into rain shortly after our arrival although we did get warm sunny weather again before we left. We just missed getting to stand next to Koalas – but did get a bench under shelter. We saw more platypus. Saw a seal lion show – you know the kind – they do tricks for fish. Saw a bird show set on a cliff with the city view behind. Fed giraffes some carrots (too bad I got lousy photos of this – it was pretty fun) – Aidan was intimidated – the giraffes have VERY long (black) tongues! They were the one animal he said he wanted to see at the zoo. Again there was a really pretty view of the city. Phyllis treated us all to ice cream cones – very popular with Aidan! I had grabbed a very good warm croissant sandwich that Aidan & I shared as we walked – but P & D hadn’t had any lunch. A peacock showed off his tail feathers – seemingly to Aidan – as we finished our ice creams. We saw some other animals like mountain sheep or goats and gorillas and meerkats. Unfortunately the San Diego zoo spoils you a bit. This zoo wasn’t that large and had fairly mainstream animals, but they had done a good job of using their site. We took a gondola up from the ferry (Phyllis took a bus) and then mostly just walked downhill back to the ferry. Dave enjoyed the tiger pacing right beside the viewing glass. We headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed some good Chinese takeout from SuperBowl. I’m pretty sure I have Tues and Wed mixed up here as Wed night Pete arrived after the boy’s bedtime from Auckland (finally finishing his project after several 16 hr days) and Phyllis & Dave had just gotten home from an afternoon at Manly Beach.
Anyway – we were happy to have Daddy join us at last. Pete had put in a request for viewing Manly & Bondi Beaches from before he ever left NZ so of course Thursday it was time to head off to the beach… Bondi Beach. We took a couple of buses to get there and got to see a few more neighborhoods on the way (looked interesting to me). Bondi is a huge crescent of white sand and crashing waves with requisite surfers. I think in season it can look as crowded as those Coney Island pictures you see. It was truly some of the finest sand I have seen. After letting Aidan do a little raking in the sand we headed off to the right (as you looked at the water) where my Lonely Planet book (and emails with friends) said you could do a nice cliff walk down to a couple more beaches/communities. I think we did about 2.5km along the cliffs. Really very nice. We had some concerns as there were quite a few stairs near the beginning – and we were toting a stroller and heavy backpack on it and Phyllis has bad knees etc. But soon it was an easy walk with almost no steps to traverse. We sat up high (on conveniently placed benches) and gazed out to sea. A very pretty sunny day. The next beach along had a toilet for Aidan and a small playground for a little break. The next one along had a series of cafes with waterviews although they were further from the water/beach than my book had suggested. We had a good bite to eat mid afternoon before catching a bus back to Bondi Junction and a train to the city. P & D had offered to babysit if Pete & I wanted to go out. So we took the opportunity (after bedtime of kids) to go across the street to the Market City or whatever it was called (mall) and catch a movie. I am drawing a blank on what we saw – it was Tom Clancy with Ben Afleck action flick – and pretty decent although it was about nuclear attack on Baltimore and it bothered my sleep a bit the next couple of nights I have to say. It may have been the 1st movie I saw in a theater since Harry Potter with my Mom at Xmas time last and sleeping infant Quincy in my lap.
Friday P & D headed off on a long bus trip to Canberra – the planned city capital of AU. The rest of us took advantage of the beautiful sunny day to head to Manly Beach on the ferry. The ferry lets you off on the river side and then you pass through a fairly short street/plaza (no cars) to get to the ocean beach. Again there was wonderful fine grained bone white sand. I really liked it especially compared to the NZ sands as there were no shells and rocks in it for Quincy to put in his mouth. He really couldn’t even get the sand in his mouth (and after one taste he gave up anyway). We had a nice lunch at a hole in the wall health food place with courtyard seating. Quincy by this time was being fed anything on my (or anyone else’s plate I could access) that was reasonably soft and didn’t have any of the main no no food (egg whites, raw honey, peanuts, etc.) He has a MUCH more varied baby diet than Aidan did at this age. There was a little tiny beach side playground for Aidan. We also enjoyed taunting the waves (we also got our rolled up pants a bit wet). Quincy enjoyed the feel of the sand and the experience of crawling thru it – you should have seen the glee in his little face. A good day out all told.
