heaven

Four days. One mommy. Zero toddler or husband.

Is it awful that I'm so happy? Here's my plan so far:
Wednesday: clean the house (yes, I'm actually looking forward to that bit), movie at El Cerrito Speakeasy where I can enjoy a glass of wine.
Thursday: yoga, hang out with Becca, cook neighbors dinner, event at the synagogue
Friday: yoga, beading/jewelry making, run/hike, girl's night out for drinks and dinner in Rockridge.
Saturday: yoga, brunch in SF, Cinco de Mayo celebration in Dolores Park, salsa dancing
Sunday: yoga, facial and spa mani/pedi, pick up boys at SFO at 3pm

Perhaps now you understand why I'm so happy?

The face that I love, but am happy to miss for a few days:

Cool track design

ABC maniac

Blowing kisses

Oh crap

And in case you thought that was just a fluke...


While Amy was at work today Micah did this about half a dozen times as I tried to get him to go down for his nap.

Micah's YouTube Favorites

Choo-choos:

Sante Fe 3751


choo-choo w/ tunnel



Airplanes:



and Animals:

Sea otters holding hands:


tigers:


and...a monkey washing cat:

Travel

We've been doing quite a bit of travel lately. In late March we drove down to SoCal...



Then Amy went to Nicaragua for a week.



Micah handled it well. In the days before her departure, Amy talked to Micah about how she was going on an airplane, which helped him understand her absence.

When Amy was gone we visited the Santa Cruz boardwalk with Ben and his dad. We met up with Palomi and Ellie, too. The bigger kids started out on the helicopter ride, which Micah wanted to try. Kids ride by themselves on that ride, and though Micah was happy to be strapped in, he wasn't so happy when I tried to walk away so that the ride could start. So he passed on the helicopters, but then we rode the carousel and a few spinning rides. The highlight of the day was the Cave Train, which not only combined two of Micah's favorite things-- choo-choos and tunnels-- but also got us in out of the rain temporarily. Micah capped off his day with a ride on the Ferris Wheel and by letting Ben fly him around on the airplane ride. It was good to see him finally get the confidence to ride without Daddy.

When the lonely week ended, we woke up late at night to go to the airport to pick up Mommy. I asked Micah on the way, "who's at the airport?" His first answer was Ben (good guess), but after I rephrased the question as "who's on an airplane?" he knew that we were going to get Mommy. As always, he enjoyed the trip over the Bay Bridge, especially the tunnel in the middle. We had a wait for a while for Amy to clear customs and Micah began to get impatient and upset. He managed to entertain himself by saying "Mommy fly airplane" and watching the airport choo-choo.

Finally, Mommy arrived and presented Micah with a new guitar.

so hard, so hard, so hard

...everyday it's getting higher and higher (higher and higher). Have we mentioned Micah really likes Toots and the Maytals? Or more specifically track 3 on Toots and the Maytals. We've been stuck on "Time tough" on the CD for days now...I even overheard Micah singing it to Sea Otter and Puppy-doggie in bed one night.

do-rag and idyllic sundays

On a particularly warm and pleasant Sunday afternoon we found ourselves leaving the house at 9:45 am, having already eaten breakfast, cleaned the house, baked a frittata and packed a picnic to join our other friends-with-child-therefore-awake-and-available-before-10am-
on-a-Sunday-morning friends up a Tilden Park for an idyllic day of picnicing, taking in the Farm and the always-a-hit Steam Train. Micah decided he wanted a "hat" like mama and sported this do-rag (which apparently "the term do-rag is itself an acronym derived from Drive-On rag, a term that first came into usage among U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. The original Drive On Rag or DO Rag was the compressed muslin bandage that comes in most military First-Aid Kits." Who knew?)

There were all sorts of fashionable head accessories, like the super-dorky-baby-hat, -er I mean, legionnaire's hat, worn ever so stylishly by Nikko here (Don't worry Nikko--ALL the cool kids are wearing them):
Speaking of Nikko, Micah enjoyed showing him the ropes at the Farm and Steam Trains on Nikko (and his parents') virgin voyage:
A goose's-eye view of Micah at the Farm:

Creative choo-choo building

As Amy talked to her mom on the phone, Micah got creative with the choo-choo. He integrated the balls-n-rods magnets into the Brio choo-choo. This video doesn't show the fully integrated finished product.

In and out towel

The Little Farm

We recently met up with Abby and his parents at the Little Farm in Tilden Park. Micah and Abby enjoyed chasing each other around and feeding the animals. In the video below, we are rounding the sheep paddock. Notice Micah's use of the word which I'll transcribe as "cay-you". He hears us asking, "do you want me to carry you?" and thinks that "carry-you" is the verb, leading him to implore "cay-you Micah?" or "Micah cay-you" when he wants to be picked up.



We went for a walk through the nature area part of the park. We had a tough time steering the lads clear of the poison-oak-lined fringe of the trail, but at least Micah got an opportunity to show off his trail running skills:



We spotted several turtles as we rounded Lake Jewell. By the time we got to the part of the trail with the cool overhanging tree branches, the boys had round out of patience for things like posed portraits.

Ride from Jackie

Leave Micah alone!

Spot the Grandma