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Fri - September 16, 2005

From Blue Man to Blues Clues

Justin's interests keep a-changin'. Now he shows little interest in Blue Man Group, preferring his Blues Clues DVD. With occasional doses of Baby Einstein. I guess it's like me switching between KGB and NPR in the car...

The interesting part was that he transitioned through Mike Oldfield to get there. This picture has him watching the Millenium Bell DVD. Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells was probably my first album—but I was 8 or 9, not 2, when I discovered him. :)

Justin bangs on drums, but seems attracted to guitars. Maybe he'll be the next multi-instrument musician, and revitalize the progressive rock genre that Oldfield and Alan Parsons and Tangerine Dream created. A father can dream...

Our little Piltdown man

Posted at 04:45 PM Read More

Thu - September 1, 2005

Graduation Party

A bunch of the kids at Justin's daycare are 4 or 5 years old and are graduating to Kindergarten. This leaves some openings, which we understand will be filled by kids closer to his age. That'll change the dynamic quite a bit, and they're changing the decor and activities to handle the younger crowd. Justin will have even more fun...

Part of the spread at the party; Justin + Dylan goofing off.

There were plenty of photo ops during the graduation ceremony.

Posted at 11:10 PM Read More

Fri - August 19, 2005

Blue Man Group

Most kids Justin's age are into The Wiggles, Teletubbies, or Disney stuff. Not Justin. After a 3-month stint of Thomas the Tank Engine in heavy rotation, he has turned his focused attention to our Blue Man Group DVD. Now he wakes up and says "Pwana", which as near as we can tell means "Percussive Concert Video By The Blue Man Group Now Please!" His favorite track seems to be the Venus Hum cover of Donna Summer's disco classic (?) "I Feel Love". He will not tire of it.

Thankfully I also have the CD, so we can satiate him in the car as well. He performs "Rock Concert Movement #1, the Head Bob," in his car seat. It's hilarious!

Did I listen to music as a kid? I don't remember music being part of my life, apart from AM pop radio ("Delta Dawn," "Tie a Yellow Ribbon," Neil Sedaka, Foghat, Elton John...how do I remember this?). I think my 1st album was Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, but I was probably 9 or 10 when I got that. (Still have it, too.)

PS: Don't be alarmed, however. His birthday party is still Thomas-themed, and he will be perfectly happy with that. As long as there are drums.

PPS: Please don't get Justin any drums for his birthday. We have plenty of tupperware.

PPPS: Now we have an alibi to go to Vegas, baby...

Rock on, Little Boy Blue.

Posted at 09:23 PM Read More

Sun - July 10, 2005

Take a Hike!

It seems like it's been years since we got any decent exercise, so I thought it would be a good idea to take a short hike up Mt. Woodson, which is only a few miles from our house. We have a nice 3-wheeled jogging stroller and the trail up to the peak is actually a steep paved road.

Well, it turns out that Justin doesn't like hiking. He wouldn't ride in the stroller, because the sun was in his face, and yet he won't wear a hat. He kept yammering on about "cracker", "cookie", and milk. He didn't want to walk, at least up the hill. He wouldn't ride on my shoulders. All he wanted was to be held by Mama. So Mama held him and I pushed the stroller up the mountain. It was slow goin'. We decided to stop when we hit an hour and figured the ride down would be much faster. It wasn't. Took 45 min to go down! But we saw a lizard, so that was good.

That is a nice trail and the hike is rewarded with a panoramic view of Poway and the Pacific Ocean on less hazy days. One of these days we'll see it.

"I'll just have a little snooze here on the road, and you can pick me up on the way back down, OK?"

On another note, Justin is adding more words to his vocabulary. Some new ones include "apple", "truck", "car", "bird", "cookie".

Posted at 07:17 PM Read More

Sat - July 9, 2005

Totally Thomas

Justin has liked trains for quite a while. Thomas the Tank Engine has apparently been around for 60 years, but it's a recent discovery by Justin and his parents. He has a DVD now, which is literally in heavy rotation. It's actually pretty neat because of the detailed photography of the train sets, as well as George Carlin's voice talent as the storyteller. I was surprised to hear his voice on the show, knowing his comedy, but he does a great job with all the voices.

Justin's addiction has got to the point where when he wakes up his first word is "wooo-woooo". Today we took him to a toy store nearby, which is a large outlet for Thomas. Justin walked inside and headed straight for the display table and started playing, but as time went on he realized that the entire wall was filled with various Thomas trains and accessories. And then, across the room, he spotted it: a 5 foot tall Thomas display case. That was too much for him. He literally crapped his pants, and we had to change a diaper in the car.

So I guess we have to be on the lookout for all Thomas events, which apparently include an actual working engine that tours the world. If you know about when it's coming to San Diego, let us know.

Prediction: this is going to get expensive.

Posted at 11:03 PM Read More

Fri - July 8, 2005

Yet Another Day Care

We have enrolled Justin in a daycare that's just a mile from our house. It seems like a good place because they're way more flexible about drop-off and pick-up times, they'll let him sleep as long as he needs to, and they even practice the Redirecting Children's Behavior techniques that we've talked about before. And he gets to play in real dirt. He'll love that!

It was a tough start. The 1st day was fine—it was a new place and there was plenty of stuff for Justin to do all day. But when I dropped him off on the 2nd day, he realized that he was going to be there all day again and we wouldn't be with him. We were just on vacation with him for over a week, so he is used to being with us. Finally, on Friday, he was able to part ways with me without crying.