Saturday the whole crew headed down to the Opera House via a long walk thru the Botanical Gardens and a couple little stops at the convict (?) museum (we only saw the entrance but it looked like it was a well done museum) and the Library (had a Gallery we thought we might want to see). We thought we might try to take a tour of the Opera House (and all 200 steps along the way). But we didn’t really see any tours that day (lots of Matinees etc instead) and we couldn’t come up with a good plan to deal with the kids/stroller etc. So we settled for my only “nice” meal in Sydney at one of the waterfront outdoor Opera cafes. Really very good and made Bev happy. I’d only been there a week… A bit of confusion afterwards occurred. I think P & D were trying to catch a ferry to head the other way on the river. Pete was interested in another ferry ride too. I wanted to look around The Rocks area (we had seen it on the Explorer Bus oh so long ago – older houses and buildings out of limestone etc). I ended up giving Pete my vehicle pass – and him running off with my wallet (accidental??) leaving me with a 3 – 4 km walk home with just a map in hand. I had a very nice time and walked out under the bridge to almost the end / point. I was very attracted to The Rocks and would love to stay there “next time”. Mostly a 2-story area with tree lined streets – very restful after the hustle and bustle of Chinatown. I tried to photograph what I think of as “traditional” Sydney residential architecture – sort of row houses with a party wall between each unit that extends beyond the rest of the structure in all directions by a foot or two. And iron railing work on the balconies that reminded me of New Orleans. I hadn’t seen quite this style before and am a bit curious about its origin. There were great looking shops. I went in a couple – very high caliber crafts, art and wood working. Regretting my lack of wallet… I also wandered thru a street festival or craft fair of very high quality for that sort of thing. Then I wandered down the residential streets past a few quiet hotels then I ended up back at the end of Darling Harbor again. Past were I had shared pizza and salad with the kids. Past the Aquarium. Over the bridge that led to the Maritime Museum (would love to visit next time). Checked out a mall on the other side. I had made NO purchases in AU so far – and it was almost time to leave! Of course our bags were overflowing already. But I spied a T-shirt or 2 I liked and a couple small gifts I’d like to have… I was back to the hotel at our 5.30 meeting time – Pete was late with the boys – Quincy was a bit hungry! We had leftovers thanks to our big frig, microwave and previous asian meals. Pete & Dave had a date to see a movie at IMAX in Darling Harbor at 8. I wrestled Aidan & Quincy down so that I could get back to the shops at that mall before 9 p.m. closing time. Pete never knew I was gone… It was interesting to be out there on a Saturday night. The Harbor was bustling with families and kids (teens) eating out and hanging out. Then it was home to try to pack up.
By 9 a.m. the next morning we were fully packed up with nothing to do before our 11 a.m. supposed taxi pick up for the airport. Phyllis stayed behind but the rest of us headed back to – you guessed it – Darling Harbor – for a bite to eat. Not a stellar meal but reasonable and cheap. And a view. It rained closed to the end of our meal and of course we had packed our rain gear. But we had plenty of time for it to cease before we headed back. Then the shuffle of bags down the elevator to the lobby/street began. No trolleys, 15 (+) bags. Then the wait for that taxi. Oops! It is broken down somewhere. Finally we pushed P & D into a taxi and we tried to wait for one of those station wagon taxis to come by. Nope. Finally I hopped in a taxi with Aidan and left Pete & Quincy and a few bags. Dave met us with a cart at the airport and Pete followed behind by 5 minutes or so. I think we had gotten off close to 45 minutes after we had planned. Fortunately 1) United wasn’t very busy and especially 2) Phyllis is a Premier member and can use the 1st class lines. In addition our crummy 53rd row seats magically became row 32 bulkhead seats where we could hang up sleeping babies… Being only one row apart from P & D (who also managed to have window, aisle and empty middle in an almost full flight) was MUCH better than being 20 rows behind them as originally planned. Then we settled in for a 14 hour flight that arrived before we left… (1.30 p.m. getting in at 9.30 a.m. I think it was). I watched all 4 movies – sort of – had already seen Spiderman. There was some stupid teen boy sword movie (Pete seemed to like it). But the other 2 were decent. P & D took Aidan for dinner. Q slept reasonably well in the bassinette for at least 6 hours of the flight – and in my arms a few more hours. Waking of course for every meal. Dinner/snack/beakfast were served. A got 8 hours sleep. Pete probably something similar although a bit less I would suppose. I got zero sleep. I am just now getting about round to normal – it would help if I got any 8 hour nights but somehow that never seems to be in the cards! Oh yeah – thanks to Phyllis we were also in the United extra legroom section of the plane. All in all a