Marin has so many beaches, so close to our house. This past weekend we spent the afternoon at Muir Beach, watching the heavy surf roll in and the lithe surfers attempting to follow it. The waves were pretty big, and apparently even bigger just south of here, where they were at 20 ft in Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, where the real and really crazy surfers gather. The Pacific Ocean can be very exciting to watch in its cold, thunderous advance on the shoreline.
As usual, Brian especially connected with his beach-born Dad in this particular setting. Meanwhile, I sat and looked out on the water, all the while thinking...any time now would be fine, baby Gabe - no need to be late like your older brother! (38 weeks today...)
Trevor reserves the right to sleep in our bed, and it's remarkably difficult to get him out. When banished, he sits at the foot of the bed, occasionally whimpering, until we give in and he hops back up and settles in for the night. Here, Trev celebrates the return of my C-shaped pregnancy pillow - the Snoogle - which I've brought out for these next and final few weeks, as sleeping comfortably becomes more challenging.
Halloween was a big success here in San Anselmo, and I think it might be Brian's favorite holiday so far - (that is, until he gets the hang of Christmas this year). He's just old enough now to understand what's happening and that it's pretty fun for a little kid. We handed out an abundance of goodies on our high-traffic street, and the costumes, decorations, and CANDY made a big impression on the boy, for sure. I fell off on the photography job to some extent, as it's hard to get good shots at night - but I got a few. and suffice to say, Bri (Max) was more than precious trotting around our neighborhood on his virgin trick-or-treat adventure. He was both delighted by the acquisition of sweets and slightly scared but exhilerated by some of the Halloween props that people set up for haunting. B can't stop talking about the "scary bats" - mechanical creatures that flew in circles - which two neighbors had hung on their porches. One guy had a smoke machine, which caused Bri to run away shrieking, then turn around to see what it was all about. Although he was saying "trick-or-treat" at the parade on Wednesday, he kept mum on that one last night, opting instead to quote Max with a "Be Still" when folks opened their doors.
The 31st is also my Dad's birthday - Happy Birthday Dad! Brian said "Happy Birthday Pops" off and on all day - and he STILL talks about the JOhn Deere riding mower experience - "John Deere. Ride. Pops' lap" is the gist of the narrative - he does not forget things easily, this one.
(we went out early and left our treats on a tray till we got back to do the handing out...Brian wanted some for himself...)
In other news, our son is beginning to be a very funny little guy. His speech and vocabulary is exploding, and with this comes the revelation of his personality, more and more every day. His latest is, with great seriousness, identifying things that are "dangerous"- and it's so amusing to hear him utter that word with near-perfect pronunciation. We can have rudimentary conversations in which he strings multiple concepts together, and I am getting the hugest kick out of it. At dinner, he'll take a bite of his meal and then declare, "Tastes good. Good food. Thank you."
There is much chuckling going on around our house these days.
Here is Brian after first putting on his Max costume, prior to the parade on Wednesday. It took no cajoling to get him into the suit, and he didn't try to take it off either.
I was really looking forward to this evening, as it was the occasion of our first San Anselmo Goblins' Parade - where local children gather and march through town in costume, collecting candy along the way from the merchants. Brian is old enough now to understand the idea of wearing a costume, of dressing up like a character he knows, and the sweet things that happen when a child says "trick or treat!"
And oh the costume. My mom, responding to Brian's deep affection for the book Where the Wild Things Are, created and shipped the most fantastic Max getup. She put it together using her innate creativity, which was something I always recognized and marveled at growing up. This costume was a labor of love - trips to Roanoke, handcrafting with glue gun, gold leaf paint, and scissors, and searching high and low for a white suit (ultimately found as LLBean long johns). As you can see from the pictures, this costume was THE BEST - and Brian was the only Max in all of San Anselmo, even though the movie is getting all kinds of buzz. Bri got lots of attention in his unique, made-with-love Maxness - and I was thoroughly delighted by the whole scene - what is it about little kids in costumes? I couldn't stop smiling at the sight of my little B. For his part, Brian loved dressing up and cavorted happily around just being Max. He even seemed to take on some of Max's mischievousness (including flushing my cat-ear headband halfway down toilet...so much for "Mama's costume"). Check out the smirky face and scamper - it's just like in the book. Isn't the tail great?? And those felt hand-and-feet covers that made it especially authentic. Thanks, Mom - this was really wonderful.
