First dentist visit & Easter eggs

We are having so much fun!

Today Skyler went to the dentist for the first time. Before we got there I went over step by step what would happen. We practiced "Hi Dr. Chan", I told him about sitting in the big chair, opening his mouth and that the dentist would put his finger in and look at his teeth and the big light they shine in your face. Skyler said "Hi Dr. Chan" but didn't want to wear the little paper towel they clip around your neck, he loved the part where the chair moves and tips and kept saying "more up and down mommy". The dental assistant showed him a little video with dogs going to the dentist and demonstrated all of the sucking, blowing, drilling and water squirting instruments they use. Sky was fascinated by the instruments, didn't really care about the dogs much, he just wanted more water squirted in his mouth.

Then it was my turn for my teeth cleaning and he screamed all of the way out the building because he wanted more fun stuff in the chair. Thank god my mom was there, I don't know what they were thinking when they said to just bring him with me and the receptionist would watch Sky while it was my turn. You think a 2 year old is going to just sit there and play quietly when mommy is getting water squirted in her mouth? I could hear him from the second floor office as my mom coaxed him out of the building bribing him with the promise of animal crackers.

Easter Eggs: Skyler said "Mommy, Nana and Skyler color Easter Eggs". It was a little messy and our finger nails are stained weird colors, but it was lots of fun! We had a great time coloring them with crayons and staining them with the dye and he tried to use the little wire dipping tool but ended up just dunking them in the colors with his fingers. When daddy came home Sky showed him the eggs he colored and ended up throwing them on the floor and breaking a few of them. I told him we'd make egg salad with the cracked ones and he said "blue egg salad?". He's so darn cute.

Today is Tot's Gym and more Easter fun!

You said it...

We we're playing hide and seek in the house. I was hiding, you walked in and said "Where are you daddy?" perfectly. I gushed and told you how proud I was of you. Naturally, you ask alot of questions, but it's the fact that you are using logic that is so impressive. You seem to know the difference of now/before/later because we talk about the other house before and our new house now. And you seem to understand the benefits of our new house (the backyard, your own room, the park, etc.) but you still remember our old house which is amazing.

You also enjoy talking about things you did when you were a "baby". The foods you ate, and toys you played with. It's remarkable!

And after only meeting them a couple of times, you very clearly said "Justin & Valerie" our new upstairs neighbors when you saw them this weekend.

There's just so much that you are saying. Elephant is currently pronounced "Ena-nant". You can sing the full "ABC's", count to 20, know all the colors (you've known them for a long time, but it's still noteworthy), and without a doubt I believe you can recognize at least a hundred different kinds of animals and birds.

I'd have to sit there with a note pad to get everything you're saying, so Im going to try get more video so we can look at this stuff in a few years.

You are a terrific kid and I hope you remember some of this portion of your life. Why? Because these have been the most amazing 2 1/2 years for me and your mom. Thank you for reminding us how much fun life can be.

Early March

Ken, my boss, took his daughter Jessica, who is the same age as Skyler (she was born 7 hours after Skyler) to Disney World for 1 week. Hopefully we'll get some advise on whether a 2 year old at an amusement park with hour long lines is a good thing or simply horrible for the parent that has to wait in line by themselves while the other one walks the 2 year old around and entertains them for the length of that line only to ride that one ride and do the whole thing again for the next ride.

Anyway, that meant that I worked at the office all week instead of working from home so Skyler had an assortment of people watching him during the day - good variety for him. The weather in SF has been record warm/hot so there was lots of outdoor fun in the sun.

Besides his regular nanny Carrie he had a couple of days with Nana and one day with his old nanny Melissa (who was the new Melissa after the first Melissa moved on - very confusing for a little guy and when she walked in he said "No! other Melissa!". Um, yeah, that was a little embarrassing). Melissa brought Damian, the other little boy that Skyler used to hang out with, and another boy, Jojo, and they all played in the backyard and then went to the zoo. She couldn't believe how big he was and how well he communicates.