pretty decent flight. Helps to have grandparents along J To our great surprise, at the other end a taxi driver managed to get all 6 of us and our 15++ bags into ONE van taxi! Then he forgot to turn on his meter. I hope he got a very large tip! San Francisco was sunny and quite warm for our arrival. Our house was dusty and needed a clean. Oops – meant to call the cleaning lady before leaving NZ. Pete spent quite a few hours clearing Aidan’s room back out of all the stuff stored there when we had sub-leased the apartment. Aidan’s room has a new skylight. Ugly but I don’t think it will crash down if we have an earthquake – and hopefully this one doesn’t lead either. We are still getting sorted out although we are almost there. It was tempting to just sort of throw a lot of stuff away on our arrival – heck, if we can live out of a few suitcases for 4 ½ months – how much do we really need all of this…stuff… Aidan and Quincy were both just priceless. It was like Christmas had come early – only maybe 2 or 3 Christmases. Aidan was a little butterfly flitting from one toy to the next “daddy did you know I had a Scoop? Mommy look at this train!” Quincy just had big eyes and a big round “O” mouth and delighted in the fact that he could explore all sorts of toys with no consequences from his brother as A was too busy at the other end of the room. That of course has changed. We have had to lay down ground rules and assign some toys as Quincy toys. Aidan would like them all to be his of course. Good thing about going away is that Aidan really doesn’t remember a lot of things and thus it is easy to not have him play with his tiny little toys (chewing/choking hazards for Q) or to tell him toys belong to Q.
Another night I will get into more of the Q & A dynamics. I also need to tell about some of the very cute things A has had to say that may not have made it into blogger in the past. And we start preschool Friday.
Time to walk through Darling Harbor (a few blocks from our hotel) to get to the Aquarium at the far end. Aidan as per usual greatly enjoyed the fountains – and there was quite a variety of water features to admire. One was a “wall” of water set in front of some restrooms under a freeway on-ramp (I think) that would periodically start and stop. I had a great deal of trouble persuading my son to move on – and this was only the 1st one we came to! There was also a rather nifty playground – unusual use of small manmade hills and canopies that made for an nice sculptural area to look at from passer-byers perspectives. Aidan saw a little tram go by a few times – a fake train thing. Of course he NEEDED to ride on it. It just cruised the length of the Harbor area for $5 or something like that. I put him off hoping he would forget about it… So we finally made it to the Aquarium. You get to thinking sometimes that these places are very large as they take so long to traverse with a toddler. Yet when you walk them alone a few days later in under 15 minutes … Aidan certainly adds a dimension to your perspective of a place!
The Aquarium was fairly large and a good one. I think there is at least one other Aquarium in the Sydney area but I think this is the main one. There is rightfully an emphasis on Australian critters. Just inside the entrance is a Platypus viewing area. I guess they are nocturnal creatures as both here and at the zoo the area was dark. They were smaller than I imagined but fun to watch zipping around. Dave & Aidan were captivated. As I sat in the dark on a bench with Quincy, a couple of Asian women managed to see and be captivated by my youngest. As usual, wanting to hold him. We spent a lot of time in the first area which had smallish tanks with various “local” fish and crustaceans and pooped out for the latter stuff which was really probably the better stuff. There was an outside area where you could watch seals laying around and go in a tunnel thru the water to watch them swim by – should they ever get off their rocks… (they didn’t for us). There is a nifty shark and friends (?) area where you are in a glass tunnel so they can swim on either side and above you. Aidan liked the frogman cleaning the tank with a vacuum hose. Quincy screamed. He is NOT good about napping anywhere/anytime in his stroller etc like most kids. He found the Aquarium too stimulating and couldn’t let himself go to sleep. It looked like there was an equivalent tunnel tank for reef type fish that wasn’t open which would have been good. There were some decent reef exhibits tho to view. Pretty fish. The closest we would come to the Great Barrier Reef – this trip anyway. Pete had tried to get us there but the cost at such a late date made it seem a poor choice. We grabbed a so so bite to eat in the café before exiting. Then Aidan reminded me of my promise of a tram/train ride… So we left Nanma & Pop in possession of Quincy (peacefully sleeping at last) and headed off to the other end where we could visit those toilets under the freeway next to the water wall… Nanma & Pop caught up with us quickly. They headed back to the Aquarium in the evening as it was open til 10 and tickets were good all day - while I put the kids down. I was envious. I am sure we must have done something else that day – perhaps that was our Vietnamese dinner night.
