Today we took the kids to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito.
Check out that view
But the real highlight of the day was that Caroline greeted LeeAnn at the door with squeals of "Auntie!"
The impetus for our visit was the big Clifford exhibit - though it features Clifford in his famous "Big Red Dog" days on Bridwell Island, not his puppyhood on Manhattan, which is what the Teenies are more familiar with.
Daniel and Caroline chat with Emily Elizabeth
Obviously Caroline and EE have a little more to chat about
Max visited Mac (with whom he's always being confused by autocorrect on Mommy's iPhone)
And you can't snub Mr. and Mrs. Howard
Then it was time to play in T-Bone's sandbox
Caroline is a budding percussionist
There was a day camp that preceded us into each room and there were just too many people in some of the rooms at time. Despite growing up and spending each day needing to "share" and "take turns", they had to be reminded not to snatch things away from the other kids and that it was ok if other kids played with "their" toys. Joe was interested to watch as they decided to gang up on a kid who either took a toy from or closed a door on one of them (I don't remember which), but he did intervene before the other parents got upset. Interestingly, the other parents were not as congenial as they have been at playgrounds. Maybe because we had three adults and three kids and they didn't immediately see them as a group? Or maybe they were just too busy worrying about where their kids were running off to and what they were getting into. Who knows.
Next it was off to the Bay Room to explore the train table and the rocking ship (which both "rocks!" and actually, physically, rocks). It's a mini model of the wharf and quite cute. The day camp got here before us to this room, too, and Max had a first class meltdown when someone took a wooden train that was sitting near him. He sobbed and screamed at the train table, in my arms across the room, up the stairs, and onto the boat, then back down the stairs and over to the Port of Oakland. There, he calmed down and set about building and moving blocks with a little girl. Oakland. I should've thought to take our little A's fan there to start with!
(Auntie actually climbed through the whole under-pier tunnel with Caroline - kudos Auntie)
She was inspecting the crabs to see if they were up to snuff
He loaded all those containers onto the crane!
We stopped into the Wave Room, but the kids were a little too short to truly partake of the wave table and a bunch of the other exhibits were "out of order". In fact, Max never even made it in the room, preferring to stay outside with Daddy chasing birds and playing with sidewalk chalk. Honestly, I think the kids' favorite part of the whole experience was that it was a huge expanse where they were allowed to just run.
Our last stop was at a little area designed for "tots" - no kids over 42". We measured Daniel, and he came in at just 33", so we were good. There was a meandering creek that was just at toddler height and the kids got to play putting plastic fish, frogs, and of course, their hands in the water.
Along the way, Joe caught this adorable picture:
Caroline is reading the sign - Daniel is not impressed
When we got home, they went right to bed and slept for just over three hours. Then they indulged in a few more homebound activities:
Caroline chatted with Siri
Daniel practiced his Matthew McConaughey impression (try to ignore how unhappy Max seems to be about this)
After all the exercise at gymnastics, Grandma invited the Salvateenies to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Toy Boat dessert cafe. They were celebrating by offering free kids' ice cream cones to anyone who could say "toy boat" 10 times fast (we couldn't), plus free rides on their mechanical race horse until 5pm, and a party starting at 6. So, of course, we got there at 4:57 and left by 5:40, missing the free rides and the party. That's ok - the rides only cost 50 cents a pop and the Teenies still share.
Daniel was all rodeo, with one arm up in the air
"Look, Grandma! One hand!"
Max smiles for the camera
Then it's back to focussing on his ride
"Good horse!"
Caroline learned to look both ways before crossing
When they were not on the horse, they explored every corner of the little shop.
They were especially drawn to the balloons - at one point, Daniel wound himself round in a balloon string and a nice grandmotherly woman jumped to his aid and frantically tried to get the ribbon off his neck. She then proceeded to watch us the whole time we were there, ready to pounce if another kid was in trouble. I'm not sure if she thought we might just need the help, or if she thought I was the worst mother in the world. Either way, the babies explored the shop and got home unscathed
But not before BANANA SHAKES!
When we got home, I made dinner and called everyone to their chairs. Daniel and Caroline toddled right over and climbed in, but Max decided he wanted to stay and watch tv:
He even curled his legs up behind him at one point like he was at a slumber party. SO CUTE.
And while we're dealing with cute pictures - Caroline was very excited to try on Grandpa's hat the other day - even if she wore it backwards!
And today she decided to strip down again at the end of nap time (we have an ADORABLE picture of her, grinning, demurely holding her onesie just so to protect her innocence - but I will refrain from sharing that in the hopes that at some point in her teen years she will appreciate my discretion and skip one eye roll).
Look how sad she was when her clothes got put back on:
It's like a criminal line-up for adorable little girls in pink. Poor little nudist girl. I promise, we will take you to Baker Beach someday.
(Note: Sorry there are no pictures for this post - taking your not-quite-two-year olds to gymnastics is definitely hands-on and prevents much photography from happening.)
