Shhh, Daddy...I'm listening

Before going to the airport, we stopped at a really good Mexican restaurant in San Bruno, Don Pico's, that came highly recommended by one of Mommy's co-workers. Dash, apparently now a music aficionado after just two Music Together classes, buttons Daddy's lips.

Here, Mommy prevents Dash from doing a face plant into her carne asada.

As good as the food was, including an especially yummy tres leches cake, Daddy was fascinated by the restaurant's artwork after learning that many of the paintings appeared in Citizen Kane.

All photos ©2011 Garrito

Wha...?

Just a random shot from our hotel room in San Francisco that didn't fit any narrative.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

Dash-a-roni

Dash has enjoyed a steady diet of San Francisco treats since Sunday. With Mommy in all-day meetings at Genentech HQ (boo!), Dash and Daddy have been free to wander (yay!).

It all started with a delayed flight, Dash's third flight in a month (already surpassing Daddy's total for his first 18 years). As with flying to San Diego, he was The Amazingly Non-fussy Baby. So much so that a steady stream of passengers felt compelled to stop and pay homage to the wünderkind.

We barely had enough time to grab a late, late lunch and check in before heading up to the Castro district to meet Daddy's oldest friend, David, for dinner. It being Easter Sunday in the Castro, resurrection practically gave way to insurrection.

San Francisco's notoriously bad street parking did not prevent Mommy from immediately finding a spot just around the corner from the restaurant. Unfortunately, Dash saved up all his fussiness for dinnertime, and barely allowed Mommy to sit. After dinner we took a nice stroll around the neighborhood. The moment Daddy asked David where Harvey Milk's old shop was located, he told me to simply turn around.

Shortly thereafter, we said our goodbyes and headed back to South San Francisco.

Monday started out gloomy. Rain was coming down and more was expected. When it began clearing a little in late morning, Daddy stirred Dash from a long 2 1/2 hour nap to get him ready for a drive to Berkeley to grab some lunch and explore. (Daddy had never been there.) The campus is pretty stunning.

Then it was time to head back over the Bay Bridge. Destination: Chinatown. Without Mommy's parking angel, the closest we could find a spot was on Telegraph Hill. So Dash and Daddy decided to make a quick stop at Coit Tower.

On the way up we heard squawking overhead. Sure enough, it was the fabled Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. (If you've never seen the documentary about them, rent it. Today!) Here we are at the top with the Transamerica Building poking at us in the background.

We finally made it to Chinatown, where Dash and Daddy were on a mission to a) get Mommy a bag of fortune cookies from alley-hidden Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, and b) find decent take-out to bring home for dinner with Mommy. We fulfilled both.

On the way back to the car, Daddy did not, repeat, did NOT, bring Dash in here.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a banner day in San Francisco. Sunny, low 60's. The perfect kind of day to head back up to the city. Dash and Daddy picked up David at the VA (where he does open source physicist programming for MRI's -- can you tell Daddy has no handle on this stuff?) and went to lunch at his favorite nearby Thai place. Dash, naturally, chose lunch to have an epic "blow-out". With no changing table in sight, Daddy was forced to use the car's back seat to dismantle the dirty bomb. That done, the three of us headed to Lincoln Park, where the VA is located, with views of the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The last stop of the day was the stunning park at the Palace of Fine Arts, site of the only remaining structure from the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition.

Today? Who knows. Maybe a trip down to Palo Alto before picking up Mommy and heading home back to the airport.

All photos ©2011 Garrito

He's got the beat

Child prodigy? Perhaps. Musical genius? Let's just say if Daddy's fingers were any more tightly crossed, they'd snap like drumsticks at a Who concert (or Buddy Rich show, for you septuagenarians).

Speaking of drumming...at today's Music Together class we were separated into groups of four and placed, with baby in lap, around large drums. Mommies and daddies started thumping together to a song, with the remote hope that the babies -- remember, these are 2-7 month old tots -- would miraculously join in. They didn't. That is, until one baby leaned in, grabbed the rim, got a feel for the instrument, and started wailing away on the skin. OK, maybe "wailing" is too strong of a word, and maybe, just maybe, his timing was a wee bit off, but Dash was the only infant who "got it".

Unfortunately, Daddy was too busy drumming himself and cheering on Ringo, er, Dash to capture the moment on film or video. Instead, here's a lame photo of the babies ready for us to circle them, singing about trotting to grandma's house to pick some cherries. Don't ask. (In case you're of the belief that all babies look alike, that's Dashiell Benjamin front and center.)

Lame Photo ©2011 Garrito

His sit don't stink

Developing right along, Dash has reached two new plateaus. First, he is sitting. Well, almost. If you've ever played "Pass The Pigs," you might recognize this as a Leaning Jowler:

Next up, Dash has learned to complete a full push-up. Not quite ready for Boot Camp, but then again, not quite ready for boots.

Photos © 2011 Garrito

The race is on

After a fruitless attempt to bring our boys to a kiddie music performance at the very-child-friendly coffee shop Cafe Au Play this morning -- it was standing room only, which makes it rather difficult with two babies who can't yet stand -- Daddy and fellow daddy, Keaton, brought Dash, Liam, and Alex back to his house to hang out.