Tuesday morning we caught a bus outside our hotel to Circular Quay (the central area where buses, trains & ferries all stop very close to the Opera House). It is a short walk into the Botanical Gardens leading down to the Opera House. I planned to take Aidan on the little tram ride 20 minute tour of the Gardens that we had taken when we had our few hour stop over at the very beginning of our Down Under Adventure. Phyllis & Dave elected to join us for the ride and save their legs a few steps. It was quite a different experience than the first time – mainly in that the gardens were relatively empty. I had last been there on Anzac Day – a national holiday. The weather was still nice although perhaps a bit cooler – and a nice spring day instead of a nice fall day… I then saw how Aidan was nodding off so we headed home on the train for a nap. After a long naptime the boys and I went out for a mid-afternoon meal down at near the ferry wharf on the otherside of the Aquarium. I had spotted this place when visiting the Aquarium – they had nice pizzas and salads and outside seating with large umbrellas to keep the sun off. We had a very pleasant time of it. Afterwards we just killed some time while waiting for the ferry by watching the monorail (or model-rail as Aidan calls it) and taxi boats and tourists. We took a ½ hour ferry ride to Circular Quay – the wrong direction from our hotel and by myself I could walk there in that time – but that wasn’t the point. Trying to get in as many vehicles as possible in one day! Did I mention that we rode the monorail to get from our hotel to the harbor for lunch? Bus, train, tram, monorail, ferry – pretty good huh? The ferry ride was also at sundown and took us across the river to the giant face at the closed down amusement park. Cool. Talked to a nice South Afrikaner woman – she and her husband and 2 boys (both about 2 yrs older than mine) had been in the same monorail car as us. She had done the bridge climb and highly recommended it. Maybe next trip… We met a lot of South Afrikaners in New Zealand too (including my hairdresser). Phyllis and Dave, well, I don’t really remember what they were doing with their time – either ferry to Manly or visiting the Opera House or??? They were home after kiddie bedtime.
Wednesday I think was zoo day (I may have my Tues and Wed confused here). A nifty set up whereby you need to take the ferry across the river to get there. Beautifully situated so that you have vistas back to the Opera House and bridge and skyline at various points. A great sunny start turned into rain shortly after our arrival although we did get warm sunny weather again before we left. We just missed getting to stand next to Koalas – but did get a bench under shelter. We saw more platypus. Saw a seal lion show – you know the kind – they do tricks for fish. Saw a bird show set on a cliff with the city view behind. Fed giraffes some carrots (too bad I got lousy photos of this – it was pretty fun) – Aidan was intimidated – the giraffes have VERY long (black) tongues! They were the one animal he said he wanted to see at the zoo. Again there was a really pretty view of the city. Phyllis treated us all to ice cream cones – very popular with Aidan! I had grabbed a very good warm croissant sandwich that Aidan & I shared as we walked – but P & D hadn’t had any lunch. A peacock showed off his tail feathers – seemingly to Aidan – as we finished our ice creams. We saw some other animals like mountain sheep or goats and gorillas and meerkats. Unfortunately the San Diego zoo spoils you a bit. This zoo wasn’t that large and had fairly mainstream animals, but they had done a good job of using their site. We took a gondola up from the ferry (Phyllis took a bus) and then mostly just walked downhill back to the ferry. Dave enjoyed the tiger pacing right beside the viewing glass. We headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed some good Chinese takeout from SuperBowl. I’m pretty sure I have Tues and Wed mixed up here as Wed night Pete arrived after the boy’s bedtime from Auckland (finally finishing his project after several 16 hr days) and Phyllis & Dave had just gotten home from an afternoon at Manly Beach.
