Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Organizing

My plastic pail has many uses. I can play with it in the sand on the beach. I can throw it into my little pool at home and watch it float around. But it's even very useful indoors as well. One of my favorite things to do with my plastic pail is to turn it upside down and press it into the carpet. This makes a lovely circular indentation in the carpet in the shape of my favorite letter, "o". Another thing the pail is really useful for is holding golf balls. Lately, I've enjoyed getting out all of Daddy's golf balls (we just bought a dozen over the weekend to make an even 16) and then placing them in the pail. When all the ball are in the pail, I lift it up and spill them out all down my front. This activity is even better when Mommy and Daddy help to count the golf balls as I put them in. 1, 2, 3, ...

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Santa Barbara

This past weekend, we all went for a visit to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a city about 100 miles north of LA. It's a long car ride from Walnut Creek. On the way down, we drove at night but I had (and still have) a head cold and found sleeping difficult. By the time we were about 40 miles away, I was ready to stop being in my car seat. I kept saying "off, off" but to no avail.

Happily, there was a good reward when I got there. We stayed with the Bergstroms, who I like very much. They have a granddaughter who is about 7 months old, and they were well equipped for my visit. When I arrived, at about 12:30 at night, they stayed up to greet us and presented me with a toy ambulance which I enjoyed driving around the house. They also had a big, red ball, which I enjoyed playing with. They have lots of other good stuff too, especially books. I got to read a book called "10 Minutes to Bedtime," which was fabulous. Mommy and Daddy seemed to like it too since it featured many hamsters (they like hamsters...a lot!) The best book of all in my opinion, however, was "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo." I liked this book so much that I got to take it home with me.

On Friday, while Daddy did his thing at the university, Mommy and I went to the Child's Place Zoo, also known as the Santa Barbara Zoo. We saw lots of animals. I especially enjoyed the giraffes, the otters, the monkeys, the sea lions, and the capybara. The capybara was eating a pumpkin and reminded me of a big version of my friend, Licorice the guinea pig. I tried to gently pet the capybara through the fence, but he was too far away. I also rode a fun train with Mommy at the zoo.

The weather on Saturday was pretty dreary in the morning and very rainy in the afternoon. We all went shopping on State Street in the morning. I got some new shoes and some other nice stuff, including a mini version of my good friend, Piggy! I napped most of the afternoon.


At the end of my visit to the Bergstroms's, I made a little regatta with some fallen flowers. They have lots of nice flowers in their backyard. I picked a couple up and deposited them in a big puddle. Thanks to the breeze, the flowers would glide across the puddle like little boats. I picked up several more and had a little sailing race across the puddle. Finally, it was time to go. I waved bye bye to the Bergstroms and blew them kisses (a new trick) to show that I really liked staying with them. I hope we get to go back soon.

Thursday, November 06, 2003

Big Red Car

Christmas came a bit early for me. I found one of my gifts, the Wiggles Big Red Car, in the office. Realizing this was mine, I indicated in the strongest possible terms my desire to have it---now. Happily, I got to open it and played with it almost exclusively this evening. For those who don't know, the Big Red Car is the vehicle of choice for the Wiggles. It looks a bit like a convertible VW Beetle. In the version I have, the 4 Wiggles are in the car with their bodies apparently welded together. If you push down on their collective heads and then release, they break out into song and the car rolls along for a short distance. While they're singing and the car is rolling, their bodies move up and down in the car in perfect unison. By the end of the day, I had played with the toy so much that the Wiggles song, which had started out at a jaunty presto temp was more like a largo by the end.

Wednesday, November 05, 2003

Hooray for Halloween

Last Friday, I went trick or treating for the second time in my life. When I went last year, dressed as a tiger, it was kind of a desultory effort. This year was more ambitious, we covered two full blocks of houses and I ended up with a bag full of sweets (none of which I want). This year, I was dressed as a lion. (Link to pictures coming soon). Initially, I was a bit hesitant about the whole trick or treating ritual, but I soon warmed to the task. When the door of the house I was visiting would open, I would immediately point at whatever objects looked interesting and try to make my way inside. Surprisingly, even though the door was open, the people on the other side didn't always want me to come in and explore. Next, they would offer me some choices from a bowl of candy. I love the sensory experience of the bowl of candy more than the candy itself. I would let me hand linger in the bowl, feeling the smooth plastic covering the candy and listening as the plastic crinkled when my hand moved. Finally, Mommy and Daddy would urge me to choose something and we would put these items in my bag. Then it was time to say goodbye. I would take a few steps ways and then, in my demure way, wave bye-bye to the people inside the door. This tactic was very successful in eliciting the desired "Ah, he's so cute reaction" I was after.

Halloween is lots of fun!