At one point, while Liam was napping, Dash and Alex enjoyed some tummy time. The two daddies thought it might be fun (for us, at least) to pit the two not-yet-crawling babies in a hopeless race to get to a milk bottle.

Of course, Daddy forgot all about Dash's recently displayed power of levitation.

Unfortunately, it still didn't help him, and the contest was declared a tie.

Photos ©2011 Garrito

Happy Drunk

It didn't take long for Dash to cheerfully toss back a few cold ones provided daily by Daddy. Usually 10-12 oz. a day! If you remember, Dash would only take half that from not-Mommy those first few days of Daddy Day Care. Now it's "Where's my bottle?" every 5 minutes. Well, Mr. Grabby's body language says it, anyway.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

Silencing of the lamb

Sheldon the Sheep is a mutton for punishment.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

We have lift-off

In his ongoing attempt to crawl (or somehow get to where he wants to go), Dash attempts flight. It doesn't get him very far, but boy does he love to try. Notice the concentration. Ignore the spittle.

Photos ©2011 Garrito

Dash makes some noise

Clearing his pipes

Today Dash and Daddy attended our first class at Music Together, a 45-minute 10-week program "based on the recognition that all children are musical". We went to a demo class with Mommy a few weeks back, and were mighty impressed. Basically, it's a sing-along, play-instrument-along, dance-along thing. Our class is especially for babies, which of course means mommies and daddies do all the work. But fun work it is! Poor Mommy is bummed she can't attend with the boys, but is thrilled we're experiencing it. Dash loved it (as did Daddy). He was a bit of the belle of the ball, laughing, giggling, and cooing pretty loudly throughout. Astonishingly, there were two other daddies there.

Before going to the class, Dash prepared by chewing on Sophie the Giraffe.

Photo ©2011 Garrito

Beastie Boy

Dash enjoyed a day of animal adventures, starting with a trip to the Audubon Society. A Portland Dad meetup once again turned out to be an outing with just Daddy, Keaton, and the boyos. (I'm not sure if this has been explained, but Portland Dads has recurring trips scheduled every month, with notifications emailed automatically to all group members. Apparently it's a fair-weather group.) While we were there, one of the staff members happened to bring the resident vulture, Ruby, out front to enjoy some sun. Dash seemed to sense he was being sized up for a snack.

Later, at home, Dash found Java the Cat to be more his speed. To Daddy's surprise, Dash grabbed Java by the ear and walked away (well, rolled away, anyway) unscathed.

Photos ©2011 Garrito

Happy 5 Months!

Photo ©2011 Garrito

Who, me?

Photo ©2011 Garrito

Scenes from SoCal

Boy, it's amazing how far a little sun goes when you've experienced nothing but rain for two months. Literally. Portland just completed one of the wettest (and coldest!) Februaries and Marches on record. Here's a happy Dash leaving the dampness behind on his first-ever flight (btw, I think he might have been the first baby in the history of babies NOT to cry on a plane -- well, at least on the flight out):

Imagine our disappointment when we landed at a soggy John Wayne Airport. Fortunately, by the time we got down to San Diego the sun was out.

We checked in early at the posh Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad (my favorite kind of hotel: 5 Stars and free) and made a beeline to one of our favorite outdoor lunch spots: The Prado in Balboa Park (see previous post). Why, it was actually TOO sunny. We had to ask our waiter to bring an extra umbrella.

We then headed up to our old stomping (and surfing) grounds in North County. Here, at the beach in Del Mar, is Dash making an uncharacteristically funny face, and Daddy uncharacteristically NOT:

Breakfast at the hotel the next day featured perfect french toast, plus the perfect, extra-wide seat to accommodate a fidgety child while Mommy and Daddy ate:

After Daddy and Dash dropped Mommy off for her first day of meetings, we rented a BOB jogging stroller (like the one we have at home) and explored the hotel grounds. Dash was not a big fan of the many sculptures.

Daddy then took Dash for one of his favorite beach runs -- from Moonlight Beach in Encinitas to Cardiff Beach. This turned out to be one of Dash's least favorite runs. He had a meltdown halfway through, which meant we still had to return two miles. Two miles with a screaming, crying, sobbing baby felt like, oh, probably Moses schlepping through the desert for 40 years. Sorry, no pictures.

That evening, Mommy attended a dinner function at the hotel. Daddy stopped by with Dash so everyone could meet him. Dash was SO happy to make their acquaintances that he threw up all over Daddy. Again, sorry, no pictures available. (Stop gloating, Grandma Laurie.)

After drying off, Daddy took Dash to see a famous San Diego sunset, hoping for the mythical Green Flash. Just as Daddy snapped the following shot, Dash had another meltdown that lasted, ugh, an hour and a half.

The next day featured only one short meltdown (during our run, naturally). Otherwise, Daddy and a sleepy Dash enjoyed Torrey Pines.

Daddy and Dash checked out of the hotel, picked up Mommy, and headed back up to John Wayne Airport. We had some time to kill before our flight, so we took the slow way up the coast in Orange County. Daddy surprised Mommy with a big NY-style black & white cookie along the way, from Milton's in Solana Beach (one of the very few places that make 'em on this coast -- a shame).

Tummies satisfied, it was time to stop in Laguna Beach for one last ray of sun. Ahhhhhhhhh.

All photos ©2011 Garrito