Anyway – we were happy to have Daddy join us at last. Pete had put in a request for viewing Manly & Bondi Beaches from before he ever left NZ so of course Thursday it was time to head off to the beach… Bondi Beach. We took a couple of buses to get there and got to see a few more neighborhoods on the way (looked interesting to me). Bondi is a huge crescent of white sand and crashing waves with requisite surfers. I think in season it can look as crowded as those Coney Island pictures you see. It was truly some of the finest sand I have seen. After letting Aidan do a little raking in the sand we headed off to the right (as you looked at the water) where my Lonely Planet book (and emails with friends) said you could do a nice cliff walk down to a couple more beaches/communities. I think we did about 2.5km along the cliffs. Really very nice. We had some concerns as there were quite a few stairs near the beginning – and we were toting a stroller and heavy backpack on it and Phyllis has bad knees etc. But soon it was an easy walk with almost no steps to traverse. We sat up high (on conveniently placed benches) and gazed out to sea. A very pretty sunny day. The next beach along had a toilet for Aidan and a small playground for a little break. The next one along had a series of cafes with waterviews although they were further from the water/beach than my book had suggested. We had a good bite to eat mid afternoon before catching a bus back to Bondi Junction and a train to the city. P & D had offered to babysit if Pete & I wanted to go out. So we took the opportunity (after bedtime of kids) to go across the street to the Market City or whatever it was called (mall) and catch a movie. I am drawing a blank on what we saw – it was Tom Clancy with Ben Afleck action flick – and pretty decent although it was about nuclear attack on Baltimore and it bothered my sleep a bit the next couple of nights I have to say. It may have been the 1st movie I saw in a theater since Harry Potter with my Mom at Xmas time last and sleeping infant Quincy in my lap.
Friday P & D headed off on a long bus trip to Canberra – the planned city capital of AU. The rest of us took advantage of the beautiful sunny day to head to Manly Beach on the ferry. The ferry lets you off on the river side and then you pass through a fairly short street/plaza (no cars) to get to the ocean beach. Again there was wonderful fine grained bone white sand. I really liked it especially compared to the NZ sands as there were no shells and rocks in it for Quincy to put in his mouth. He really couldn’t even get the sand in his mouth (and after one taste he gave up anyway). We had a nice lunch at a hole in the wall health food place with courtyard seating. Quincy by this time was being fed anything on my (or anyone else’s plate I could access) that was reasonably soft and didn’t have any of the main no no food (egg whites, raw honey, peanuts, etc.) He has a MUCH more varied baby diet than Aidan did at this age. There was a little tiny beach side playground for Aidan. We also enjoyed taunting the waves (we also got our rolled up pants a bit wet). Quincy enjoyed the feel of the sand and the experience of crawling thru it – you should have seen the glee in his little face. A good day out all told.
Saturday the whole crew headed down to the Opera House via a long walk thru the Botanical Gardens and a couple little stops at the convict (?) museum (we only saw the entrance but it looked like it was a well done museum) and the Library (had a Gallery we thought we might want to see). We thought we might try to take a tour of the Opera House (and all 200 steps along the way). But we didn’t really see any tours that day (lots of Matinees etc instead) and we couldn’t come up with a good plan to deal with the kids/stroller etc. So we settled for my only “nice” meal in Sydney at one of the waterfront outdoor Opera cafes. Really very good and made Bev happy. I’d only been there a week… A bit of confusion afterwards occurred. I think P & D were trying to catch a ferry to head the other way on the river. Pete was interested in another ferry ride too. I wanted to look around The Rocks area (we had seen it on the Explorer Bus oh so long ago – older houses and buildings out of limestone etc). I ended up giving Pete my vehicle pass – and him running off with my wallet (accidental??) leaving me with a 3 – 4 km walk home with just a map in hand. I had a very nice time and walked out under the bridge to almost the end / point. I was very attracted to The Rocks and would love to stay there “next time”. Mostly a 2-story area with tree lined streets – very restful after the hustle and bustle of Chinatown. I tried to photograph what I think of as “traditional” Sydney residential architecture – sort of row houses with a party wall between each unit that extends beyond the rest of the structure in all directions by a foot or two. And iron railing work on the balconies that reminded me of New Orleans. I hadn’t seen quite this style before and am a bit curious about its origin. There were great looking shops. I went in a couple – very high caliber crafts, art and wood working. Regretting my lack of wallet… I also wandered thru a street festival or craft fair of very high quality for that sort of thing. Then I wandered down the residential streets past a few quiet hotels then I ended up back at the end of Darling Harbor again. Past were I had shared pizza and salad with the kids. Past the Aquarium. Over the bridge that led to the Maritime Museum (would love to visit next time). Checked out a mall on the other side. I had made NO purchases in AU so far – and it was almost time to leave! Of course our bags were overflowing already. But I spied a T-shirt or 2 I liked and a couple small gifts I’d like to have… I was back to the hotel at our 5.30 meeting time – Pete was late with the boys – Quincy was a bit hungry! We had leftovers thanks to our big frig, microwave and previous asian meals. Pete & Dave had a date to see a movie at IMAX in Darling Harbor at 8. I wrestled Aidan & Quincy down so that I could get back to the shops at that mall before 9 p.m. closing time. Pete never knew I was gone… It was interesting to be out there on a Saturday night. The Harbor was bustling with families and kids (teens) eating out and hanging out. Then it was home to try to pack up.
