January 28, 2012

Wilder's First Beach Experience

Thursday it was in the 80's here so I was determined to take Wilder to the beach for the first time. I know, I know, you're thinking Um, he's 14 months old and you live in San Diego... Why is he just now going to the beach?? Well, when summer came around this past year Wilder was in the belly-crawling phase, which would not be conducive to beach-going, plus Paul is not a big fan of the beach so if I met friends there, I would have to lug all the equipment, etc. out there by myself, plus Wilder is so fair-skinned I was totally paranoid about him burning. 

So, now that Wilder's walking and it's easier for me to handle him and all his accoutrements by myself and I've gotten over a little of the sunburn paranoia (don't get me wrong, I still slather him with sunscreen, put a swim shirt with SPF in it on him, and make him wear a hat) I decided it was high time for this California dude to be introduced to the wonders of the beach. Unfortunately, Paul's opinion of the beach hasn't changed (and it was a school day) so I knew I was going to have to do it by myself. It was too last minute to call anyone to go with us so I took him to a really low-key beach that I had driven by numerous times but never been to. Not having to fight crowds and schlep beach supplies for miles made the trip more doable. No one else was there except a couple with a dog down the beach. It was the perfect place to get Wilder used to the sand and waves.

He loved the sand of course...
 But walking in it took some getting used to.
He wasn't sure what to think about the waves and at first seemed downright apprehensive about them.
But I helped him walk into them and he was fine after that. He loved to stomp his feet in the water and put his hands down in it.
There was also so much to look at and point to -- boats, seagulls, the dog down the beach.
And then, all of a sudden, I hear someone yelling my name. ?? At first I thought they were calling for some other Emily but then I heard it again and looked up to the top of the hill and there was my friend, Rachel! She and her husband had brought Lexi and their dog, Millie, to that exact vacant beach out of all the beaches in San Diego at the exact same time we were there. It was totally bizarre and I still cannot get over how random it was to see each other there. But it was fun to have a little impromptu play date.
Wilder and I both had such a good time and I can't wait to take him back a lot over the next few months.

January 25, 2012

Have Trike, Will Travel

I said I was going to do better about blogging but have I? No. No I haven't. In my defense, I've been trying to write this post for like four days now but we've had a pretty busy week and I've also been trying to check things off a to-do list that grows by the day, oh and also there's that thing about me having a one-year-old who likes to do things like this...
Toilet paper? I don't know
nothing about no toilet paper. 
...so obviously I haven't had very much uninterrupted time to devote to blogging. Or reading either -- The Hunger Games has been sitting on my bedside table for days and I haven't read the first word! I'm dying to get into it. I did, however, make mini pecan pies the other night from some yummy Tennessee pecans my mom had sent me. The hubby sure appreciated that :)

On Friday Wilder and I drove up to La Habra and went to the Children's Museum there with Amber and Henry. Oh my word, Wilder was in heaven! He loved being able to get into, investigate, touch and/or climb on every single thing in the building and not be told No once. 
The first exhibit was a car and we were in danger of never being able to move on to the second exhibit but I was finally able to pry him out of it and, come to find out, there were plenty of other things with wheels to check out.
I took SO MANY cute pictures that day but when I ran out of camera space on my phone yesterday I deleted them because I thought I had already uploaded them to the computer! I'm just sick over it but at least I still have a few. Wilder pretty much totally loved every single activity they offered, from grocery shopping to carousel rides to train tours to gong-ringing to stuffed wild animal petting. He was all about it.

