Sunday, December 26, 2010

i should have known better

Two is a weird age. Cassidy's definitely not a baby anymore; he wants to be actively doing things, and he can interact with us, and he has very clear wants. But he's not a child yet either, even though he looks like one. Christmas was a good reminder of that.

On Christmas Eve day, we continued our annual museum tradition by going to the Exploratorium. Barb and Sara are in town, and went with us. We thought he'd like it, even though a lot of the exhibits are clearly too old for him, but he didn't really get interested in it. He was more excited by seeing the ducks outside. He did like running around, though, and the fish were cool. In a couple of years we'll take him back and nurture that inner science geek a little more.

Christmas Day was similar; he's still too young to get excited about opening presents. Not only is it not interesting, he's actively opposed to sitting still long enough for it. (I suspect that next year will be a very different story.) The plus is that there wasn't anyone (except me) whining to start opening the presents already. He did like the books that he got, and the toy recycling truck from Grandma Sonnie and Grandpa Chris. Not surprisingly, he had as much fun with the $1.49 box his crayons came in as anything else.

The rest of us made out pretty well also, and had a nice holiday together.









Tuesday, December 21, 2010

simple

Life seems so simple when you're two. No job, no bills, no chores. On a rainy day, you can practice your piggy face, admire the Christmas tree, race around the dining room table, pretend to feed your stuffed animals, or just have a little cuddle time with Alex the monkey. How cool is that?







Sunday, December 12, 2010

how lovely are your branches

So we got our Christmas tree up today. As you can tell from the photos, we're very traditional about how the tree is decorated: sock monkey ornaments are lower, Hello Kitty is up high, dinosaurs are spread out, and the Egyptian cat is at the top, just like it is in those Currier & Ives prints. Now we get to look forward to three weeks of keeping Cassidy from grabbing all these things that look just like toys and are right next to his play area, and also keeping the cats from trying to scale it. I'm thinking about setting up a pool to wager on how long it is before the tree is pulled over and who the culprit is.

We also have some pictures of Cassidy with the stuffed pig his Aunt Barb and Cousin Sara sent him, as well as the very loud car Grandma and Grandpa Brooks sent. Last but not least, we have the pouty face that Cassidy whips out when he feels he's being oppressed - in this case, he wanted Holly to chase him around the kitchen another 800 times.








Monday, December 6, 2010

time in a bottle

Today is officially Cassidy's second birthday - as of 6:47 am, he's officially two years old! Here's a little greatest-hits montage I put together; turn up the volume to hear his song!


Sunday, December 5, 2010

it's my party and i'll play if i want to

Cassidy had his second birthday party today. It was fairly low-key; his friends DD and Mike and Freya and Carrie came to visit, along with Mommy and Daddy and Grandma Rachel. He got lots of great presents and hugs, and got to chase everyone around and show off his toys and books. What more could a soon-to-be two year old want?

He's also figured out how to give himself a piggy face by pressing his face up against the glass door of our stereo cabinet. It's one of those behaviors that we really shouldn't encourage (the doors are covered with toddler slime now), but is so hilarious that it's tough not so laugh when he does it.








Saturday, November 27, 2010

them belly full

We had Thanksgiving dinner in El Sobrante with DD, Mike, Freya, Kim, Sean, Damon and Meriel. It was a little crazy given the amount of child-coordinating taking place, but also a lot of fun. It was a very traditional meal - all vegetarian Indian food. I made potato and tofu curry, saag paneer and dal, and Mike made chana masala, lemon rice, and roasted cauliflower. Kim and Sean brought cranberry chutney. It was all very delicious, and we all left stuffed.

Today we headed down to San Mateo to see Rudd and Nancy's new house. Cassidy had a lot of fun chasing Rudd around and playing with Nancy and their huge penguin.

He's learning a lot as he closes in on his second birthday. He knows about half the letters in the alphabet (depending on the day) and has recently started saying "hair" and "nose." He loves saying "bye" now, and says it every chance he gets - when we finish a book or leave a room, when he goes to bed, when we leave the park, or even when he's done interacting with you. It's pretty adorable.







Monday, November 8, 2010

22 going on 23

Cassidy turned 23 months old on Saturday and his transmogrification from a baby into a little boy continues. He's definitely developing the mood swings and temperament of a two-year old: one minute he's sweetness and light, and the next minute upset, then back to joyful. Some things never change, though; he still loves bubbles and playing with his ball, and his incoming molars have kept the drool stream coming right along.



Sunday, October 31, 2010

book of angels

Our little Cassidy is quite obsessed with reading. He takes after his mom in that way, I think. We haven't caught him with a flashlight reading after bedtime just yet, but I suspect it's not far off.
We took him out for a quick trick-or-treating stroll down Cortland Ave, including a stop in Red Hill Books for a quick story. He had fun cruising around and scaring people, but he's still too little to really get all the excitement of Halloween. Plus, he's still not aware of candy - we've managed to successfully hide that from him so far.




Sunday, October 24, 2010

oh, my hair is getting good in the back

Cassidy got a haircut. It was getting a bit out of hand, and he's still too little to successfully pull off the scrunchie like dear old Dad. But you can't defeat the curls - they're still there!

Friday, October 22, 2010

if you want blood

Post-vampire feeding stupor, or beets for dinner? You be the judge.

Also, we have Cassidy modeling his new hat (sent by Grandma Sonnie) and composing Beat poetry with his new alphabet refrigerator magnets.





Sunday, October 17, 2010

he is the lizard king, he can do anything

Attention faithful and devoted fans of Cassidy!
As a reward for your patience and commitment through this drought of cute pictures, we have a very special treat for you: the world premiere of his Halloween costume for this year. As far as we can tell, it's either a dinosaur or a dragon. Or maybe an iguana. Or possibly some sort of Japanese movie monster. Whatever it is, he looks appropriately cute and fierce, which is really about all you can ask for in a toddler costume. He's still a year away from being excited about Halloween, but he's very excited about racing around the house, which is what is provoking the big smiles here.