yesterday, as he sat in the bathtub, i cut little donald trump's hair. now he has short bangs and it's long in back. so yeah, it's a mullet. when i saw what i'd done, i laughed maniacally. and when i laughed, he laughed, too.

when i lifted him out of the tub and wrapped him in a towel he said, "i'm a princess."

the whole drive to school this morning i checked him out in the mirror trying to tell myself the cut looked okay. it didn't.

we stopped to get him a donut and me a coffee and i asked him if he wanted to wear a hood.

someone take the scissors away.

photos before the mullet.

camera

ollie got a camera from mimi and papa, for hanukkah. it's a 1.3 megapixel vetch kidizoom. he filled the memory card with in the first 12 hours. gabe made a slideshow.

sickie boy

o was sick today so i worked from home while he watched a few too many movies. (guilty mama.) most of the day he was lethargic and feverish. late this afternoon he got a burst of energy.

since moving to oakland, i miss alembic. wish i'd spent more time there when i lived so close. they have really lovely cocktails. since friday was g's birthday, g and i took the day off and headed into san francisco. we stopped in at alembic, after some book shopping at the booksmith (me) and record shopping at amoeba (g). there's something incredibly satisfying about having a mid afternoon cocktail on a weekday, no?

friday night my mom watched o, so i could attend a great show at the hotel utah.

the rest of the weekend was mostly about chores and errands. gabe powered through mountains of laundry, while i cleaned the house. pretty boring. but there were naps. we love naps!

and of course, cars were everywhere. at all times.

and ollie picked up some new kicks today. he ended up getting the green brobees. so cute. (pardon the blurry shot.)

have a great week. ours looks busy!

over dinner

one of ollie's best buddies at school is named f. f has a little brother, k, who is one. this was our conversation tonight at the dinner table

ollie: f has a k.
me: yes, f has a little brother, k.
ollie: we don't have a k?
me: no, we don't have a baby.
ollie: can we go to the store and get one tomorrow?

hotel room bliss

pretty much his idea of a perfect morning: cars 2, which he calls "boat-water," because, well, it starts off with a boat in the water and a donut.

i just realized we have so few photos of us as family. here's one from halloween. i was holding ollie back because he was ready to go, go, go!

gift idea

ollie got a bunch of amazing gifts for his recent birthday.

one present that i thought was really special was a painting from his little buddy, that came with a blank canvas and paints, so ollie could make his own.

ian's


ollie's


ollie's room

the weekend started off great. we had a really good saturday. (sunday, not so good. i woke up with a stomach bug or food poisoning.)

almost every morning when he wakes up, ollie asks us, "school today?" on saturday he was thrilled to hear that there was no school.

the weather was gorgeous, with temps hovering around 80 both days. we spent saturday outside. we walked to the bakery, to the coffee shop and then to the playground.


these trees are behind the claremont hotel. ollie thinks the claremont is a big castle.

we like to go to john muir elementary school to play on their playground. we also like to sneak in the back and see the chickens. what a magical school. there's an amphitheather and a garden.


talking to the chickens.



playing at the park


hanging on the patio

Dear Ollie,

I can't believe you're three today.

6 weeks in his onesie from Auntie GG and Uncle C

Gone are your gooey thighs and rubberband wrists.


You're no longer content to sit still at the park.


The car ads in the newspaper don't give you a thrill anymore. Maybe when you're 16 and hoping for a car. (Don't get your hopes up, kid.)



You say you need things, like you need to watch “Thomas the Train.” You need leche. You need to stay up. We always correct you and say you don’t need that—you only want that.
Now you say, “I need-want to watch Thomas the Train,” or “I need-want to go play.”

You always tell Dad and me, “hold you,” which means you want one of us to hold you.

Your favorite movies are “Cars” and “Horton Hears a Who.” You like to watch “Dinosaur Train,” “Curious George” and much to our chagrin, “Thomas.” You always find a toy to go with what you're watching. If it's "Cars," you hold McQueen. If it's "Horton," you find an elephant.

Sometimes you tell me to be “Oviler” and you’ll be “Twacey.” Then you call me honey and ask if I want to go the park.

You hate taking a bath, except if it’s time for bed.


You love, love, love your best friend, Faelan. When you’re at school and I tell you that it’s time to go and to tell your friends goodbye, you say bye to Faelan only. We’re working on this.

Sometimes you ask if we can “have a cuddle” and my heart melts.

You truly love people, particularly kids.

You love your uncles and you show off for them.


All of your grandparents are mad about you -- and you know it.

When we’re driving you talk constantly and you’re a bad backseat driver. Once I didn’t have my seatbelt on and you hounded me until I put it on. (Not because of the seatbelt, but because of the light on the dashboard.) When we sit in traffic you often ask me if I can drive faster.

You sing the ABCs when you’re excited. On our way to a birthday party? You belt it out.
Waiting for a donut at Fellini’s? ABC!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ollie-pepper, Mr Magoozer, MowMow, Ollie-max, we love you to pieces. Happy birthday, big guy.

