First Word!

Well, it's official -- Henry has spoken his first word. Despite my blatant attempts at coaching and despite the fact that this has happened to me once before (Darn you, Max!), the first word is definitely, "Dada." He has been babbling all sorts of different consonant sounds for months now, but today was really the first day that we were certain that he said "Dada" with intention. I was giving the boys a bath and Scott walked into the room. Henry looked up at him with a huge smile breaking across his face and proudly proclaimed, "Dada." As further proof, I waited a few moments and then asked Henry, "Where's Dada?" Without a pause he looked right up at Scott. It was such a sweet moment I almost forgot to be jealous. ALMOST. Who is it that gave birth to that child? Who nurses him many times a day (and sometimes many times a night)? Who spends almost every waking moment with him???!!!! Sigh...We'll keep working on the "M" sound.

Not to be outdone, Max has also made leaps and bounds with language over the past weeks. He chatters nonstop now, giving me advice on driving ("That light is red, Mommy. Red means stop"); Offering thoughts on patriotism and the new administration (upon seeing an American flag -- "It's a Barack Obama flag!"); Keeping us all on the straight and narrow in terms of rules (upon taking my hand to cross the parking lot -- "Safety is our number one priority!"). That kid cracks me up many, many times a day. What a lucky mom I am to have two such sweet and articulate boys!

Hallelujah!

We bought Max a fancy new alarm clock that turns green in the morning when it is time to get up. I feel like I'm doing an infomercial here, but this clock is a godsend! For the past two mornings, Max stayed in his room without yelling and carrying on until the clock turned green at 5:45am. This may not sound like much to some, but it is close to an hour more sleep that Max's mommy has been getting that she was not getting before. We're going to start moving the clock back a few minutes at a time so that maybe Max and Mommy can sleep until 6am or, dare I even dream it, maybe 6:30! Here's the blessed clock if anyone wants to check it out:

http://www.americaninnovative.com/products/teachmetime.php

Why I Love California

It is jaw-droppingly gorgeous here. I'm not talking about the beautiful weather (though it has been balmy and clear almost everyday since we arrived), but more the amazing scenery around every turn. Simple jaunts down the freeway afford staggering views of San Francisco Bay. Crossing over the Bay Bridge is astonishing every single time as the city of San Francisco comes into view with the Golden Gate Bridge peeping through the fog in the distance. Max, Henry, and I went to a regional park in the hills above Oakland called Redwood Park, and I could have sworn that I was in some remote national park in the Sierra mountains. This place was gorgeous! There were towering redwood trees that were hundreds of years old along a rocky wandering creek. You could hike for miles in that place without seeing another human being. I don't mean to sound snobbish, but there's something about landscapes in the West that is inherently more grandiose than what you find out East. Virginia, for example, has history galore, rolling green hills, some nice rivers and even some modest mountains. In California, however, everything is on a different scale. Mountains are taller, distances are greater, coastlines are more rugged and more scenic. Scott will scoff at this because "place" doesn't matter much to him, but I feel very tied to the land here. I was in Virginia for ten years and as much as I built a happy life there, I never felt completely at home. California is my home, and I feel so lucky to be able to raise my boys here beside the ocean and beneath the redwood trees...

Oakland Zoo

Scott had the day off on Tuesday for Veteran's Day and so we went on a family trip to the Oakland Zoo. Oakland sometimes gets a bad rap as a city, what with the high murder rate and all, but it definitely has its nice spots and the zoo is one of them. It is very kid friendly and Max enjoyed, among other things, crossing the lily pads, climbing the spider web, and riding the car ride. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the amazing views of alligators above and below water. Henry enjoyed being outside and gazing adoringly at his older brother.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

I bathed both boys by myself the other night for the first time since we've been in California. Because Ron and Lynn don't have a bathtub, Henry's been using the baby tub and Max has been taking a shower with Scott. Well, Scott was working late and I couldn't handle both boys in the shower by myself. The solution was to cram them both in the tiny baby tub. Strangely, they loved it! Henry, of course, was simply thrilled to be close to Max. Max, however, really enjoyed splashing and soaking. It's been several weeks since he's been in a bathtub and apparently he misses it (though he does love that quality shower time with Daddy!).




Note: I plan to use both the photograph and video as blackmail material when the boys are older. Don't you think their future girlfriends will be amused?

A Cart Built for Two

Now that young Henry is a proficient "sitter," we've had fun experimenting with shopping carts built for two. Check out these pictures from Nob Hill Market and Costco. Max was so in love with the blue police-car shopping cart that I thought I'd never get him out of there. God help us if we ever decide to shop at boring old Safeway! They're really behind the times in the world of shopping carts. As for Henry, he's so happy to be close to his older brother that I could stick the two of them in a box and he'd be just as excited.

Max Eats Chinese

Papa Ron, the King of flea-market treasure hunting, took us to the giant once-monthly flea market in Alameda. We had a great time walking up and down the aisles and checking out the various offerings. Plus, the views of San Francisco across the bay and the cool mammoth container ships in Oakland were simply to die for! Max could have watched the container ships loading crates for hours.

After the flea market, we stopped at a local Chinese restaurant for lunch. I don't know if Max has ever had Chinese food before, but it was a huge hit. He enjoyed the hot and sour soup even though it was "really spicy" and he couldn't get enough of the Chicken Chow Mein. The problem, however, was that he couldn't use chopsticks and he also couldn't figure out how to wind the noodles around his fork. Another child might have picked them up with his hands, but Max has a weird fastidious streak and he doesn't like getting food or water on his hands. So, he went for an unorthodox technique that wasn't pretty, but it did get the job done:



As I'm sure Max would agree, the food in this place was amazing. There were hundreds of people there for Dim Sum and we were literally the only table of non-Chinese folks. That's generally a pretty good sign and this restaurant did not disappoint. We're so happy to be back in one of the culinary capitals of the world. Now, if we could only afford to eat out more often...

Halloween

The G. family had a great Halloween this year! It is so much fun learning to appreciate holidays anew through the eyes of a child. I can't tell you the last time I carved a pumpkin, but we did it this year with Max and he had a blast. Trick-or-treating was also a big hit this year. Max actually lasted much longer than we though he would (probably an hour) and this was no small feat given that we had to walk up some pretty steep hills in Papa and Nana's neighborhood and almost every house had 10-20 steps in the front. Whew! At least we were able to work off some of the calories from the Halloween candy (or so I like to tell myself). Another fun Halloween event was the rockin' party we attended last week at our friends Megan, Jeff, Ben, and Alex's house in the city. Thanks, guys, for having us over!

Below you can find a little footage from the Great Pumpkin-Carving Extravaganza 2008: