Trip to the SF Zoo

September 1, 2010 By 1 Comment

Sunday Jack and I went to the San Francisco Zoo.  A trip to the zoo was on my list of 110 Goals for 2010 and when I happened to look on the website Saturday I found out kids were free in August.  Off we went for some more mom/son time.  We rented a little push Jeep thingy because Jack “doesn’t like to walk.”  He did like to stand in it, though, and stick his legs out.  Kid likes to give me heart attacks!  At least I got exercise pushing my 40 lb kid around for a couple hours.

The zoo was bigger than I expected and we didn’t get to see everything in our 2.5 hours there but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We took pictures together in a photo booth and Jack posed by this begging giraffe.  Probably only in San Francisco can a kid wear sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt in summer.

Strangely, Jack would not let the photographer at the entrance of the zoo take his picture so there are no pictures of the two of us.  He hid his face between his knees.  I could tell the photographer was getting a little upset that he couldn’t get Jack to cooperate so we had to make a break for it with my muttered apology.  Poor photographer probably wasn’t ready to be tested by Jack’s stubborn willpower.  :P

It was really nice to get two adventures in with Jack over the weekend.  I was a little alarmed when at one point Jack said to me, “Mom, you shouldn’t be a mom.”  I had to gather myself a bit before asking for more information about that statement, and I was relieved when he said, “You are fun and I like you and you should be a dad.”  Hm, okay then.  At least he likes me!

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Family Alien Day

August 30, 2010 By 2 Comments

David was out of town for his bachelor party this weekend, so Jack and I hung out together solo.  It struck me on Friday that this weekend was a fabulous opportunity for the two of us to have quality mom/son time before I go out of the country for 9 days.  I ignored all my other responsibilities and focused on Jack – it was fabulous!

I happily found out that Habitot in Berkeley was having a Family Alien Day (even better – we got half off the tickets because we are members of the Bay Area Discovery Museum).  I saved the news until Saturday morning because I knew Jack would freak out with excitement.  He nearly had a breakdown when he realized he didn’t have any green alien gear and tried to insist that we go to the store to get him a proper outfit. Instead I convinced him that his Superman (pajama) costume was perfect.  After all, Superman is like THE most famous alien ever!

Prior to Saturday we had never been to Habitot.  I had no idea what Jack was missing out on.  As soon as we walked in there was a big mock space shuttle complete with keyboards, buttons, joysticks for steering…Jack spent the majority of his time in that thing.  He had so much fun pretending to dodge asteroids and steer the ship out of craters.  (I spent much of the time imagining how I could get David to build a space shuttle bed for Jack.  Wouldn’t that be SO COOL?)  There was a control station with buttons that made shooting noises outside of the shuttle and Jack thought it was great.  I was amused watching the kids negotiate with one another and I could barely contain my laughter when a child dressed as Batman tried to start the good old Batman vs. Superman debate.  Jack just walked away from the kid.

We did some face painting, enjoyed crater cookies and space punch, and experimented with space goo.  Jack wore himself out running around.  We headed home and both took 3 hour naps.  It was a perfect day.

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Jack is back (and toys, toys, toys)

June 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I had a pretty fabulous weekend with Jack.  I am *so* glad he is back from Texas.  The nightmares were really getting to me and I just don’t know what to do with myself when I don’t have someone to take care of!  I get bored.

Friday we went to our first company picnic with David’s employer.  The picnic was held at Coyote Point and it was certainly a beautiful day for it.  Jack was all over the jungle gym and completely wore himself out.  He and I left early (for naptime) while David stayed to participate in volleyball and other team sports.

Saturday Jack and I got out the door early and went to Ross to spend my store credit.  I found a good deal on an 8-pack of games (Go Fish, Bingo, Dominoes, etc. – it’s an inexpensive past time, after all) that are decked out with the Toy Story 3 characters.  Jack got totally excited when he spotted an Iron Man toy (how he knew what it was, I don’t know!) so I just had to get it for him (I get indulgent around birthdays…).  We also nabbed a Transformers blanket.

