Say goodbye to your crib, you're a big boy now...

I thought it would be a big emotional scene getting rid of his crib but I guess that ended up just being my emotions and not Skyler's! When I told him it was time to say goodbye to his crib he actually said "Good-bye! See you later!" before I could even finish my sentence.

As soon as we could he had us tear apart the crib and move in his new bed. We thought that maybe we needed to break the idea to him slowly, prepare him for the big change over time - but it was no problem at all and he's happy as a clam. We made the change and he never looked back!

Fortune Cookie Tour

We pick up this local paper called the Bay Area Parent and one of the articles is about free fun stuff to do. One of their highlighted choices is to take a tour of how fortune cookies are made. Naturally, to us, that sounded like something fun. So we decide to go to Stockton St. in Chinatown. We find the "factory" and walk in. We stand there for a minute and I say, "We want the tour". No response. The woman that works there helps the next customer and again asks us what we want. I said, "We want to see how the fortune cookies are made." The woman say's "come this way, pick your baby up high, can you squeeze between these trays?" Now we realize this is not the kind of tour we expected. There are no tourists, no glass separating you from the wonderful fortune cookie making equipment; this is simply a very old Chinese bakery in Chinatown. We shouldn’t have been shocked, seeing that this street is where the locals shop.

So we follow the woman to the back of the bakery, squeeze between the cookie trays stacked on either side of the very narrow store, where the nice lady points to the very machine we were excited to see. Standing there, squeezed between the bags of flour, the trays of cooked and uncooked cookies, in the back of this old bakery with cracked orange tile floor, we stare at an extremely unimpressive 40-year-old fortune cookie maker. The woman pointed to the right side of the machine, saying in broken English "this is where the dough goes in" and then pointing one foot away, where we can see the cookies coming out and falling into a pink box one at time, she says "and this is where they come out." Towards the end of the process is where a little slip of paper is shoved into each one. We looked at each other half stunned and speechless. That was the tour? It was simply a greasy old machine that went around in circles. There was no workforce of ladies hand folding warm cookies, and then stuffing those scrumptious cookies with a fortune. No crisp white uniforms with clear plastic sanitary gloves. It was just a little bakery in Chinatown; anyone would walk right past it without even noticing it was there. Before we left the store the man behind the counter said with a big smile to Skyler, "now you know all of my secrets, do you want to buy a cookie?” It was a once in a lifetime experience that we want you to share with you all.

Server Blows, Skyler Rocks and "Mean Guy Spray"

What a great kid, the drive on our server at work dies, creating unbelievable havoc when all of the backups are corrupted (Arrrghh!), nothing can be restored and I have to recreate everything ASAP (sales guy, "what do you mean no email, what about the money?"). Skyler is the best, sitting patiently while I'm on the phone with Aaron, Mike & Jeff (server dudes), and trying to get them and my boss, Ken, and our tech guy, Kevin (my hero!) on the phone together. Skyler was wonderful, coming up and asking for something, "Mommy, what does this mean guy do?" holding up some little man toy. When I had to shush him he understood and sat down until I could explain that the guy is not really "mean" but just not very nice.

Explanation of Mean guys: any bad guy character from a movie or story that bring bad dreams or restless sleep to our little hero, Skyler. So I filled a little spray bottle with water and a few drops of lavender essential oils and that is what he sprays in his room before bedtime to ward off the 'mean guys'. Note to self: this stuff should be bottled and sold to all of those parents out there suffering along with us. "Mommy! I'm scared! There is a MONSTER in my room/closet/under the bed!!” no worries little Johnny, let's spray this powerful "Mean Guy Spray" and banish all of the bad guys! Sweet dreams little one, see you in the morning!”

Back home to SF

We're back in the groove here (Tot's Gym, the park and the backyard) and we were lucky enough to have a little sun today for a couple of hours. At least it hasn't been too cold, just a little gray (in out part of town, the other side of the city gets all the sun).

