Life's a (Dog) Beach

Yesterday Charlie slept in until 9:00 am!

This is a big deal in our house. Jase and I work until at least 12:30 am every night. After locking up the house and turning on the dishwasher, and decompressing by watching The Daily Show, we aren't asleep until 1:30 at the earliest. When he decides to wake up at 6:30, that means 5 hours of sleep, if we're lucky. So Jase and I have worked out a deal - one day I get up early and Jase sleeps until 9:30, then at 9:30 I go back to sleep. The next day we switch.

So when he slept in until 9:00 yesterday we were so ecstatic that we both got up, loaded everyone into the car, and hit the dog beach.

The weather was perfect - 72 degrees - a nice cool breeze - not a cloud in the sky. We spent about an hour sitting in the sand, watching the dogs and taking lots of pictures.



At one point, Charlie thought it would be fun to wear Jason's sunglasses. I had to put the pictures into a separate album - you'll see why.

Happy Jewish New Year! Let's Celebrate with Legos!

Friday we celebrated Rosh Hashanah at Joyce and Freddy Hershenson's house in beautiful Rancho Santa Fe. Joyce is Jason's mom's best friend - they lived in Ann Arbor until Freddy retired and they moved out to California. They have a beautiful home and we had a great time.



They pulled out some Legos for Charlie to play with and he was fascinated with them. So Saturday, we went out and got him his own. He was so excited he was doing the little dancing jig he does - it's similar to Jennifer Beales' dance to "Maniac" in "Flashdance".

So, all in all, a very good weekend indeed!

Charlie Pointdexter

Check out Lil Droolin' Four-Eyes.

He reminds me of the kid from Jerry Maguire.

Still Feeling Summer

Living in San Diego has been illuminating - literally. It's sunny and warm all the time here. So even though Labor Day has since past, we do not pack up our sunglasses or take our sweaters out of storage. Instead, we go to the beach.

The dog beach, to be specific. Between June 15 and September 15, the dog beach becomes a regular beach, and while dogs are still allowed, they must be on a 6-ft leash, which is totally not fun for Boo. So on Friday, September 15th, we brought Boo back to the dog beach so he could run free!

What we didn't anticipate were the 5 or 6 dump trucks driving up and down the beach. I guess when the summer season ends, the city hauls in new sand to replenish the beach. So we had to keep Boo on his leash for a few minutes longer, until we could frolick without worrying about getting run over by heavy machinery.

Even though I stepped in dog doo doo, barefooted I should add, we had a lovely time. Click here to see - don't worry - I did not document the stepping in dog doo doo.



A couple days before that, Charlie decided to strip down to his birthday suit and play in the backyard with his water table and his buckets. And no - we did not post any full frontal shots - we want our kid to talk to us when he's 15 (I think). But there is a tushie.

Malibu, Baby

We got in the car today and drove two hours to go to Malibu. And it was worth every near miss collision with every crazy driver on the 405 to get there.

There's a reason every celebrity in Hollywood and beyond has a house here.

A trip to Malibu would not be complete without our own celebrity sighting, and we were not disappointed. After playing in the surf and running in the sand, on our walk down the beach to the 874 stairs we had to climb in order to get to our car (in the public parking lot, where the commoners park), we saw a child running ahead of two men. We noticed the child cuz he had an adult-sized life vest on his very small body. We commented how cute he was as we were passing both men. They both said hello. We said hello back.

About six paces later, I said to Jase, "Steven Weber."

He replied, "Wings."

Which concluded our day in Malibu.

Charlie's an Official Tumbles Wiggler

Charlie attended his first class at J.W. Tumbles. It's basically a room full of mats and bars and swings and balls - so, toddler heaven. Charlie had a great time. He waved to all the children when we came in, and wasn't shy about jumping in and playing.

He was great with the other kids - not losing his mind if a kid came to play with the toy he was playing with, taking turns, etc. But he does have some issues that we will be working on for the next eight weeks.

First, there's the matter of Circle Time. This is when all the kids sit in a circle and follow the directions of Scott, their team leader. Most of the kids sat down where they were supposed to and gave full attention to Scott. Charlie was behind the administrator's counter pulling out foam tubes from a bucket and bringing them out for the rest of the children to play with. When I tried to divert him back to the circle, he would start to lose it. Luckily, there were a few other kids who weren't following directions so I didn't feel like a horrible mother or anything. Afterwards, Scott told me that it's very common for first-timers to be more interested in the new place than the games and songs, and he would come around.

I'm not so sure. The kid has a mind of his own, man.

Anyway, the only time he cried is when it was time to leave, so I guess he likes it!

We took some pics - he was very very busy.

A Day at the Park

Charlie tried out the swing for the first time today.

He looks like he had fun, no?

Things Charlie Learned This Week

1. By standing on tiptoes, Charlie can reach items on countertops previously withheld from him. Parents' lesson: put knives away.

2. Flirting with little old ladies at rehabilitation center reaps load of positive attention and comments. Parents lesson: don't cut kid's hair and hang tip jar around his neck; apply proceeds to college fund.

3. Skipping naps for three days in a row results in crashing into deep sleep at 6:30pm. Parents' lesson: Shhhhh, you'll wake him up!

4. Drinking out of a big boy cup instill joy in parents, resulting in warm fuzzies all over. Parents' lesson: Keep sippy cups handy, for most of the beverage dribbles from his mouth to front of shirt.

5. Riding on Dad's shoulders is loads of fun! Parents' lesson: When walking through doorways, remember to duck.