BayDad

Mr. Busy doesn’t have time to take a bath, and would rather come into the shower with us.

Well, not quite, I’m sort of exaggerating, but in fact, he really does enjoy coming into the shower with us, and we enjoy taking a shower with him.  It’s one of those things that evolved from “we really need to give him a bath but I don’t have the time or energy for it right now” and has turned into somewhat of a morningtime routine.

The funny thing is that I never really thought that a 19-month old would enjoy showering!  Mostly he likes to play with the pool of water at the bottom, but sticking his hand in the stream of water from the shower head (as we’re holding him) is fun too.   I’m also amazed that he can take “full temperature” — we don’t really change anything when he’s in there with us.

He still takes baths every once in a while, and still really likes those too, which is great, but our day-to-day routine now usually involves a morning shower!

Last weekend we went to Story Time at the Mountain View library for the first time.

Every Saturday at 10:15am, a volunteer librarian comes in and reads stories and sings songs with the children (ages 3-6 “by the book” and Mr. Busy was one of the younger folks there at 18 months.)  I went there with my wife, and we had a pretty nice time.  The librarian read 2 Christmas stories, sung 2 songs, and then Santa arrived with his helper Elf.  They handed out musical instruments, and everyone sang Jingle Bells together before Santa left.

When all that was done, all the kids went out into the library area where they had coloring supplies ready.  Mr. Busy is still a bit young for coloring (with any attention span) so we just headed off.

We arrived at 10am, just as the library was opening, and were done by 10:45, so it’s a pretty quick event.  That said, I thought it was pretty fun, and I would really like Mr. Busy to get more social storytime and singing, so I think we’ll try to go back there on a more regular basis.

(Amazingly, this info is hard to find on the web.  You can see a printable flyer here)

Hope to see you there!

So, this was going to be a “help!” post, but that’s because I titled it about 3 months ago.   So, I’m going to turn it into a story…

About 3 months ago, Mr. Busy was 15 months old, and we were really trying hard to get him to enjoy books & reading.  It was sort of a struggle, where we would straddle that fine line between forcing him to sit in our laps and listen, and tricking him into sitting still for a few minutes to listen…

It was a real dilemma — were we going to have the boy who wouldn’t read?  Were were going to go straight to TV?

Well, I’ll say that the answer is ‘no’ and it’s all thanks to Thomas The Tank Engine.  Yes, those silly words, and those silly characters.  At that age, Mr. Busy had already begun his fascination with all things transportation, and the only thing left to close the gap in his reading was for him to find a TTTE book on the shelf.

Overnight, he went from “I don’t want to have anything to do with your silly books” to “Please! Train! Up! Up! Train! Woo Hoo!”  which is his way of saying “Dearest Father, Would you mind lifting me into your lap, opening this book, and reading to me?”

Its great.  Now he loves books of most kinds.  We have a great large format word book with pictures of all kinds of stuff.  He loves sitting there identifying things, and having me point at things and name them.  His favorites?  Orange. Horsey. Banana. Truck! Train! Copter! Airplane! (Fire) Engine!

Tantrumlicious – adj

Any item that is so good tasting that it will inspire a violent temper tantrum if not given or if taken away.

“Wow, I didn’t realize how tantrumlicious that kids toothpaste is!”

“Let’s not walk down that isle, there are too many tantrumlicious items down there”

“Okay, he can have one tantrumlicious item, but no more.”

“Since when are pomegranate seeds tantrumlicious?”

At the time of the writing of this post, there were zero google search results for “tantrumlicious”.  Hooray for new words!

If you’re hanging out in downtown Los Altos, or if you’re looking for a fun nearby park to mix things up a bit, you should head over to Shoup Park. I think its my second favorite park in the area. (Second to Mercy-Bush in Mountain View…)

We’ve been going to the Severex Lights Display for the last couple of years, and I’ve been surprised to find that lots of people don’t know about it.   So, here ya go:  Get yourself over to severex.com, where you’ll find their address in Sunnyvale, and make some time to go down there some night.  I’d recommend a weeknight after 8pm or so, which I know is a bit late for those of us with toddlers, but its worth it!

If you’re looking for other lights in the area, there are lots.  A coworker of mine made this Bay Area Kids Holiday Fun Google Map that shows the locations and links for a bunch of the bigger neighborhood displays, including the severex one.

Wow, Safari West looks cool!

Have any of our readers ever been there?  What’s it like?  Is it worth it for a toddler?

Yes, fall has come upon the bay area, for whatever that means weather-wise.  Since the leaves don’t really change colors here, one of the best things to do is go and visit a Pumpkin Patch!

We went to Webb Ranch last weekend, and had a pretty good time.  Its a nice place, at the intersection of Alpine Rd. and Highway 280.  They’ve got a good selection of different styles of pumpkins, and a “U-Pick” area up on the hill that we didn’t really visit much.  It seemed like the best compromise between “authentic” and “not too far away”.  There are lots of local patches along El Camino, but its just doesn’t seem right to pick your pumpkin in a vacant lot betwen Arby’s and Jack In The Box.  Webb Ranch really fit the bill.

Other places you might consider, if you’re willing to drive farther:

• Useugi Farms (Palo Alto)
  
• Half Moon Bay (and Pumpkin Festival Weekend if you want a crowd)
• Spina Farms (San Jose)
  
• G&M Farms (Livermore)
• Joan’s Farm (Livermore)

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day 2008!

We’ll be weekend tripping to Seattle, and I think 16 months is a bit young…

When I was speaking of high-society strollers, I clearly forgot to mention the Quinny.  Sheesh, what kind of parent am I, anyway?

(No, we have not bought this, and I believe that our current plan is to just re-use the Baby Trend Expedition that we’re currently mustering through with.  If the Expedition kicks the bucket, then we’ll just have to see.  Oh, did I say double stroller?  Whoops!)