Sawyer

I was taking some pictures of a few things to sell online when Sawyer stood in front of me and asked me to take his picture. I snapped this one first:

And then this one:

And then I asked him to smile:

And then I asked him to open wide:

And then he got bored:

Until I made him smile for real:

And then he went back to playing with his new cars:

Of course, the day after my parents leave, the weather turned even warmer. Even Sawyer was asking for a break from the heat — he wanted to go to the beach! I came home from work Tuesday night, slathered him up with sunscreen, hopped in the car, and drove the mile or two to Ocean Beach. We clearly were not the only ones with this idea.

As always, he made a bee-line for the water. He’s very careful to stay out of the big waves, but his judgment on what will actually prove worthy of his worry is a bit off. Nearly everything that came rolling up toward him prompted a cry of, “Here it comes, Dada look out!” Just like this:

The ocean was still cold but very calm:

And he truly was the happiest little boy there:

He even helped rearrange the sand on the beach. I’m not sure why, but he spent a good five minutes throwing sand into the ocean. Watch:

He was soaked and completely caked with sand, and I always forget to bring a towel. Don’t forget to bring a towel, Scott.

I almost forgot about these pictures.

On Sunday afternoon, Mema and Pepa took a little Mema and Pepa time to explore San Francisco, while the three of us went to the grocery. As we were getting in line to cash out, Sawyer walked up the bakery counter and begged for cake. I asked him which one he wanted and he pointed to the biggest, most chocolatey cake inside of the case. I was able to persuade him to accept a smaller mini-version of the same cake instead. He made it through the entire day before I let him eat it, for obvious reasons as you’ll soon see.

Here is with two of his favorite things from the time my parents shared with us, Mema and her iPad:

And there goes the chocolate:

He must have watched this fire truck book / song at least a hundred times:

Yes!

No!

Yay!

And with that it’s shower time.

In a weekend full of so many great moments, this one is by far my favorite. After a long weekend, everyone was tired, even Sawyer. He took a nice, warm shower, hopped in his nice, warm Elmo jammas, and read on the bed with his Mema and Pepa.

He rarely sits still this long:

He’s paying especially close attention too:

I love his little feet:

And his hands on his knees:

What a great moment!

On an even more beautiful Sunday afternoon, Sawyer, Mema, Pepa, and I drove to the Golden Gate Park in the hopes of finding Koret Children’s Quarter, otherwise known as the biggest and coolest playground in San Francisco (plus, it’s considered the nation’s first public playground). I knew roughly where it was, but I’m not all that familiar with that part of the city. As luck would have it, I found a parking spot just five minutes away. Sawyer was just happy that he got to see a double-decker bus on the walk there.

The first thing you see when rounding the corner is the historic carousel, originally carved in 1912. Sawyer immediately started in on his, “I wanna go in there, can I go in there, what’s in there, I wanna go see it, can I go see it?” routine, so the four of us got in line. From the moment I perched him on top of his brown and white striped zebra horse, he was all smiles. Looking at Mema:

And looking at me:

But he was positively beaming once the carousel started moving. Watch:

“All the animals are jumping.”

After the carousel, the four of us went out to explore the rest of the park. Sawyer, of course, gravitated to the swings first, but after a quick trip down the big cement slide on my lap, he happily settled in the sand. He managed to negotiate use of another little boy’s green truck and then proceeded to drive it all over, especially between Mema and Pepa:

It was nice and hot, too:

Sawyer and I took another spin on the carousel before leaving. It was the only way we were going to be able to walk past it. After that he insisted on racing his cars on anything at his level. I think he could have done this for hours:

Sawyer, that was the best park I’ve ever been to with you, and I can’t wait to go back with you very soon. Thanks, Mema and Pepa, for riding on (and paying for) the carousel too!

After an all-around chilly Friday, Saturday afternoon was warm (for San Francisco) and beautiful. It was still sunny on our neighborhood late in the day, so Sawyer and I took Mema and Pepa out to see Land’s End.

