Swingers

Today Julian began a life long love affair with the swing. He sat down and held on, then gently swayed back and forth. Zoe was not going to let him swing alone, and demanded to go higher and higher, giggling into the soft fall sun.

Hanger

Zoe and the Cupcakes (at Creativity Explored)

Zoe is all about cupcakes. She goes into her drawer in the kitchen and gets out her mini baking set, her whisks and spoons and "makes cupcakes". In the sandbox, she molds and carries cupcakes over for me to approve of and nibble on. When daddy took her to pick out a card for my birthday, he made a point of saying that she indeed picked it out, and that it would be evident when I saw it. It was a beautiful card- a photograph, my favorite type, of a big stack of... cupcakes. so when we passed by the gallery window at Creativity Explored on 16th St., I couldn't help but take a picture of her in front of it. Sorry, the lighting was poor, and we were tired and cold, but it seemed to be made for us. Thanks CE!

Co-Pilots

Off to the coffee shop, Nico and his two co-pilots for their weekend ritual.

The Boardwalk, boardwalk

It's a gorgeous fall day, 80 degrees and even a two hour drive won't keep us away. Over the bridge and over the hills down into the Half Moon Bay valley (which is full of pumpkins and ready for Halloween- check back in a couple of weeks) then down the foggy coast into beautiful, sunny Santa Cruz. After lunch at the Brewery we parked in Seabright and walked over the train trestle for some Boardwalk fun. Zoe tried out her first big-girl rides. Zoe and Mommy went on the Log Ride together, which Zoe loved until the final nose dive and subsequent splashdown. But she took it like a trooper, grasping dearly onto Mommy's thighs. Then we licked soft serve cones and contemplated which ride to take next. We decided to walk through the crowd to the far end for the Carousel, where we missed an opportunity for an outside horse. It was up to the teenagers to grab the rings and fling them at the clown's mouth, but we had fun cheering them on. Then up to the Helicopter ride- which Zoe took all by herself. Last few tickets, we thought we'd do Logger's Revenge again, but Zoe stood at the bottom step and squealed "NO"! So we went over to the Kiddie sized rides and she and daddy rode the tiniest roller coaster I've ever seen, the dragon ride. It's like a "Mini Dipper" It snakes, it dips, it rolls- in about 8 seconds flat, then does it again. She loved it. We had tired little kittens on our hands at the end of the day.

Rocks

"I'm nunning with nyocks, mommy!"

Sitting Up

Tot Zone

I love to spy on Zoe when I go to pick her up at the Piedmont Rec Dept.'s Tot Zone. Is she cooperating? Is she paying attention? Is she having fun?
She LOVES her Tuesday Tot Zone. I do too! I get to juggle only one child for the morning, and Zoe gets to read, paint and play with other toddlers. Here, Zoe listens intently while Jennifer finishes reading a book during circle time. Moments later, she ran out saying over and over "I had good time at Tot Zone, mommy"!!!

Thrill

Bubblebath

Hotel Triton

Zoe and mommy running errands in Downtown SF. We passed the Hotel Triton in front of the Grant St. Gate to Chinatown (tourist central) when we both caught site of the fountain filled with duckies. Ernie would love this! Kudos to Hotel Triton for looking to catch a child's attention, and for helping to keep San Francisco weird.

He's Up!

Here he goes! He's figured it out, and he's up on his knees. He wants to do it all the time. For now, he scoots on his tummy, but soon he'll start rocking... then crawling... then... hide everything!

The Giggler

Just your usual afternoon here at Chez Procos. Zoe with Nap Hair and Julian reaching out to her. He LOVES his sister. He wants to look at her, smile at her, touch her, be near her. In case you haven't noticed, he is semi vertical. He is practicing sitting up (with support) and seeing the world in a new way. Okay, he's been hanging out in the flying saucer playstation, which puts him upright, but sitting is pretty new.
Look at all those toys! Go easy on us this Christmas, folks.

Pastadoro

Zoe likesa the cheese.
Ah yes, another fine dinner out at Pasta Pomodoro. Zoe eats, daddy eats, mommy eats, Julian watches everyone eat, and some poor guy we don't know does the dishes. God bless Pasta Pomodoro, what would we do without you? (probably eat more turkeyburgers)

These teeth were made for chewing

Julian's first teeth came in last week, one day apart. It was a rough week of extreme sleep deprivation for us both, but now he's ready to put them to good use. He uses them to chew on his fists, chew on his blankets, chew on mommy's hand, chew on his toys, chew on Sid's foot. Sid and Julian were napping on my bed one afternoon this week, and when I went in to check on him, I found him wide awake. He had scooted down the bed towards the giant orange grumpy cat, and was gnawing on his foot. The marmalade colored fur soaked and soggy. Sid was curled tummy up, purring happily. Someone was finally paying attention to him.

The hard way

Poor Mr. Bear isn't feeling well. He needs to have his temperature taken. Zoe decides, "Need to give him the tempacher". Poor Mr. Bear gets his tempacher the hard way.
Zoe's (also taken the hard way) was 102 today. A day like this calls for the Wonderpets.

Whoosh

Sunday with Uncle Markie

It's been a fun summer. It's been a busy summer. But it is so clear to us now that summer really is, over.
Look at that golden end of summer light.
It's been hot here in Oaktown, so we thought we'd finally go up to the Redwood Park pool, but all the pools are now on some sort of "not-summer" schedule- meaning that if you want to swim laps, you'll find a time, if you want to take your kids to cool off in the sunshine, fahgetabout it. Uh oh- it's after labor day... summer is officially...(gasp) OVER!
What's so upsetting, is that it shouldn't be for us! The kids aren't in school. I'm not working. It's hot and beautiful outside (finally here in the bay area- this is truly our summer, weather-wise). But everyone else's schedule says "no more fun". Traffic jams, closed carousels and pools- time to stay home and buckle down. Buckle down to what? During the "off season" there isn't nearly as much to do during the week with two small kids, and it isn't even raining yet. I get a huge knot in my stomach when I think of the long, dark, wet and dreary days ahead. In a couple of months, we won't even have the playgrounds and walks in the park left...
But for now, it's golden afternoons spent catching up with friends who have gone their own way all summer long. Time for barbequeing by the bay, and sitting in the sun.

Beach Princess

The Beach Princess bids farewell to her kingdom for the summer

Queen of the Mountain

Zoe and her cousin Alena have a lot in common. They both just went from being the only child, to the older sibling of a newborn. While their parents chatted about potty training and breastfeeding and colic, the kids practiced sharing and playing together.