Tuesday morning was gymnastics again and the Teenies are making great strides - there were hardly any total meltdowns. It's been a lot of fun to watch as their different strengths develop. Daniel is really, really good at the warm up and cool down sections of class, which stump Max and Caroline (possibly because they involve FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS?). Every week there is a different sort of prop that the teacher uses to help get the kids focused on what they're supposed to do, which involves running back and forth, jumping, galloping, and sidling, among other skills. Last week, the prop was frisbees - but not for throwing. The kids carried them over their heads and then rolled them from one side of the mat to the other while chasing them. The hard part came when they were asked to put them down on the floor, put their hands on top, and push them across the floor - once with both hands on one frisbee and another time with one frisbee PER hand. As I ran after a totally off-task Caroline, I was amazed to turn around and see Daniel pushing his little frisbees across the mat, with Max being gently coaxed by Uncle Kelly to follow suit.
Speaking of Max, he is quite the jumper. Every nap we wake him from, he is jumping on the mattress in his crib. His favorite part of Tahoe was jumping on the sofa. And he has even mastered the very difficult task of jumping on solid ground and actually getting off the ground. Needless to say, Max's favorite part of the day is always when we get to the TumbleTrak - a long lane of trampoline that the kids run and/or jump along. But this week we got to go on the actual trampoline! You could see Max's face open up as he started to walk out toward the middle. He didn't do a great jump in the middle, but he made his way to the side and put his hands down on the mat on the side of the trampoline, and did a series of little "donkey kicks" (kicking his legs up behind him like a donkey would).
Caroline is a master at the balance beam, walking with only a minimum of hand-holding, and she loves to tumble, whether it is forward rolls or sideways log rolls, as long as she's heading downhill, she giggles. She also loves to jump into the foam pit with Uncle Kelly. At home on Monday night, she stood on the couch and threw all the cushions onto the floor into a pile, then practiced stepping off and falling onto the padding she'd created. She doesn't quite know how to "jump off" yet, but I can sense it's not far off.
Speaking of the foam pit, a group of 4 year old kids got to the foam pit at the same time as we did and thought it was hysterical that Uncle Kelly was in the foam pit with a baby, playing with her (he was tossing blocks at her to bury her and she was digging her way out). He put her on the mat that was acting like a slide down into the pit when it was time to start heading out, at which point the little girls started calling, "Where's the baby?" and then proceeded to toss foam blocks at him so that he'd play with them too. Wanting to play with Uncle Kelly is obviously something infectious!
The only downside of this week was that we discovered Daniel is not a fan of tunnels - at one point there was a tunnel made out of mat arches and he completely flipped out and refused to go through it, even with the adorable teacher beckoning to him from the other end. Later, there was a hula hoop to step through, and he flat out refused to do it. So, we know something new and we won't be putting him on the tunnel slides at the playground anytime soon!
Caroline is getting good at talking - she does it nearly constantly. One afternoon on the way home from Grandpa and Grandma's, she decided to talk for the whole hour in the car instead of napping - lots of "car!"
Out of nowhere, she started saying "nose", so I started pointing out other face parts. She has a really cute pattern of pointing to her nose when I ask her where it is, then pointing to her eyes when I ask for them. When I ask where her mouth is, though, she opens up WIDE and then giggles.
She can also point out her hair, as you can see in the video. One day I tried to teach her "elbow". But each time I asked her where her elbow was, she pointed at her tummy, which confused me, because she'd already mastered "tummy" (by lifting her tshirt and smacking her belly, usually). I'm embarrassed to admit how many times we went through this before she looked at me, frustrated, pointed at her belly button, and said, perfectly "EL-MO" and I realized she was wearing a red Elmo t-shirt. Not the best day to try to teach "elbow", I guess!
And while we're talking about body parts, at Tahoe last week, I had to run out of the bathroom to grab my deodorant and seeing me topless must've made an impression on Caroline, as she spent the next five minutes pulling out the neck of her shirt and staring down her front, looking for her boobs. Sorry, sweetie, you'll have to wait a little longer for those!
Max has become a very good kisser, taking me up on my offers and giving me big smooches back, always followed by his mischievous grin and a bunch of laughing. When we got home from Tahoe, he came in and grabbed one of the little teddy bears we have and started smooching it, "practicing". Then the other day I caught him practicing on his toy cars! (Sorry for the long delay as he was off picking his next car...)
Playing the opposite, Daniel has decided he doesn't like to give kisses anymore. When I ask for them, he alternates his response between raising his hand and turning away or giving me an emphatic "NO!" I don't take the "no" too personally though, because of the following exchange we had at the Lake last week:
Me: Daniel, do you want to come in the water with Mommy?
Daniel: NO!
Me: Do you want to play with the sand toys here instead?
Daniel: NO!
Me: Do you want to go up to the blanket with Daddy?
Daniel: NO!
Me: Do you know how to say "yes"?