By 9 a.m. the next morning we were fully packed up with nothing to do before our 11 a.m. supposed taxi pick up for the airport. Phyllis stayed behind but the rest of us headed back to – you guessed it – Darling Harbor – for a bite to eat. Not a stellar meal but reasonable and cheap. And a view. It rained closed to the end of our meal and of course we had packed our rain gear. But we had plenty of time for it to cease before we headed back. Then the shuffle of bags down the elevator to the lobby/street began. No trolleys, 15 (+) bags. Then the wait for that taxi. Oops! It is broken down somewhere. Finally we pushed P & D into a taxi and we tried to wait for one of those station wagon taxis to come by. Nope. Finally I hopped in a taxi with Aidan and left Pete & Quincy and a few bags. Dave met us with a cart at the airport and Pete followed behind by 5 minutes or so. I think we had gotten off close to 45 minutes after we had planned. Fortunately 1) United wasn’t very busy and especially 2) Phyllis is a Premier member and can use the 1st class lines. In addition our crummy 53rd row seats magically became row 32 bulkhead seats where we could hang up sleeping babies… Being only one row apart from P & D (who also managed to have window, aisle and empty middle in an almost full flight) was MUCH better than being 20 rows behind them as originally planned. Then we settled in for a 14 hour flight that arrived before we left… (1.30 p.m. getting in at 9.30 a.m. I think it was). I watched all 4 movies – sort of – had already seen Spiderman. There was some stupid teen boy sword movie (Pete seemed to like it). But the other 2 were decent. P & D took Aidan for dinner. Q slept reasonably well in the bassinette for at least 6 hours of the flight – and in my arms a few more hours. Waking of course for every meal. Dinner/snack/beakfast were served. A got 8 hours sleep. Pete probably something similar although a bit less I would suppose. I got zero sleep. I am just now getting about round to normal – it would help if I got any 8 hour nights but somehow that never seems to be in the cards! Oh yeah – thanks to Phyllis we were also in the United extra legroom section of the plane. All in all a pretty decent flight. Helps to have grandparents along J To our great surprise, at the other end a taxi driver managed to get all 6 of us and our 15++ bags into ONE van taxi! Then he forgot to turn on his meter. I hope he got a very large tip! San Francisco was sunny and quite warm for our arrival. Our house was dusty and needed a clean. Oops – meant to call the cleaning lady before leaving NZ. Pete spent quite a few hours clearing Aidan’s room back out of all the stuff stored there when we had sub-leased the apartment. Aidan’s room has a new skylight. Ugly but I don’t think it will crash down if we have an earthquake – and hopefully this one doesn’t lead either. We are still getting sorted out although we are almost there. It was tempting to just sort of throw a lot of stuff away on our arrival – heck, if we can live out of a few suitcases for 4 ½ months – how much do we really need all of this…stuff… Aidan and Quincy were both just priceless. It was like Christmas had come early – only maybe 2 or 3 Christmases. Aidan was a little butterfly flitting from one toy to the next “daddy did you know I had a Scoop? Mommy look at this train!” Quincy just had big eyes and a big round “O” mouth and delighted in the fact that he could explore all sorts of toys with no consequences from his brother as A was too busy at the other end of the room. That of course has changed. We have had to lay down ground rules and assign some toys as Quincy toys. Aidan would like them all to be his of course. Good thing about going away is that Aidan really doesn’t remember a lot of things and thus it is easy to not have him play with his tiny little toys (chewing/choking hazards for Q) or to tell him toys belong to Q.
Another night I will get into more of the Q & A dynamics. I also need to tell about some of the very cute things A has had to say that may not have made it into blogger in the past. And we start preschool Friday.
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