Don't TELL Me He's not a Clown!

Oh my gosh. This kid. This KID, I tell you. He has got such a sense of humor.

I turned around from washing dishes to find this. He had been rummaging in the drawer of baby supplies and found himself one of those silicon vents that goes inside a bottle. It's nice and squishy.

He popped it in his mouth like a big O and then proceeded to open and close his mouth, squishing it in two and making him look like he's wearing some sort of giant retainer.

He kept running around the kitchen and dining room and looking over his shoulder, checking in on me to make sure I was looking at him.

I don't know about this guy. Future class clown?

Back to the Routine

Since Dem Clevelanders hit the road Thursday morning, The P-Pod has been noticeably quieter. And lonelier. We sure did enjoy the visit. Benjamin and I just shared a glance and wiped a collective tear from our eyes. Indeed, we need more of Dem Clevelanders in our lives. Now...what can we do to entice them to move our direction?

Splish, Splash, I was...

As if bathing wasn't fun enough in Little P's world. So add a cousin to the mix and WOAH. Look out.

Splishing. Splashing. So much more fun to be had.

I mean, just look at the H2O fly!

And the bath toys. That squirt. And the yelling. Yes...the only way to get all eyes facing in generally the same direction was for Aunt Amy to inspire a hollering contest. But look! It works!

And I leave you with what has to be the cutest picture of the evening:

She says: "Don't you dare call me imp!"

Esco Children's Museum

Who woulda thunk it? A peapod in public? Why, yes.

Today we and Dem Clevelanders visited the children's museum. To my chagrin, I forgot my camera at home. But Aunt Amy managed to come to the rescue even though her camera was so low on batteries that she had to shut it off between pictures in order to let it recharge for the next picture. That Aunt Amy, she's the best.



Giant bubbles were a giant hit, bringing out the smiles in Little P and Molly.




Morgan taught class in a mini turn of the century school house.



The whisper tube was yards of excitement. We whispered to each other from across the room.




Exhibits about the California desert allowed us to feel the skins of a skunk, rabbit, coyote, and rattlesnake.




If animal pelts were not fun enough, one could even dress up like one! Here, Morgan models her finest skunk costume.


It was a fabulous afternoon!

Kike is Not Always a Racial Slur

Papa brought home a pink bike for Benjamin last weekend. The neighbors down the street sold it to him for $2. Papa has a habit of supplying a person's first bike in the color pink. He did this to me a few Christmases ago - it wasn't my first bike, but it was my first "real" bike, the bike I rode in my first triathlon. He knew how much I disliked the color pink but he bought it for me anyway. I rode it anyway, and eventually the tired, old Italian racing bike dubbed "pinkie" died.

But that's not completely to the point.

Papa brought Benjamin this bike and Benjamin loved it, despite the fact that he is not a princess, and has never seen a Disney princess movie.

In fact, his obsession with this bike has him calling out "kike!" and pointing out the windows to the backyard at every opportunity he has. He gets up from his nap and says, "kike." He finishes lunch and says, "kike." He is released from his high chair and heads for the stairs and the back door, saying, "kike."

Of course, after some moments of attempting to ride a bike when one's feet do not reach the pedals and barely touch the ground one might experience this:

The first major fall.

This was fairly traumatic, compounded by the fact that Mama captured it from behind the lens, rather than being by his side waiting to catch him and prevent a bump of the head.

Poor guy. Enlarge this picture and check out the tears running down his cheeks. For better or worse, the "kike" proved too appealing to stay away from.

Some minutes later...

Walking? Yep. Everywhere.

I realized (due to some intervention from a dedicated reader) that I have not updated ya'll on Little P's walking skills. About three days ago I was thinking, ya know? I should post that he's walking about 60% of the time. But that was three days ago.

As of today, he is walking 95% of the time - the exceptions being that he still crawls up the stairs and hitches a ride down the stairs. He also prefers to crawl through a puddle of water which allows him to move forward while dragging his lips through the water at the same time. It's amazing, I tell you, watching the progression. Now I better get out the video camera before he's proficient enough to run. I might miss this stage altogether!

P.S. In this photo he was intrigued by the neighbor girl and her mother who were jumping rope in the driveway below the balcony. Yes, he can see that far. And, yes, he is that interested in jumping rope.

Queen Califia's Magic Garden

Queen Califia's Magic Garden is one of my favorite places in Escondido. Why some super-talented French artist (Nikki de San Phalle) decided to place this amazing bejeweled thing of imagination in our dusty landscape is beyond me. Maybe we would appreciate it more?

We took Dem Clevelanders here today and the chilluns loved it.

You enter the Magic Garden through a mirrored maze. Pardon my gratuitous postings of Little P photos. I can't help myself.

There's so much texture and lots of interesting places to crawl into and peep out of.

Little P purposely chose his pants. He thought they would complement nicely the colors in the Queen's garden.

Molly was on the go...so much, in fact, that it was difficult to snag a focused shot of her.

Happy Morgan. She was not so keen on the short walk to get here, but her face lit up when we arrived!

This snake encircles the garden.

Two sides of a coin?

Dora, or Diego. Whatever.

First off, I should show you what Benjamin looked like a few days ago when I put on the Baby Einstein video for the third time in his life. He was beside himself with interest and kept leaning forward and pointing at the screen. No, he doesn't get to watch TV (rather, videos on the computer) very often.

However, Dem Clevelanders brought the ever-so-exciting Dora and Diego videos to town. Now we get to watch like this:

At the Playground

Here we see Benjamin in another lifetime. Back when photography yielded slightly yellowed images. Back when everybody's daddies wore bushy sideburns. Oh. I guess the fact that Benjamin's daddy does not have sideburns spoils the effect.

Well, this shot was not taken in 1971, as I'm sure you guessed, but rather yesterday. We took Dem Clevelanders to one of the playgrounds in the area and let the wild things be.

Mo is a very attentive older cousin.

Molly monkeyed around.

But so did Miss Morgan.

Let's wrap it up with something sweet. Here's Miss Molly walking to the car with her also-non-sideburn-wearing daddy.

Dem Clevelanders Come to Town

Benjamin's kinfolk from the Great Lakes region have arrived, safe and sound, for a week's escape from snow and dreariness in Oh-Hi-Oh.

Today was Day One of the adventures, and adventures always require documentation by photo. Let us start by posting a few pictures to show the cast of characters for the days ahead: Molly, climber extraordinaire and child whose tantrums can rival Little P's, You-Know-Who, and Morgan, demure and sweet and sometimes stubborn.

We did visit the park today, but the photos did not turn out nearly so well as these lovelies from around the house. So here are the final cuts:

Have I Mentioned How Much I Love This Kid?

The Rocking Chair Adventures

Our boy is a little monkey these days. And what good is a chair if you can't stand in it and lean back and forth?