Take me down to the sandy shore...

Allow me to document Little P's first visit to the ocean with no less than 14 photos. Hisssssss. Yes. Fourteen. One photo for every three point two minutes we were actually on the shore. (That includes all the unpacking and packing up of gear.) Someone (I'm not naming any names here...) was not too keen on a seaside visit when the sky was overcast and the water cold. But hey, sometimes adventures require more than we feel up for, right?

So on Friday we went to Solana Beach, which I discovered is only 17 miles from my house. (I thought it was, like, forty.) Yippee! We will try again next week.

In the meantime, we have all these photos because I just could not let this momentous occasion pass without complete documentation. Without further ado...

Mama realized that she had no sand toys, no wee bucket, no tiny shovel, no sand castle molds, and had to pull things from the cupboards instead: a BPA-laden plastic tumbler, a Glad disposable container, and an overly bent stainless steel tablespoon that was handed down from her auntie. Little P never knew what he was missing.


Little P says, "I'm a happy Buddha."


Grains of sand are a bit more challenging to pick up than Cheerios.







This is a classic Little P move - he lifts his leg and looks over his shoulder. If the grass is greener on that side, he will whip around faster than you can say "goo" and speed off, dragging his belly behind him. He's a dodgy little booger, that one.












No matter how hard a Mama tries to keep the sand out of the mouth...


And here, Little P, youngest surfer in the world and currently sponsored by Rip Curl and Endless Summer XIV, scans the horizon looking for his perfect set. He also moonlights at surf reporting for 91X (a radio station, for you non-locals).


If he isn't destined for future handsomeness, then I'll eat lengua for breakfast. These dashing good looks are one of the reasons Mama will have to teach him to be a gentleman...and to fear high school girls who are too forward. In fact, maybe Mama should teach him to fear high school girls altogether. Shhh...don't tell him I'm hatching a plan for total nerd-dom...


Sand castles are excellent teachers of cause and effect - baby hits sand tower, sand tower falls, no more sand tower...oh...that's just fine with him.


A quiet moment of contemplation...



Oh, you think he's an intense child? Why, yes. Yes, he is.








































After he got nice and cranky from being cold (it took about 45 minutes, and Mama was really pushing it...those meddling lifeguards were probably glaring down on her through their binoculars wondering what she was doing to make her kid cry and contemplating if they should intervene), we rinsed off in the outside shower and dressed him in warm, fashionable, and totally out-of-season apparel. But hey, he was cozy and the shirt matched his eyes.





Mama was not ready for the day to be over, so Little P snoozed in the stroller as Mama window shopped at the high-end artsy stores of the Cedros District.

Torrey Pines Hike

This afternoon we took a little family outing to Torrey Pines State Reserve - a surprise of a place on this overdeveloped coast. We were inspired by Lori who saw the park while she was visiting San Diego last week. I am a native in these parts and have never been hiking there. Clearly it was time to discover the place.

These pics are really more like a portrait session during our brief stop at the beach rather than shots of our hike. Oh, well. It was fun. And I am too tired to be witty right now.

**Yes, the wetness in Little P's crotch is indeed from a diaper that runneth over, not from the excursion seaside. Please don't let him know I told you. He's shy about such things.

3:13 Tuesday Afternoon

Soon we will be heading off to the Farmer's Market. What Little P is doing right now, however, seems quite entertaining enough: sitting about a foot and a half away from the washing machine, watching the clothes go round and round and chewing on a teething biscuit. The Simple Life.

Argyle and Blocks

A few shots while playing blocks yesterday...

Tell me, readers, which do you like best on this series - color or black and white? Why?

Hiking Daley Ranch

On Sunday, Auntie Bek and I took Little P on a hike in this preserve near our home. Being that we went late in the afternoon, about the time Little P needs a nap (though HE never thinks he needs one at this time), he can't be faulted for snoozing off and on.

For those who are not familiar with the Southern California landscape, this is it. Without irrigation, it's a lot of dirt and scrub and rolling hills. This actually looks greener than I remember it pre-Albany. (It also looks remarkably like much of Zimbabwe and South Africa, in case you were wondering.)

Little P prepares for his next adventure:





Mama, Little P, and the Good Reverend Buckley (posing as a dingo):



Auntie Bek and Harvey, the Shiba who does not belong in a SoCal climate:


Should this one be titled, "Backpack, Backpack" (a la the song-songy chant on Dora) or "Sunglasses, Ma, Sunglasses"?

Gone Shoppin', Ma

So I turned around from doing dishes and this is what I saw:



Benjamin was cruising around the kitchen in his walker and picked up the shopping bags. Notice how they are hanging off the balloon teether as if he is just going to walk on over to the store and load them up. And notice how he's moving so fast that he doesn't have time to look at the camera. And please don't notice the raggedy t-shirt that is so stretched out at the neck from army crawling that you could pull his whole entire body through the top, bulky cloth-diapered bottom and all.