Love, Mama

back!

excuse the silence over here. i got back from my trip back east wednesday night and i've been going ever since.

the excitement in our house today? ollie started using the toilet. yep, the big boy potty. out of the blue i asked him if he wanted to try it. and then i bribed him -- and i'm not ashamed to admit it. i offered a trip to the store to buy one "cars" toy. and he got up and walked into the bathroom, took off every stitch of clothing but his socks, and sat down and did it. then he did it again tonight.

lots of celebrating and high fiving around our house today. we made a BIG DEAL over his accomplishment.

tomorrow we plan on tackling reading or making the perfect margarita, not sure which yet.

totally unrelated, here's a picture from a walk two weekends ago.

i'm posting this using one hand because ollie is sitting next to me, watching thomas. thomas pisses me off...i think we'll need to phase thomas out of the offerings.

speaking of hands, i love this little dimpled hand.

food

on friday night we had ollie's best bud and his wonderful family over for dinner. the kids had fun and us parents did, too.

we barbecued hots and hams, made a green salad, and i made pasta ponza. (people seem to love her or hate her, but i'm a fan of giada. i find her recipes to be super simple and always tasty. gabe didn't love the pasta, but i did. two helpings loved it.)



here's the recipe if you're interested.

Ingredients

Butter for greasing
2 cups (12 ounces) red cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 cups (12 ounces) yellow cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup capers, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1/2 cup Italian-style seasoned breadcrumbs
1 pound ziti or other short tube-shaped pasta
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 ounces) Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish. Set aside.

Place the tomatoes, capers, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the prepared baking dish. Toss to coat. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the tomato mixture. Drizzle the top with olive oil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top is golden. Cool for 5 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.

Place the pasta in a large serving bowl. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the pasta. Add the cheese and toss well. Thin out the sauce with a little pasta water, if needed. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve immediately.

recipe via food network.

after reading through the recipe, i realize i did 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, instead of half cup. next time i make it, i want to add garlic, onion and zucchini.

speaking of food, two of my favorite people started a food blog. their names are gabrielle and craig. these two folks used to live upstairs from us in the city. it was always a treat to eat dinner with them. they're both great cooks. they're my favorite people, along with gabe, to dine with.

seriously, i love these two to pieces. they're some of the sweetest, kindest, and coolest people i know. but enough about my love for them, go see for yourself. e is for eats. read them, i promise you won't be sorry.

p.s., the E shelf pictured on their blog? it's full of food they canned.

my very first self made margarita! i'm obsessed--they are SO good.


if i am not stepping on a cheerio, i see a spider. it's an either or thing in this house.


ollie, in his backpack, collecting "leafwiches." leafwiches are courtesy of dinosaur trian. backpack is courtesy of our dear friends. please note the backpack was not able to be removed for lunch or movie watching. he's hardcore.

Yesterday I told Ollie that if he went potty like a big boy, I’d buy him a Lightning McQueen car. Gabe and I had talked about a bribe, briefly, but this came out of nowhere. I'd been thinking about M&Ms and out of my mouth comes McQueen. A year ago, I never thought I’d even let him see Cars, let alone offer to buy it for him if he'd pee in his froggy toilet.

We’d been planning on heading out to run errands and pick up dinner w/ G. First stop was Amoeba. Gabe jumped out while we circled the block.

Mama, can we just go get my McQueen now?

No Ollie, sweetie. I’m sorry you misunderstood. Mama said we could buy a McQueen if you go potty in the big boy potty.

No, I don’t want to.

Later we go to the grocery store.

Can I go find McQueen?

No sweetie. They don’t have any McQueen here.

So now I feel bad, like I’ve confused him, or that he's not going to believe me anymore. He’s not three yet and they say boys are slower to potty train than girls. And I know that every kid is different. A couple of his teachers have told me they think he’s ready and I do think he gets it. I’m not in any particular hurry at this point.

I did ask him if he wanted to wear his Thomas underwear tomorrow and he said, no his Percy underwear.

i'm busy

video by dad

vacation part two

after our beach house stay, we headed down to southern california to see the g's folks.

we checked out the dinosaur museum at the los angeles museum of natural history. it was pretty cool, though a bit too old for o.


here he is, pteranadon in hand, on the way home.


there was froyo at my favorite place to get froyo in so cal, the golden spoon.



we also took o to his first baseball game. we had bleacher seats. tickets came with all you can eat hot dogs, nachos, sodas, peanuts and soda. ollie liked the nachos. that's my boy.


note the pacifier. the minute the national anthem started, ollie also started -- started crying that is. and saying he wanted to go home. pacifier it was. he eventually came around had fun.


food shot


g's folks have a fish pond in the backyard. ollie got to feed the fish. instead of slowly dropping the food into the pond, ollie dropped it all.



finally, here's a pic of us, way back when we were young. (i snapped a shot off g's parent's wall of photos.)

vacation part one

last week we rented a beach house in aptos, which is 15 miles south of santa cruz. we went with my cousin, his girlfriend and his two kids. the house was right across the street from the beach.

balcony view


ollie maxin' and relaxin' on the balcony. mama, i'll take a leche, neat, please.



hank the puppy came, too.


we spent our days on the beach.


ollie loved it.


one grey morning we ventured to santa cruz and hung out on the boardwalk, while we waited for the fog to burn off. ollie had his first corndog. and went on his first ride. and then his second, third, fourth...


tuckered out after the boardwalk.


beach palm trees.


not pictured: beers on the beach, really good wine, food, gossip mags and books.