When we got home I was put to work assembling Iron Man; I nearly broke my fingers trying to assemble it!  No wonder it was so cheap…  Jack loves it, though, and it is now included in the group of toys he takes to bed.  We also played our first game of Go Fish.  Jack didn’t quite get it so…I won.  :P

Speaking of bed, he cleared the blankets off his bed to put the new Transformers blanket down for naptime.  The kid is serious about this blanket, folks.  I’ve had to go into his room numerous times to straighten it out after he tosses and turns and it gets “bunched.”  He simply *must* have the blanket flat and smooth so he can see all the details (even in the dark).  The upside is that if I tell him he has to lay really still so as not to mess it up, he falls asleep pretty quickly.  ;)

Sunday was our big adventure to the movie theater to see Toy Story 3 in 3D.  I had never seen a movie in 3D before and I was absolutely dazzled.  We all loved the movie (and there were definitely some tears near the end).  It was the perfect ending to the series and will definitely become part of our collection once it’s on DVD.  The theater sound system was a little loud for Jack and he got scared, but he was totally fine once he crawled into my lap.  It was nice to snuggle with him while watching the movie and afterward he would not acknowledge that the movie was scary at all.  He has not stopped talking about it since.

When I arrived to pick Jack up at daycare today, he was singing the ABCs to a newborn baby.  He proceeded to tell me he wants a little brother AND a little sister.  I told him to give me more weekends like this one and we’ll see what happens!

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One mom’s successful day

January 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Saturday was one of those days when everything clicked into place.  At the end of the day I felt like superwoman!  It’s not that I accomplished anything amazing, though, just that I managed to do everything I set out to do.  It was a successful parenting day as well as a fulfilling personal day.

We had a break in the crazy rain storm that’s been pounding San Francisco for the last week, so we took  advantage and headed to Ocean Beach.  The beach is just sheltered enough to make you forget you’re in the city, which was so needed after being trapped by the rain for days on end.  The sun was out just long enough to keep us from freezing, while the wind blew just enough to keep the waves crashing onto the shore.  We did some walking, built sand castles, and drew pictures of suns, rainbows, and hearts in the sand.

After getting our fill of the salty air, we sat down in a restaurant to eat dim sum.  Jack was well behaved and even ate little bits of a dumpling along with rice and a donut (lunch of champions – good thing I fed him earlier).  Upon arriving home we read books and took naps (well…apparently I took the longest nap).  Ahhh, relaxation.

Our evening was filled with games.  Jack and I played the board games Hi Ho Cherry-O and Five Little Monkeys, then David and I played Trivial Pursuit.  I gave Jack a bath and clipped his nails, then off to bed he went!  He went down easily and David and I stayed up late playing more Trivial Pursuit (I lost all games but didn’t completely bomb).

Somewhere in there, I got a shower and did some dishes.  I also made sure to pat myself on the back for a job well done and refused to think about the days that do not go so smoothly.

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Those Days

September 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

It’s difficult having Jack only part of the week.  There are positives to counting on having time to myself every week, but it’s rare when you have a positive without negatives (in my experience). It’s particularly difficult during an insanely busy time at work (such as quarter end) when the analyst in me is called upon to look at numbers for hours upon hours for days until they start to blur together and talk to me.  I get home completely mentally exhausted and have nothing to offer anyone.  I often just want to cry because I don’t even know what to do with myself.

I hate those days when I have Jack and I can’t sit down and play with him because I’m too worn out.  I feel like I’m wasting the time I have with him.  On those days I look forward to later in the week when he goes to his dad’s and I can arrive home and zone out.  Then when he’s at his dad’s I wish he was home with me.  Ack.

When I’m totally exhausted, the best I can do is hug him and kiss him, tell him I love him, feed him dinner, and put on a DVD.  I guess I’m lucky that he is at an age where he’s happy to do that.  Last night, at least, I rallied for a bit and we went out to the backyard for about 10 minutes…in the dark.  :P   He got to pet the upstairs neighbor’s dogs and I got to switch laundry over to the dryer.  We watched the dogs play for a bit and then went inside and sat on the couch eating ice cream cones.  He grinned at me between licks.

After prepping for bed, reading stories, and turning out the light, Jack dropped off to sleep quickly and I went to bed feeling much lighter than I had before.  There may be nights when I can’t run around and play with him, but just that little bit that I could do last night seemed to be enough for both of us.

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