Monday, February 23, 2009

Zeke, Your Hostess is Alarmed


This is the picture I should have posted last night. I originally left it off because you can't see Zeke's face, but it's too cute not to share. 

Why is Skye so wide-eyed? We can only speculate...

"Daddy, are you going give that kid a rabbit? I don't think you should give him a rabbit. Really Dad. I saw him in the bounce house. He's not that coordinated. He's going to squeeze the rabbit too hard. In fact, the more I look at him, the more he looks like a rabbit squeezer. I mean it Dad. Telling him 'gentle' isn't going to help. Dad? Are you listening? Dad? Dad? Daaad!"

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Of Course I Took Him To The Party!


You knew I would. I'm a big talker, but at the end of the day, as much as I love cheese, I love my boy more. 

Zeke had a great time (stoic rabbit-holding pose with the birthday girl notwithstanding). He got to ride a pony, ride a fake train, bounce in a bounce house, pet things (although no, a lamb was not present--it turns out that was a total hallucination on my part), and yes--eat cake. Happy Birthday Skye! 

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Decisions, Decisions


"Petting, jumping, cake! Petting, jumping, cake! Petting, jumping, cake!"

That has been Zeke's mantra for the past few days because he knows he is going to Skye & Fiona's birthday party on Saturday, where he will pet (lambs, not the other kids...although come to think of it I have no idea if there will be lambs, but I do know that the invitation implied there would be petting, and I think I saw a cartoon of a lamb on a Valentine's Day card on my counter, which must have melded in my subconscious with the upcoming petting event, and next thing I knew on the way home in the car the other night I blurted out to Zeke that he was going to get to pet lambs), jump (in a bouncy house), and eat (cake). So he's pretty excited. And I was excited too. But then today my good friend Ms. Anna Roberts sent me THIS (http://grilledcheeseinvitational.com/norcal). 

Now I have an ethical dilemma on my hands. Take my son to the birthday party I've been promoting, and that he will probably have a great time at, or re-route the Prius to the GCI (that's what the cool kids call the Grilled Cheese Invitational) so he can watch mommy go on a cheese bender in a building full of like-minded cheese freaks where in all likelihood he will be exposed to the graphic sort of cheese love that is entirely inappropriate for someone his age. Oh, I know it's wrong to think this thought, but I'm thinkin' it. I'll let you know where we end up...  

Monday, February 16, 2009

Shanti and the Jester


Look at these happy, frisky boys. Are they adorable or what? Just back from a walk to the coffee shop on Saturday morning. The weather was hideous, but we didn't feel like we could hold Zeke hostage inside the house anymore, so Shanti suited him up in last year's snow gear and took him for a puddle stomp/caffeine run while I took the dog out for a run run. We all came home soaked but happy. Warmed up with a hot bath then a trip to Pho Nan for giant bowls of hot broth, beef, and noodles. Good livin'.

Monday, February 9, 2009

But I don't want to go to the gym!

That's what Zeke says every time I tell him we're going to the YMCA together. 

I think it's because he doesn't dig the occasionally chaotic environment that is their child care facility. Sometimes there are three kids there, sometimes there are thirty. Sometimes (most of the time) he finds a nice friend to play with and is having so much fun that he has to be dragged away when I'm finished working out, sometimes he meets a big bratty bully who hogs all the toy trains. You just never know what you're gonna get. 

So this past Saturday morning we walked over to the Y, and I dropped him off at the child care center like usual. When I came back to get him an hour later, I could see through the glass that he was by himself on a trike in the outdoor play area. 

I walked in to get him, and expected the big "Mommy!" yell, and the really enthusiastic hug, because that's what I get when he hasn't had a great time (and I took it that since he was by himself he wasn't having such a great time). 

But there was no "Mommy!" There wasn't even a "Hey Mom." There was brief eye contact, and that was it. No indication that he was planning to get off the trike. 

So I walked over and stood in front of him. 

I looked down. 

He did not look up. So I kept looking down. 

"What are you doing Zeke?"

Silence.

"Zeke."

He looked up, giggled briefly, then put his head back down on the trike's handlebar.

I couldn't figure out what he was doing, but then I saw that he was actually glancing sideways--under his arm and across the playground. I followed his line of sight, and bingo...little blonde girl--also on a trike, exchanging long-distance glances with young Mr. Amagasu-Casanova. So cute. She would peek over at Zeke and he would turn away as quick as he could. Then he'd look right back over there and it was her turn to hide her face. And it wasn't once or twice. It was six, then seven, then eight times... Finally I told Zeke I was going to go to the restroom and that I'd come back for him in five minutes. Which apparently was fine with him because he didn't say a thing. 

When I came back things had cooled down. Zeke was with a bunch of other little boys, riding the trike through a row of inflatable bowling pins. And the little blonde girl was licking the plastic slide. What can you say...romance is never perfect. Not even when you're three. I do think the slide-licker made an impression on Zeke though. I was explaining to him tonight that we would be going to the gym again next weekend so Daddy could sleep in, and got absolutely no objection. :o)

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Dinner at Darbar


This is Zeke showing off his very full tummy after we got home from dinner at Darbar tonight. My tummy was full too, but since I'm the keeper of the blog and he is the subject I made the executive decision to keep photos of my tummy off. 

Man that kid can eat. And he loves "curry rice" as he calls Indian food. Ate a giant plate of chicken tikka masala, along with some naan and a potato appetizer of some sort. 

We went out with the Fujiis to celebrate Shanti's last night in town. Tomorrow morning he leaves for Thousand Oaks, and though he'll be back on weekends, it still feels like a big thing. I'm not sure how Zeke is going to react to Daddy not being here every day. We've talked to him about it more than once, but I don't think he's getting what's gonna happen. He hasn't shown the level of alarm that would indicate he actually understands. We'll see...he might be fine. I'm just anxious to get through the next four weeks so we can get down there and be together as a family again.