Then Saturday it rained so Wilder and I went to Target because that's our rainy-day-late-afternoon-go-to-time-waster. That trip to Target would change Wilder's life forever. He went into the store a baby; he came out a baby on a bike. Well, a trike to be exact. Paul and I had been talking for a while about getting one of those trikes that we can push and steer from behind until he's able to pedal it himself and Wilder was giving us hints all over the place that that's exactly what he wanted most in life...
Well, a cute little bright red Radio Flyer one just happened to be on sale that day so I took it as a sign and we brought one home. Wilder had the best time helping Paul put it together but he was so excited it was almost torturous for him to wait for it to be assembled.
 The inaugural ride around the living room

We took him for his first real ride on it on Sunday around our neighborhood. That thing is worth every penny because he looks so ridiculously cute on it. And you can tell he thinks he's big stuff on it too. He stares down passersby and waves or dings his bell at them as he sees fit.
We stopped for lunch at a cafe down the street. Wilder sat on the trike the whole time we were eating on the patio and watched the people and cars going by. 
Paul took off from school work for most of the day on Sunday so, in the afternoon, we took Wilder over to ride his trike at Balboa Park. He seriously acts like a little celebrity on that thing. 98% of the people we pass when he's riding it either get a smile on their face or give him a thumbs up or want to talk to him or take his picture. I'm not joking, one lady actually asked to take a picture of him, haha! He totally owns that trike. It's perfect for him. :)

Sunday night we got a babysitter, a girl Paul goes to school with, and went to dinner with a couple of friends that we also know through school. They have a scooter too and we had fun having a mini scooter gang for the night. It was so nice to be around other adults for a change and have actual conversations! When we got home Wilder was awake and she said he had been for about 20 minutes. She hadn't been able to get him back to sleep and I guess she didn't call us because she knew we would be home soon anyway. When we came into the house she was holding him and he had his head on her shoulder perfectly content. When I took him from her, I think he suddenly realized that I hadn't been holding him the whole time and he scowled at her so hard like, Wait, so who are you then??! She and Paul stood there and talked about school for a few minutes and he stared at her with the worst stink-eye I've ever seen until she left, haha :)

Monday was another rainy day and by the afternoon Wilder and I were both stir crazy so I took him over to the Mission Valley mall to, what else, ride his trike. It's an outdoor mall but luckily there are wide covered walkways that run along in front of the stores. 
Unfortunately it's not a huge mall so after about 30 minutes we had made a couple of laps and I was getting bored. I didn't want to go home yet though because I still had an hour or two before bedtime and I had no clue what I was going to do with him at home. I'm not used to having to plan rainy day activities here but I think I should put "cabin fever prevention kit" on my list of things to do. Anyway, about that time, I went into the food court to get something to drink and waste some more time and saw my saving grace. They had four little mechanical cars and trucks, which, of course, Wilder immediately spotted and started pointing at emphatically. Score! Another 45 minutes of entertainment. Wilder absolutely loved it and, for the most part, had them all to himself so I got some cute pictures.

Tuesday afternoon we went to play and go to a story time at the library with Rachel and Lexi. The one near Rachel's house has a great play area and the weather was nice so we all enjoyed being outside.
Wilder found a book that was bigger than he is and was totally fascinated by it.
He tried to "help" that kid build a block tower but, I'm guessing by the look the kid's giving him, he didn't appreciate the kind of help Wilder offered. 
At previous story times Wilder has usually just observed or explored the room instead of participating but he was totally into it that day for some reason. He clapped along and even did this little dance he does that looks sort of like he's running in place. He was totally cracking me up. :)
Wilder and Lexi.
They're getting so big!
The tomfoolery continued even after we got home. He was being a total clown while we were playing before dinner.
 I'mma getchu, Mama!
 He kept kissing Posey, whether
she wanted it or not.
 I'mma getchu, Posey!
 Peeking over Posey at me :)
 I told him to kiss Posey and
this is what he did. Lovely.

Today it's finally so so gorgeous outside and in the 70's so Rachel and I took the babies and their trikes over to the park to stroll. They were so cute on them together and kept staring at each other and checking out each other's rides. Wilder refused to take his morning nap this morning, which I don't think has ever happened, but when we got home from the park I fed him lunch and put him down and he's been asleep now for two hours and counting, hence the blog post finally! 
By the way, look at Wilder mad-dogging
me in this picture! C'mon, Mom, what's
the holdup?! Pretty sure the no-nap
thing had something to do with that.

Alright dudes, I hope you all have a fantastic rest of the week and I promise to start updating more often again.