Sawyer

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.

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!

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!

I bought tickets for the circus at least two months ago, but I didn’t mention it until the day before. Truth be told, he wouldn’t have had any idea what I was talking about, because I really didn’t have any concept of what the circus was like in person. It more than blew me away, and judging by his reaction throughout the day, I think it blew his mind too. I’ll do my best to piece the day together…

The show was in Oakland, and it started at 11am, so we left the house at 9:30. It’s about a 30 - 45 minute drive depending on traffic. I had both of our good cameras charged and ready for the show, but as we were walking up to the gate there was an announcement saying no cameras allowed. I took them back to the car only to find that the rule was not enforced at all.

The path leading up to the entrance was lined with souvenir stands. I breathed a sigh of relief when we made it through without having to buy anything, only to find that the entire concourse inside was full of them too. In fact, they were pretty much everywhere. Sawyer found a clown car that he wanted so I paid for it, relieved that it only cost $12.

The three of us went inside the arena to have a seat, and soon saw that the floor was open for everyone to come down and see various performances up close. Sawyer and I went ahead as Abby tried to capture the massive scene. Watch:

Sawyer was so confused by these guys:

He got to sit on one of the motorcycles:

He even got a temporary tattoo on his hand:

But he quickly wanted it taken off:

There was a commotion at the other end of the floor, and sure enough it was an elephant catching things with her trunk. We made our way down there as quickly as we could. Watch:

Yes, that elephant painted a picture. Of a horse. And it was good too. Sawyer was in awe. When he wasn’t playing with his car:

More pachyderm painting. Her tail wags the entire time. Watch:

Sawyer’s day was pretty much made at this point:

What’s amazing is that the show still hasn’t started! But the beginning had him wiggling in his seat. Motorcycles! Trains! Things with wheels! Guys with long legs! Watch:

Here’s the rest of the opening act, including Sawyer’s favorite part: the elephants! Watch:

The intensity didn’t let up until intermission, and the entire show stayed like that until the end (well, we left after about two hours, just missing the last 20 or so minutes). There were a few times that Sawyer had to walk out to catch his breath, and of course he had to drive his new car around on the floor for a bit, but he otherwise did very well.

We got home around 2pm, an hour after his normal nap time, and he didn’t fall asleep until almost 3pm. Once down, he slept almost four hours! I even zonked out on his bed for a couple of hours. When I finally woke him up, he ate a little bit of leftover pizza, but I could tell he was completely spent from all of the excitement earlier in the day:

I gotta say, it wore me out too. And all of our clothes smelled like elephant when we got home. Gross.

My favorite part of the day: watching and listening to Sawyer tell his stuffed animal elephant how he saw some other elephants earlier at the circus. He held him up to his face as he did it, every bit as excited as he was in the moment earlier.

I don’t know that I need to go again anytime soon, but it definitely was worth an afternoon to see his face light up so often. I wish I would have smuggled in the better cameras, but I hope you can get a sense of the excitement and amazement in his eyes.

In spite of my best efforts to get him to go back to sleep, Sawyer woke up ready to play this morning. For the past month or two, Abby and I have put the gate up in his doorway. He goes to sleep with fewer incidents and generally wakes up with less desire to run amuck. I said generally. This morning he was like a caged lion just waiting to roar.

Abby let him out of his room while I shook the cobwebs. I came out to the living room a few minutes later and found him playing with his trains. Watch:

I think I showed him the “choo choo bats” trick almost a year ago, but I can’t find a single picture or post to prove it. Abby said he started doing it again yesterday, but definitely went all out this morning!

Saturday morning is a very big day for us. He doesn’t know it yet (mostly because he wouldn’t have been able to talk about anything else), but Abby and I are taking him to the circus! Expect a bunch of pictures and videos tomorrow.

The three of us spent a good chunk of this past weekend apartment hunting. We went back to take a second look at a place not too far from home on Sunday night, and just so happened to park in front of his favorite park. I promised to take him there if he went to the apartment first. He did not forget our deal.

Once inside of the park fence, Sawyer ran for the swings, went down the slides a couple of times, and rolled around in the sandpit. He then decided that he had to play soccer on the playground. I had no idea he’d be so excited to do so. Watch:

He ran nonstop for a good 10 minutes, kicking and chasing the ball all over the playground. I’m most pleased with his celebration after scoring that goal at the end. GOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!

Good one, Sawyer. I guess you really did learn something from watching the World Cup with Dada all those mornings when you really just wanted to watch Dora. And maybe those three sessions of Soccertots weren’t such a lost cause after all.

I can’t wait for warmer weather.

I originally titled this movie, “Sawyer tips a tower and reads his counting colors book” but I think the real story is his adorably sweet “bye-bye” at the end. Watch:

He was a handful on Sunday morning, but he woke up from his nap a new Sawyer. After quickly building and then toppling our lego tower, he sat calmly next to me and read a bunch of books. That usually only happens at night.

Sawyer, I can deal with a lot of your craziness when you share such wonderful moments with me. Sometimes I think you know that, and give just enough to keep me going!

Erin and Sawyer go way back. She joined the three of us at his first baseball game in Oakland, which was our way of thanking her for watching him when he was only five months old (without family nearby, she was the only one we really trusted with him). Abby managed to get some pictures of the third time she babysat him when he was just about 14 months old. It’s fascinating to see his life in the context of those he shared a moment with.

Long story short, Erin is heading back home to Columbus to go to graduate school. She had a going-away party at a mutual friend’s house in Oakland, so the three of us headed over the Bay Bridge to say goodbye. She introduced Sawyer as the star of her favorite flickr movies, and he absolutely devoured her homemade meatballs, so I figured I’d combine both of those things into one fantastic flick. Watch:

Thank you for all of your help over the years, Erin! I know we’ll probably see you just as much there as we did here, but I will definitely miss having you close by. Best of luck!

btw, the dog barking in the background was named Barney. I only wish I’d caught some video of Sawyer with him. They were both low to the ground and often at odds, first Sawyer was somewhat fearful of his bark then Barney was somewhat tired of his nonstop interest in him. In the end they were great friends, mostly because Barney got to eat whatever Sawyer dropped on the ground.

Thursday morning was an eventful one for Sawyer. First, he went to his very first dentist appointment. Abby said he did well, but that he didn’t want to sit in the chair alone, so she held him while Dr. Nancy worked her magic. He received three stickers for his patience, found a car in the goodie box, and wore a big smile through his next task: Abby’s baby checkup. All is well.

After that, the two of them came to eat lunch with me in the park. It’s impossible to eat on the picnic tables now that Sawyer feels free enough to roam, so we crammed ourselves into a table at our favorite burrito shop. He was reasonably calm, given all the things he had to do that morning, but clearly wanted to get some time in the park. He practically ran to the slide when we left. You can see he was bursting with energy:

And yes, that’s a new trick. How ‘bout those new (now not so) orange shoes? Can you believe how easily he can scale those steps to the top?

Sadly, this is probably as good as he’s felt since then. Hopefully he’s turned the corner.

Trucks go up and down our street all of the time, so it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary to see the one on the left stop to pick up some junk. However, it was incredibly bizarre to see a garbage truck back up to it seconds later. And then when the driver of the first truck pushed a couch out of the back and into the garbage truck, well, all bets are off. Neither Abby not I have never seen anything so ridiculous — it really bothered Sawyer too! Watch:

All that aside, doesn’t he look great in his new truck pajamas?