Teeth: Round Two

Oh, boy. We have seriously entered the realm of new teeth again, and it is a world of pain. I'd like to be empathetic to Little P's evident discomfort, but I'm too busy thinking of my own...the loss of sleep is a hard poke in the eye, I tell you.

Yes, besides the regular screaming sessions that do not get cured with a dose of baby Tylenol and gum number, Benjamin is back to waking up in the middle of the night. Sigh. I was so glad when we left that part of parenting behind us.

For the past week, somewhere's around two or three A.M., Papa and I wake up to very dramatic screaming. I go in and apply the gum stuff and give him a dose of Tylenol, and the poor sweaty guy shrieks even louder and chatters his gums and his two teeth wildly. Then he pitches the teether toy that I try to wiggle into his mouth. (Sometimes he forgets that biting on something makes him feel better - he gets so into his crying that he doesn't notice the teether held up to his face.) I pick him up and rock him while my right ear goes nearly deaf. (He rests his screaming head on my right shoulder, God bless my patient ear.)

Now I was hoping that all the drama we once went through for those lower teeth was just a first-set-of-teeth thing. Oh, the first teeth to cut in are the hardest, people told me. The top ones don't hurt as much, others said.

I heard one mommy complaining about her son being so grumpy she had to break out the Tylenol. Oh, yes. I empathized. I know what you mean. The inconsolable screaming is so hard. She looked at me like I was nuts. Apparently, her boy had been miserable...meaning that he was outs of sorts and whiny. Good lord! If only Little P would go down that road instead!

So that's what's going on in The P-Pod these days. You are welcome to visit, but I suggest you bring ear plugs.

The Papa and The P

Mama's current favorite photo

Feeding Buckley

Papa is teaching Benjamin how to act around the dog, and the dog how to act around Benjamin. One of the ways to establish that Benjamin is human is to show Buckley that he doles out food.

Here Papa put food in Benjamin's hand. Buckley sat and waited until told he could eat it. Both members of the 25 (lbs.) and under crew thoroughly enjoyed this exercise. In the last shot, Buckley exuberantly tackled his "food cube" - the toy that distributes kibbles when turned a certain way.

Auntie Lori Visits

Benjamin got a chance to catch up with his Auntie Lori (Kevin's sister) last weekend. She was in town to visit a long-time friend who had moved out here, and this gave us a chance to share the California P-Pod with her. My folks and sister and her husband came over for carne asada and pollo asada tacos. Yum!

Papa Time

Weekend mornings are lovely opportunities for Papa P to participate in some of the routines that Mama usually does while he's at work. Here, Papa feeds Little P breakfast. Notice how Papa dressed Little P's head for the the occasion. (It was a foggy, chilly morning.)

Adoption Update

If you don't already know someone who's been through the adoption process, I will let you in on a secret: it goes on, and on, and on, and on. And the lawyer bills keep coming, and coming, and coming, and coming.

That said, we are finally nearing the end of the process. Our (supposedly) final batch of paperwork was submitted to the NY courts last week. If they approve it, we will receive a date to show up in court for finalization proceedings. This means that we will fly to Albany and appear in a Saratoga court for an hour to let the judge see Benjamin with us and to sign documents that will make him a Petrencsik for good. (At this point he's ours, it's just that the process is incomplete. After finalization, we no longer have to report on our health, yet again, fill out updates for the court, or employ a lawyer or an agency.) The only hassles we will then face will be of the usual parenting type.

That's something to celebrate. Of course the real celebration will occur after the court finalization, but, hey, we make the most of our little milestones along the way.

The only thing that may present a snag is our move to California. We may be asked to update our social worker report by having a SW come visit our new home to ensure that we are still providing suitable housing for our dear Little P. Let's see...that will be another thousand dollars, so I'm hoping that they will consider all the reports submitted thus far as adequate. We have not suddenly become delinquents who managed to fool everyone for nearly two years in order to abscond with a child and treat him badly. But, you know, I suppose someone might be able to pull off such a stunt...don't know why they would want to when they could put a kid through college for the cost of going through the adoption process.

OK, I'll stop being snarky about it. We understand that it is better to be safe than sorry when providing for children.

So anyway. We now wait for notice about the date of our court appearance.

As I announce this exciting news, I also want to share how grateful I am for the support and open arms we've received from members of both Emma's and Kevin's families. Several folks from both sides touch base with me regularly and have been encouraging, appreciative, and kind. Emma and I continue to deepen our relationship in little ways - both relevant to Benjamin and not...sometimes just as girlfriends might. It's simply beautiful how this journey never ceases to surprise us with blessings. That is just as important to announce as our finalization with the courts.

Fascination Street

Take a journey with Little P as he shows you all the fun things that capture his attention every day.



The vacuum cleaner, art, and boxes still sitting in a part of the living room:

The African mask on the living room wall:

Mama's camera:

Mama's flip-flops:

All the goodies in the coffee table:

The balcony:

The pillow atop the chair:

The Good Reverend Buckley:

The rugs:

And this is the hand of a brave and confident explorer: