under the weather

Alec about to lose it in IKEA on Saturday...

No photos of him crying inconsolably the entire trip from Emeryville home to SF.

No photos of him before getting some medicine to help the pain of infections in both ears.

No photos of him suddenly in a better mood as we wait to get the prescription filled.

Some photos of him after the infant ibuprofen has taken effect - much happier and bouncing off the walls.

2 feet in the same pot

He took out every single pot in the kitchen to play with, sit in, climb on... Better living through chemistry!

The guitar hero gets a haircut...

It's winter now - you can see by all of the jackets in the photos below. Presidents' Day weekend has been one long rainy day, but that is good weather for bibliophiles. We had the SF International Antiquarian Book Fair to keep us busy. Alec attended on both Friday and Saturday, making it the second year in a row. Not bad for a budding reader. Lately his favorite book is anything with airplanes (avions) in it, especially this one. Or trucks. Luckily he wasn't too interested in signed first editions, 18th century philosophy, or early anatomy books. Not yet.

By now you're probably wondering about this post's title. It's a combination of last weekend's bbq at our friends' house, where Alec and E had fun playing.

Rockin out!

And on Sunday, we gave Alec his very first haircut. See the before, where he's sporting the grunge look - so 1990:


And after:

Now without all of those long curly locks he looks much more mature... Looks, not acts...

SF Saturday

Thursday and Friday this week were gray and rainy, but Saturday we were back enjoying the clear skies. And very clear they were. Marie-Helene is visiting from Quebec, so we went around town as tourists-

to North Beach

sleep-walking

to Lombard Street (I think that this was Alec's first time down - perhaps repeating some of my first childhood memories of trips to the City). He wanted to walk down, but it was a bit too steep and he fell over onto his head. So N and M-H stopped the car halfway down to pick us up.

to Crissy Field and the Golden Gate Bridge.


We ran into our previous upstairs neighbors hanging out near the Warming Hut

And then continued on to check out the views of the city


And the surfers right under the bridge. I've never seen so many at once. Click on the photos - they're pretty neat when seen in full screen.

Gotta love winter in NorCal!

Exploring the Mission

Alec spends about half of his week hanging out in SF's Mission District, but usually without the parental units. Yesterday, however, we were lucky to join him. First stop after picking him up from spending the morning with V and L -- Taqueria Cancun --

He helped us finish (get through, proclaim victory over) our veggie burritos...



... and was particularly taken with the chips. He even didn't mind stepping over the guy, ummm, sleeping in the doorway as we left.

Later that evening, we had a special treat since we have a friend visiting from Quebec. Dinner at Slow Club. This wasn't Alec's first visit there (that would be on Nov. 2 2007 with A on her birthday when he was just a babe in arms), but it was the first time that he really appreciated the location - right across from the Muni garage.

boooo!

When you have a limited vocabulary, you want to use every word as often as possible. This gave him the opportunity to practice one of his favorites - booo (bus)

Auguri a Luca

After our walk Sunday morning, we went to Luca's 2nd birthday party. Quite a scene!
Here's the birthday boy looking very mature


and here's his friend

who slept very soundly after a very fun afternoon! Grazie!

Playground alternative

N is up skiing in BC this weekend, so Alec and I have been making our own fun. This morning instead of braving the wet and shady playground, we took a walk on the Embarcadero. Alec didn't need the jungle gyms to tire him out or amuse him - after being pushed in the stroller on the way to the Ferry Building, on the way back he was ready to walk. He walked (actually ran!) screaming or singing the entire time, from the Louise Bourgeois spider all the way to the Bay Bridge.



Short stops included this very fascinating short staircase and porch, which he didn't want to leave



and every manhole cover or similar metal street hardware, on which he does a little stomping dance. I hope this doesn't foreshadow OCD!

Vroom Vroom!

Shifting into 5th gear

The weather has finally changed, but just today. Last weekend saw another drive down the coast to Half Moon Bay to visit Adair, A, and K. By chance, my parents also had decided to take a drive there, so we met up for a quick stroll in the downtown.

We walked them to the car, which fascinated Alec. He couldn't wait to get behind the wheel. Luckily, he speaks Italian, so he felt right at home.

Now if only he could see over the dashboard!

The funny thing, my father had a photo in his office of me as a small child getting out of the same driver's seat at the Palo Alto Baylands. He gave it to me when he switched offices recently, so it is on the bookshelf in my office.