Little Fishies

We had planned to go to the San Francisco Zoo this week, but nixed those plans after a young man was mauled and killed by a tiger on Christmas day. No one seems to know how the tiger got out of her exhibit, it seems she may have leapt a 15 foot moat then scaled a 12 foot fence. We go to the zoo a lot, there are pictures of me an a baby at the zoo, but honestly I'm not sure I will want to go back for a very long time. It concerns me that no one knows exactly how the tiger got out.

So anyhoo, we decided to venture on down to Monterey instead and visit our fishie friends at the aquarium. Taking a long drive like that involves very careful planning, the most important being that we need to leave the house exactly when Molly would normally take a morning nap, and we needed to leave Monterey exactly when she would take he afternoon nap. And then we all need to be quiet in the car so she can sleep. Molly is a fabulous baby, but she is not a good traveler. The tiniest sound (like the click of the car seat handle) wakes her right up. We would never be able to move her inside and have her stay asleep. Forget about trying to transfer her from a car seat into her crib. And there's no use trying to go more than about 10 miles when she is awake because she will scream to express her displeasure at being buckled in. Sigh. It's a small miracle we ever get out of the house.

It was a beautiful, clear and sunny day in Monterey. Sometimes I wonder why we deal with the insane cost of living here and then we have perfect winter days like this and it all becomes clear. Patrick and Molly both enjoyed themselves, Molly was particularly interested in the ocean.

In other Molly news, she now has 6 teeth, with numbers 7 and 8 ready to pop through at any time. At 8 months she weighs about 18 pounds, so her growth seems to be slowing (phew, especially if you have seen my stash of summer clothes). She's still not crawling (thankfully!) but she is close, and her latest trick is trying to pull up on things (unsafe things, like the bathtub). We need to baby proof the house stat. She's doing better with solid foods, sometimes taking up to an ounce at a feeding, we're now offering 3 meals a day. She babbles and coos a lot, and is generally a very happy baby who thrives on routine. She's definitely my little princess.

Patrick has just been a hoot over the last few months. He's very much into role playing, and is constantly making up stories and scenarios for us to play along with. Last week he was telling me that he had a set of twins who lived in his sleeping bag. When asked what the twins names were, he responded with Baby Jesus, Norman, and Teresa. Of course! The other day while eating yogurt he was chastising someone. I asked him who he was talking to and he said "I'm talking to my imaginary friend Calvin!". Calvin really does exist by the way. Patrick's latest trick is walking through the room and announcing "Watch out, rock star coming through!". I have absolutely no idea where he picked that one up. He also wants to dress like a rock star, which means wearing a shirt with a guitar or drums on it. Sadly, he hasn't yet realized that a ukulele is not typically int he line up of a rock and roll band.

And finally... Earlier this week we were in Costco just as they happened to unload a huge palette of Wiis. I've been sort of nosing around for one for the last year, I tried to find one for Tom for Christmas but I'd never actually even seen one in stores since they debuted. So with a little Christmas money we bought a system and we are having Fun (yes, with a capital F) with it. Patrick loves the bowling, and he is actually really good at it. He regularly scores strikes while I am lucky not to get a gutter ball. Tom and I have been playing golf after the kids go to bed, and Tom has been playing a twisted version of baseball in which he both pitches and bats, it's a sight to see. So 3 thumbs up from us on the Wii, in the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. "