That was the second time in a week that Sky was visiting the animals at the SF Zoo. Sadly there are no more elephants at our zoo, they all either died or got lonely and were move to another facility. I think that the elephants that died just got tired and bored of the archaic pens they were held in and gave up living to go to elephant heaven. But we do have loads of other great animals for Skyler to see and imitate, and he does an excellent Hippo and of course his ferocious Lion (see last Halloween photos).

We just found out that we are loosing the luxury of living in our building alone. It really felt like it was a regular house because nobody has lived in the flat upstairs since we moved in last November and we could be as loud as we wanted. Remember 'The Loud Family' on Saturday Night Live, well that is basically what we are like an awful lot of the time. I thought it was weird that nobody lived there and it didn't seem like the landlord was trying to rent it. Wasn't it Rosemary's Baby where there was a pentagram painted on the floor above their bedroom? Maybe it was another movie, but I did wonder a couple of times why that place was still empty and if there was some sinister plot to turn us into the Devil's minion and deliver the spawn of Satan - just kidding, I didn't really think that... well maybe once or twice. But now we will have upstairs neighbors at the end of this month and we are going to have to keep it down just a smidge. We have really taken over the backyard with patio furniture and plants, and we have tons of outdoor toys, balls, paints, bubbles, etc. and a mountain of stuff that we need to either store or sell. All that means that the garage sale that we were planning to have in a month or two when we "got organized" now has to happen ASAP, organized or not. If you want any of our cool old stuff to be your cool new stuff, you should come to our garage sale next weekend. Watch Craig's List for the BIG SALE announcement!

Come by to hang out, drink free lemonade and take home some cool junk!

Steph

what we did this weekend -

We went to brunch at Mel's Diner came home and cleaned up our backyard so we have a sunny area (sunny? in SF?!) to play in at the back of the yard. Nana is back home from LA, we missed her a lot but had fun playing with her kitty, Jet, while she was gone. She came over for dinner and we hung out in the backyard for awhile.

On Sunday we went to the zoo and checked out all of the animals and rode the train. What is going on with the SF Zoo and the poor elephants? Skyler's favorite animal and our pitiful zoo can't take care of them so they are gone or leaving! He had so much fun, he's so great to take places and really enjoys running around. Is he at that age where he will start remembering any of this when he grows up? I know that everything leaves an impression and these early years are the foundation for the rest of his life, but when do you actually start remembering events that happen now as an adult?

Steph

Things that you do.

This is an amazing stage of development, both physically and intellectually for you Skyler.

Every few days you have a few new words. One right off the top of my head would be - everybody. And you really get the meaning of it too! You also ask a lot of questions like "Where are we going?" and say things like "Eat Shrek yogurt now, Daddy!" (green yogurt with a picture of Shrek on it), "Go play outside now bakaball (basketball)" and "Read Daddy!"

There are some things we just dont understand though. Like "deet" . We know it means "cold" when you say it, but we still cant figure out where it comes from. I hope you can shed some light on this in the future.

Right now you just tried to move something out of the way on the TV. I explained you cant move someone in the foreground out of the way to see something in the background. You wanted to see a big bird in Wizard of Oz, but Dorothy and the trees were in the way.

Songs like "Where is Thumbkin?", "Wheels on the bus", "Elmo's World" and "A,B,C" are some of your favourities to sing. Your favourite movies on DVD are Shrek (1&2), Snow White, Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Toy Story 1&2 (you call it "Buff 1" and "Buff 2" for Buzz Lightyear), Labyrinth, and James and the Giant Peach. And you are fascinated by any character that is mean. We think it's because that everyone is nice to little kids and someone who is mean is very different and interesting. At least we hope that's what it is.

Speaking of Buzz Lightyear. He may possibly be your favourite charcacter. Although Elmo is by your side more and he is actually much more lovable. You also enjoy Clifford the big red dog, Big Bird, blue & green (Grover & Oscar), Ernie, Bert, Woodie & Jessie (from Toy Story), Winnie the Pooh and Barney too.

Every day you are growing and asserting your independence. At first it's just going up and down some steps or carrying a plate of food by yourself. And your 18th birthday, to us seems so close, yet you havent even attended your first day of school. There is no pause button as we have wished for.

You are the greatest thing we can share with the world. Your mom and I love you more than you could ever imagine. xoxoxox
Love, Daddy
aka Matt