Posted at 11:50 PM Read More

Mon - July 4, 2005

4th of July

Today we went to our annual local parade and festival. It's a nice parade because they don't advertise (do press releases) so it doesn't show up on the list of parades on the news, but it is really large and includes all the usual local political dignitaries. Et cetera.

The SPMC is one of the most popular "floats" in the parade.

Since the Cedar Fire, the SDFD has been especially popular. Justin got some time on the swing a the party in Hoyt Park.

That evening we went to the Target shopping center parking lot to watch the Mira Mesa fireworks (see those pix on Flickr).

Posted at 11:33 PM Read More

Sun - July 3, 2005

Grounded

Justin won't be going on any more plane rides until he's 6 or 8. Suffice it to say that flying with a toddler is tough. We need a vacation.

4 hours into the flight, the Benadryl finally kicks in and his eyes roll back into his head...

Posted at 11:32 PM Read More

Fri - July 1, 2005

Owie!

Justin and I invented a new game, which I named "Owie." It's basically our version of Hop On Pop. I lay on the floor, and Justin stands on my back, trying to balance. Meanwhile, I get a back massage. When he falls off and lands on my ear or kidney, I say "Owie!" He quickly became addicted to it, and insisted we play more by trying to drag me onto the floor, or roll me over when I was sitting up. He yells "owie!" too. Now when Justin wants to play he says "Owie Dada" or "Owie Mama," depending on who he can wrestle down.

It's all fun and games until someone loses a testicle.

Posted at 03:58 PM Read More

Thu - June 23, 2005

Banker's Hours

It's only been a week, but it's clear that the JCC isn't working out. The class runs from 9-3, so any time before 9AM and after 3PM that Justin is there is paid for separately as additional care. They close at 5:30, and the day Melisa picked him up at 5:34 because traffic on her 3-mile drive from work makes it a 25-minute trip, she was read the riot act. And pick-up time on Fridays is 5. So, it is apparent that it caters not to working moms, but rather to stay-at-home moms who need 6 hours to work out and cruise Nordstrom sales.

Plus, we miss the daily poop sheets we'd get that told us what Justin did all day while we were away at work.

It's likely we'll want to enroll him in some of their programs in a couple years, but now, at this age, and for our needs, it's not a good match.

Posted at 08:21 PM Read More

Thu - June 16, 2005

Boot Camp

Justin is ending his tour of duty at the Merry-Go-Around and transferring to a summer camp at the JCC for about 6 weeks. Tonight we went to an orientation session where we met his new teacher and checked out the classroom. Justin made himself at home with their books and playground equipment. We're not sure what this stage show was about—it probably has something to do with the older kids. Justin's situation will be pretty much the same as his last place: daycare with various fun activities during the day.

Change is good, right?

What kind of camp is this?

Posted at 10:44 PM Read More

Wed - June 15, 2005

Elise + Justin

Elise may be Justin's first girlfriend. We thought at first that she was just another one of the kids he pushes around at daycare, but Elise is different. When the kids go on walks, Justin + Elise hold hands. She won't hold anyone else's hand. But now that Justin is leaving that daycare, we wonder how she'll cope with his disappearance. Justin will be busy with his new environment, and we think Elise will be graduating another classroom, so she'll be able to meet new people too. It's kinda sad, actually. We're probably going to have to arrange play dates.

Elise, Justin + their baby.

Posted at 10:55 PM Read More

Sun - June 12, 2005

Del Mar Fair

From the pictures in books and on TV, Justin didn't really have any idea how big cows are. Now that he's been to the fair he does. They're impressively large. He also learned he likes funnel cakes and kettle corn. We went through the woodworking exhibit, and Justin's favorite item was a car carrier truck with cars, all made of wood.

Yes, cows are large. Running through the stars in the Cinema Summer exhibit.

Posted at 10:10 PM Read More

Sun - June 5, 2005

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sitter

We finally got a babysitter to hang out and supervise Justin's nap while we snuck out to the matinee of the Star Wars movie to end all Star Wars movies.

Episode III was the best of the prequels and did a good job of connecting the dots between the prequels and the original trilogy, much of the storyline I remembered from 25 years ago: clone wars, volcanic planet, Wookiee planet. The major flaw was...I'll skip that so I don't spoil it for ya. Well, it's no news that Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, but the motivation for the transformation seemed kind of ... mundane. Underdeveloped. Not earth-shaking or soul-shattering stuff, I thought. He's a conflicted cat. But it was an awesome movie, with the best space battles I've seen.

But it wasn't in surround sound. It sounded good but it was in stereo. We deliberately went to the 1 digital cinema screen of the 18 rooms at the theater, and the picture was awesome, but sound wasn't up to snuff. Lame. No wonder theater attendance is dwindling, as people can get better presentations in their own homes while theater managers don't seem to care. They did give us passes to watch it again, but wouldn't say when it would be fixed because they're unaware of the problem.

Anyway, there wasn't any revenge levied by our sitter—I just couldn't resist the title. Justin had a great time. We'll show him the movies in order in a few years.

Afterwards we took our young padawan to bulls-eye womprats in his T-16 back home. For 45 minutes!

Posted at 11:31 PM Read More

Sun - May 22, 2005

His Own Slide

Melisa had found a slide for sale on craigslist, and decided to go out last night and pick it up. This evening we set it up and he was so excited to see a slide in his own yard. He's feeling better.