8 Seconds ... Till Bedtime

Joey is a master procrastinator, especially as bedtime approaches. Here, he's using every available prop -- a cowboy hat, Daddy's sunglasses, his rocking moose, and ESPN, which was conveniently airing a bull riding competition -- and yelling "yee-haw!!" All instead of sleeping.

Wednesday Night Playdates

Joey and his favorite red-headed little girlfriend, Gitte, have a standing date on Wednesday nights now, while Tim and Thomas play tennis. For the second Wednesday in a row, Sabrina and I took full advantage of the kid-friendliest place in the city, the pizza parlor a block and a half away, Eagle Pizza. The Yelp reviews are pretty accurate, especially this: "It feels like you're hanging out at your friend's basement playroom." The food is mediocre, but:

1) You can yell across a restaurant to get your child's attention, and not be embarrassed in the slightest
2) One whole corner of the restaurant is dedicated to toys
and
3) They have a changing table, diapers, and wipes in the bathroom (and, er, a toilet that was mistakenly used as a sink by Gitte)

Net, net: Joey and Gitte consumed far too many Puffs, and far too little pizza, but Sabrina and I got to have adult conversation, and Joey got so worn out playing with Gitte that he didn't wake up until 9:30 this morning! I'm calling the night a success!

Success!

In case you were wondering, Pavlov's theory applies to children as well as dogs. Joey managed to get through his entire swim lesson on Monday night, giddy and giggly, mostly due to me chanting the mantra, "Daddy has M & M's for good little swimmers. Daddy has M & M's for good little swimmers."

(I'll leave this space for Tim to expound on his theories about the similarities between dogs and babies... or just gloat about his successful parenting skills.)

Who's Who?

Megan and Clara are proving that they truly are made up of scarily similar genetic material (for those not up to speed on Identical Twin Fun Facts, the children of identical twins are genetically half-siblings). See if you can identify who's who in the pictures below -- this even proved challenging for Tim!

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If you care to wager guesses, post them, and in a few days, we'll share who the winner is!

Hungry Man

The other night at dinner, Joey was getting impatient for his food.

Joey: "I HUNGRY!"

Me: "I know, I'm hungry, too."

Joey: (after cocking his head and hunting for the right words) "I'm hungry ONE!"

Boy Hero Strikes Again

SAN FRANCISCO -- Amphibious Potty Boy displayed an unexpected superpower late Friday afternoon, unlocking the rear passenger door of a GMC Yukon XL, and freeing himself and his infant sister while his mother stood outside of the car engaged in a frantic, fruitless phone call with OnStar.

"He is so smart!" exulted Amphibious Potty Boy's father, upon learning of the new superpower while on the golf course.

"I guess this means we need to start using the child locks so he doesn't do this on the freeway," he added.

Authorities aren't clear how the children became locked in the vehicle. In unrelated news, Potty Boy's mother has withdrawn her application for Mother of the Year.

Proof

Proof that Joey really does like water (from a trip to Ocean Beach last Friday with Shawna and the girls).

T is for Train

We met up with Hop and Mop at the steam trains in Tilden Park on Saturday morning, for a "choo choo" ride and a picnic. While Joey and Megan liked the ride, they politely declined an encore, and preferred to watch the train from a safe distance for the rest of the morning.

Here's the whole group, except for Tim who was behind the camera:





Clara and Bridget tested out Shawna's double stroller. They had a ball playing footsie!

Sweetness

"Swim Shades" and Underpants

I really wouldn't be fulfilling one of my major responsibilities as a parent if I didn't take shots like these.





He looks kind of like an amphibious super hero Potty Boy! Or just a giant dork ;)

First: No, Joey is not potty trained, or even close to being potty trained, but this morning he wanted to wear his new underpants, and he peed in his potty about 6 or 7 times. He followed that up by peeing through the underpants and then ceremoniously peeing in his crib, which marks about the twelfth time I've changed his sheets in as many days.

Second: Why, you ask, is Joey wearing swim goggles on land? We're hoping to acclimate him to the goggles so we don't have a repeat performance next week of what may possibly be the most disastrous swim lesson ever in the history of swim lessons. We thought swim lessons would be a fantastic treat for a little boy who happily lays on his stomach and splashes in the bath for 45 minutes at a time, runs through the sprinkler like a maniac, and adores any chance he gets to be in a pool! Instead, he flipped out when the (evil) instructor didn't even introduce herself, just jammed fins on his feet and tried to ram too-small goggles over his too-large head. It all went downhill from there, especially once the group singing started. He just clung to me like a hysterical monkey, creating a giant scene, while Daddy and Clara pretended they didn't know us (although Tim does regret that fact that his hands were too full to take a picture for the blog and for posterity).

We're going in better armed next week. For starters, goggles are now "swim shades," and he now (mysteriously) associates them with being fed M&Ms. It's a trick straight out of Dog Training for Dummies.

The Easiest Baby in the World

Clara was laughing and giggling earlier this morning, and offered me a glimpse into her mouth, where I was astonished to see two brand new teeth... her first!!! What baby cuts her first teeth with such little fuss??

No teeth to view here, but you can see how happy she is:

Unicorn Head

Joey experienced his first big fall since he was a newborn (when he took a couple of dives off the kitchen counter, bed, and living room chair... I know, we were rookies). In a classic "horseplay gone bad" moment (Tim actually was filming said horseplay just seconds earlier), Joey was diving off the family room couch into a pile of pillows, precisely when Davis chose to amble by. Joey's forehead met Davis' tooth, and it was instant bedlam.

I'll leave it up to you to guess who christened Joey "Unicorn Head," and who frantically ran for a bag of frozen veggies and a pacifier.

Thankfully, all was well within a half hour, and the alarming horn that sprouted on his forehead was reduced to a bruise by bedtime. Davis, in case you're wondering, was a little stunned, but shook off his injury, and forgot about the whole episode immediately.

Advanced Reading Material Within

I'm strangely proud of this. Maybe my mommy brain isn't mush after all!

Strike a Pose

I think Joey may have a future in modelling... here he is with his new backpack, looking for all the world like he's headed off to kindergarten!



At this moment in time, he's using the backpack to safely stow away his Thomas trains, his baby doll, and his cars.

Happy Daddy Day!

Tim celebrated his first Fathers' Day as a father of two! We experimented with waffles, ate yummy sausage, tore open presents (with help from Joey), and then dispatched the kids to Grandma and Grandpa C's house for several relaxing, kid-free hours! We even enjoyed a baby-free prime rib dinner at the Corral in Pacifica, pitying the poor couple next to us who were actually dining with their infant and their two year-old ;)

Joey in the middle of saying "Happy Daddy Day!"



Reading H is For Homerun



Clara and Daddy