We went down to the parade with Kristen and Mary, who was adorable in her flower costume. The two toddlers ate more candy in a half-hour than they've ever had at one time - and then they were willy-nilly sugarshocked when we got back to my house. (Jason and I have just polished off the last of today's candy booty...more to follow this weekend, no doubt). We were hoping the Dads could make it, but both were delayed thanks to the Bay Bridge closure/debacle, which is wreaking havoc on all Bay Area traffic indeed - this was unfortunate, as they did miss a totally sweet affair.
I've explained to Bri that Saturday night, he will again assume the Max persona, at which point we'll visit with the neighbors for more trick-or-treat action - and that definitely drew a big smile. Our neighborhood is apparently really big on Halloween, so it should be a fun time.
We took an impromptu drive down the road apiece from San Anselmo, and followed our noses north to a little place called Nicasio - which we had never heard of before. It seems to have several horse farms, lots of cyclists, one restaurant, and a small schoolhouse - definitely a rural outpost of Marin County. As we motored along, we passed a Pumpkin Patch/Harvest Festival - they had hayrides, hot dogs, kiddie inflatables ("Jumpy Houses"), and an unending supply of gourds. Brian was just waking up from a Volvonap, so we pulled in to check it out. As it turned out, this was a perfect toddler outing - it was busy but not too crowded, inexpensive, and small enough in scale that the fact that we forgot the stroller was no big deal. Bri bounced around in the dragon-themed Jumpy House and conquered the very, very tall-for-a-two-year-old inflatable slide (Jason gave the OK on that one). He witnessed a groundhog poking his head out of his hole (more than once, those critters were everywhere!), visited with farm animals (pigs, sheep, a cow, rabbits, guinea pigs, and chickens), and got pushed by Daddy in one of the many available wheelbarrows.
The highlight of the day was the pony ride - for a mere $4 Bri had his first ever equestrian experience, astride Magic, a very docile and darling Shetland pony. Bri was still talking about it at bedtime tonight - the pony - but more insistently the "Helmet. Purple." Like I said before, he likes hats. Anyway, this was really precious and I can't believe I didn't take a video - I was just so delighted by watching him cruise along that I missed the moment - luckily I got a few still pictures.
We've discovered a Tuesday/Thursday art class that convenes right next to our favorite Fairfax playground, Peri Park. It's run by a wonderful stay-at-home mom who saw a need for more local activities for kids - she's a very cool lady with lots of patience and enthusiasm. Best of all, it's $7 a session, or 6 for $30. Mary and Brian got right into the fray in today's medium, which included a mixed media palette of rigatoni, Elmer's glue, washable paints, and tissue paper confetti. This was really a lot of fun for us all, and the kids' attention spans were much longer than we expected. Bri dug in and got his hands all messy with paste and paint - the teacher remarked that he's very "tactile"...which, agreed.
Brian has a thing for hats, and particularly helmets, which he borrows freely from other kids at playgrounds as well as his Dad. A big part of the fun for him is fastening the chinstrap - unless this frustrates him, at which point he comes screeching to me for help. He likes to go around the house in this too-big biking headgear -it's especially comical when he matches it with a pair of Jason's shoes and nothing else. Here, Brian safety-mindedly creates with crayons...
And here is a typical view of incognito B playing around in his cap, which he frequently pulls down over his eyes...
Brian loves the weekend because his Dad is home all day. Which means that any playground trip becomes an episode in tandem play, rather than just me watching him climb around. Jason is always game to go up and down the stairs, ride the slides, and play hide-and-seek...I think he's more fun than Mommy these days. Here we are this past Saturday at San Anselmo's premier play area, Memorial Park - which resembles a castle and even boasts a very large brontosaurus feature...not a bad gig for a toddler.
Why do all little boys insist on climbing UP the slide? I witness this daily at parks 'round here - they can't resist trying to go against the grain...
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