The last time they visited us, I showed them the scene from the top of the hill. It’s breathtaking from afar, but even better down on the water. We took the stairs down the hill:

And then walked all of the way out to the edge of the coast. Mema took some pictures of another family and one of them took some pictures of us:

I love this one with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background:

Sawyer really wanted to play in the water, so Pepa and I humored him with a walk down closer to the beach. Once there, he noticed a cave and begged to go in. I had no idea it was here, and plenty of people seemed to be coming and going, so the three of us walked in.

It was pitch-black dark, very damp, and kinda scary. Sawyer walked with Pepa until the end of the line (maybe 100 feet or so):

The view from the end of the cave:

We’re not the first to visit this spot:

Back out with Pepa:

And the view of Sutro Baths, Cliff House, Ocean Beach, and Seal Rock from the other side of the cave:

And when we were done, Sawyer climbed back up the hill:

He’s such a little dude!

It all started when Pepa put his hat on Sawyer. Sawyer, of course, promptly put it back on Pepa:

Sawyer didn’t like it when Pepa wore it wrong:

So he tried to fix it:

And once it was on right, he was able to concentrate on his crayons and coloring book:

See?

Until Pepa started in again:

Mema can play too:

I think he likes it now:

Sawyer is confused because Mema put the crayons where his cars normally go:

But everything was fine once she put them back in the crayon bucket:

Phew!

His back-and-forth with Pepa T and Pepa T’s hat really was priceless. The pictures don’t do the scene justice, I just wish I had grabbed my video camera instead…

With Mema and Pepa Truitt visiting, it’s time for Sawyer to turn on the charm. That usually involves making a mess of himself, especially when he attacks and devours his yogurt for breakfast:

Believe me, he’s just getting warmed up.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. He never really overheated, but he was quite emphatic that he get to go up there and meet them right away. I don’t think he fully grasped the idea of waiting in line.

Each of these pictures catches Sawyer in the process of trying to convince me to go with him. You can see how much it means to him, can’t you?

My favorite:

You are hysterical, Sawyer. You never give up, do you?

You might think he was worn out after meeting Plex, Muno, and Foofa, but no, he was every bit as full of energy. Here he goes running away from me to play in the grass:

Last Friday afternoon, I saw that there was going to be a Yo Gabba Gabba promotion at the zoo this past weekend. It’s easily in his top three favorite shows to watch, depending on the day of course, sliding in before or after of Dora the Explorer and Team Umizoomi. It was an absolute must-see.

To sweeten the pot, I took Sawyer to the carwash first. Last weekend a bird decorated our car, leading Sawyer to demand that Abby find another bird to come clean it up. If only it were that easy, kid. He really likes the carwash.

The zoo doesn’t open until 10am, but members were able to get in line at 9:30. The line was already long by then and was quickly growing by the second. I felt so bad for the people that waited in line to get into the zoo only to find an equally long line inside to see the characters.

Our original place in line was right by this photo booth:

He was in and out of that photo booth for a good 20 minutes until a bunch of older kids saw him and decided to join. I don’t think anything was “on” inside, but there were a bunch of buttons on the console that he might have been playing with. Who knows, maybe there was something on the screen. Seeing the picture again sure makes me wonder what he’s thinking!

Sawyer spent most of the rest of the time playing in and around the fountain. When he wasn’t racing his ambulance on the edge, he was busy dunking his hands in the water. He was soaking wet when he came back to me. See the little peek-a-boo-Brobee? He left just before we got to the front of the line. Watch:

I must have heard and answered the question, “can we go up there?” at least a thousand times. We waited almost an hour for our big moment with Plex, Muno, and Foofa, but it was well worth it. That said, I think Sawyer was a little disappointed by it all. The first thing he said to Abby when we got home was, “they didn’t talk to me.” It’s true, they just stood there and waved to him.

Sawyer and I walked around the zoo for a bit after that, and were fortunate to meet Floyd, one of the new penguin chicks who just joined the colony last week. He’s just 12 weeks old. Watch:

I have a few more pictures of our zoo trip to upload tomorrow. Sawyer got to see a rhinoceros!