We went to the exploratorium yesterday for free Wed., once a month all of the museums and the zoo have a free day. It's always packed but it's worth it.

They had one exhibit that was showing how quickly things decompose when all the bugs, flies, worms, etc. get at them and in the cage they had a possum, a rat & a turtle. The possum and rat had been in there a couple of weeks and were mostly bones but the turtle had only been in there for two days and looked just like a live turtle that was sleeping. Poor Skyler just didn't understand what was going on. He was very concerned and kept asking how the turtle died and if somebody dropped him. We asked a couple of employees how he died but they didn't know ("what turtle?"). I told him that it was probably just that he got very, very old and sick and just died. He went on and on, and at first wanted someone to help the turtle, HE wanted to help the turtle "take him out mommy", "get the flies off him mommy", after going over the whole circle of life thing a few times, I told him that Daddy's friend Jason (Matt's band mate) worked there and we would ask him how the turtle died. That afternoon we called daddy and he told us that Jason said the turtle was very old and got sick and died and that nobody dropped him. That made him feel much better. Saying that he was up in heaven helped too, it's nice to be able to tell him that people and animals that die have a place to go, kids just don't understand 'completely gone'. He thinks my dad lives in a place called Heaven, like we live in San Francisco, so he doesn't completely get it but I think it helps.

The other thing that Skyler was fascinated with at the Exploratorium was a shaft of light coming through one of the skylights. It streamed down a dark area upstairs and had hundreds of dust particles floating in it. Big particles, small particles, all very distinct. It really was amazing, you could reach out and touch and move the particles around in the light. This was not part of any exhibit, it was just a shaft of light but we had a great time standing there playing in it. I'm sure we looked like kooks enjoying this big ray of light but we were having a wonderful time. What a great kid.

I'll say that Skyler shows me that you don't need a lot of money or 'things' to find fascinating and wondrous experiences in this world if you just open your eyes and look around. A line of ants on the ground, dust particles in a ray of light, the refrigerator light going on and off.... he points out amazing things that I would never think to notice. It's so much fun to see things through his little two year old eyes, I love being a mommy!

Trip to Santa Barbara

Oh, we had such a great trip to SB and it was so wonderful seeing you all! I love Santa Barbara! I feel like I had a week vacation on a beautiful tropical island. After the foggy SF weather I needed some warm days in the sun - like a lizard coming out and laying on a sunny rock - I feel like myself again! Sequoia is the cutest baby, so little and sweet. She barely squeaked the whole time we were there and I love all of those little changing expressions. What a love. She is great!

We ate at my new favorite Mexican restaurant (wish it was a little closer to my house!), went to the zoo, swam in the pool at the hotel and went to the most amazing butterfly garden at the Natural History Museum. The best part was seeing everyone - Danielle, Bob and meeting little Sequoia! Ahmee and Baba came for the day on Saturday and brought Jerry's Deli with them (Yum x 10!) and then Saturday night we babysat Sequoia while Bob & Danielle went out on a little date to Kam Shik's house. Skyler loved the games Bob played with him and all the rough housing, and I loved holding Sequoia. We had such a great time, thanks to all of you!

Knock knock joke

Mommy: Knock, knock
Skyler: Who's there?
Mommy: Boo
Skyler: Boo what?
Mommy: ....Umm, you mean "boo who"
Skyler: No, Boo what
Mommy: Um......

Frigidator yight goes off when jou cose da door?!?

Skyler discovered all on his own that when you close the refrigerator door the light turns off. He was closing it very slowly and peeking inside to make sure that his fruit was still sitting there (I had moved it earlier in the afternoon) and as he got the door all but an inch closed he couldn't see his fruit anymore because the light had turned off. He opened and closed the door dozens of times and just could not believe that it worked that way. After explaining it over and over, and showing him the button that turns it off when the door touches it, he still was asking "But Why!" and protesting that he wanted it on for his fruit.

Ah, the little wonders in life....