Daniel: NO!
I know that a lot of toddler parents keep a log of new words their kids say, and I really did try to do it, but they're picking up new ones every day and it's confusing keeping track of who's saying what. Luckily, most of the words are pretty recognizable - just be sure you know that when Caroline says "B", she means "bear", when she says "be bee", she means "ribbit", and when she says "beep beep" she wants you to get your car out of her way.
The other day at nap time, the Salvateenies were not exactly thrilled to go down. But they did, and after a while it seemed quiet and so I slipped into the bathroom to shower. When I got out of the shower, I could hear that Caroline was talking, but she didn't seem upset and they had only been down for about an hour (they usually nap 2-3 hours), so I left her, got dressed, and went into the dining room to sit down at my computer and do some work.
She kept talking, then started whining. But she was alone in her protesting, so I didn't want to upset her brothers and left her.
Then she started wailing, at which point Max chipped in with staccato "Dad-dee, Dad-dee, Dad-dee" calls. I was debating whether or not to get up when Caroline abruptly stopped crying.
Then, all of a sudden, Max's voice sounded a little less muffled.
Then I heard what I could swear was the pitter patter of little feet.
And giggling.
And I turned around just in time to see, through the corner of the glass on the dining room door, a completely naked Caroline streaking down the hall.
That's right, she peeled out of her swaddle/sleepsack, took off her shirt, took off her diaper cover, and took off her (luckily CLEAN) diaper, and then climbed out of her crib to freedom.
Once she was out, Max was beside himself that he had been left behind. I flicked on the lights and walked in, only to realize Daniel was doing his best child's pose, face down and still sleeping. So I quickly hit the lights again and scooped Max up and out of the room. I grabbed Caroline and put a diaper on her before anything bad could happen (this did NOT make her happy) and we tried to think of things to do while we waited for Daniel to wake up for lunch.
And I tried REALLY hard not to laugh and in that way encourage Caroline to try this again.
I have taken the Salvateenies out for some sort of excursion every day this week - Monday we went shopping with Auntie Sam and Junior; Tuesday we did gymnastics in the morning and then playground and dinner with Jayanthi and the kids; Wednesday we went to Redwood City with Kate to see Colleen and Gavin; Thursday we took Daddy to the playground for an hour in the morning; and today it was Grandma and Grandpa's house. I feel like a total wimp admitting this, but I am exhausted! I mean, it's not really a big deal taking your kid out for a few hours a day, right? Well, when you've got three of them, it's exhausting, let me tell you.
Here's the photoplay of the week. Up first, playing at Pacifica's Frontierland Park Playground with Anjali and Ajay (thanks to Jayanthi for most of these pictures):
I put Caroline up top there, but she made sure she stayed
Joined by Anjali and a jealous Daniel
Max is number 1 (not picking his nose, definitely) - can you see Caroline in the background?
You'd think Climbing Caroline would be all about the rock wall, but, not so much
Max, on the other hand...
Could he look more like a little old man?
Ajay started out in charge of Daniel on the way out
But pretty soon, Caroline claimed him
And Anjali took over the Caroline march
After the playground, we picked up Anjali and Ajay's dad and headed to Sonny's for dinner. Sonny's is a nice spot with an amazingly cute "play area" for kids - no fancy climbing structure or ball pit - just half a room with assorted books, legos, and, to Daniel's glee, toy cars. The kids had a blast!
Oh, and there were Lincoln Logs...
Wednesday, Kate brought a picnic lunch and we went down to Stafford Park in Redwood City to play (Uncle Kelly came with) and visit with Colleen and Gavin.
Caroline is on the outside of the bubble, banging for Max to notice her
which, finally, he did
The second before I snapped this picture, he was smiling at me...
Thursday morning, the cleaners came. Generally, Joe takes the kids to his parents' while the cleaners are here, but this week, we were going on Friday, so we had to find something to do to keep them from being underfoot. So, we decided it was time Daddy became familiar with Parkside Playground!
We got there around 9:45, before anyone else had come to play. For a few minutes, it was just us and the Rec & Park guys who were fixing the broken see-saw. Then a group of 10 or so 4th graders from a martial arts day camp showed up (their leader warned them to "look out for the other kids" and one of the campers called, "AND the BABIES!"). Because there were no other toddlers on the yard, the Salvateenies seemed to have little interest in the little kid equipment, sticking to the big kid structure and slides. I made Joe follow Caroline down the twisty slide and they were almost creamed by a martial arts kid coming down behind them. I wonder how long it'd been since Joe went down a slide...
See Max looking back to make sure it's really Daddy pushing him?
Caroline was super confused, as this camper was being called "Nathaniel" by his friends, but didn't look anything like Uncle Kelly
I was so tired, I couldn't even take pictures of them at Grandma and Grandpa's today, but Joe snapped this one of Daniel and Caroline sitting patiently on the floor of Grandma's kitchen, waiting for her to give them cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
