motel room

On our vacation, we discovered that the first thing to do in any hotel room is to unplug the phone, because it is invariably the first thing Lucca goes for. And once unplugged, it provides a good 10 minutes of concentrated play for him, thus temporarily distracting him from trying to pull the TV over on himself or unpacking our suitcases for us. This phone in a motel room in Burlington, Vermont, got an especially vigorous workout.

As a side note, the PJ's he's wearing here are now nearly too small for him, a scant two months later. Sigh. He just keeps getting bigger.

These pictures also give you a good view of his mullet. It's even longer now.

summer love

I'm having trouble mustering enthusiasm for my unofficial "farewell to summer" series today, as we are no longer basking in the crisp slanted light of autumn in San Diego, but rather cooking in the heat of another Santa Ana. ugh. I am so ready to say farewell to summer.

But anyway, here are a few pictures from a playdate in our back yard a couple months ago - Ollie and Lucca going in for a sweet summer kiss. This occurred about thirty seconds after Sage planted one on Ollie; Ollie's ready-for-action stance never faltered throughout.

lake champlain

more from our summer vacation...

lucca enjoyed the lake, and skipping stones with papa.

dandelion

Fall is in the air, so to say goodbye to summer, here are some pics from our August vacation in Vermont.

oh, my heart.

self-portrait

shadow dancing

in the buff, natch.

living the dream

I'm declaring the unplanned summer blogging hiatus over! How to begin again? How about with the most recent pictures. Maybe I can get some stuff from the past few months up soon, but let's just start from now, jump right in! No time like the present.

So, here are some shots from the other night - my darling son, helping me make pizza! (actually, more like eating the olives off and poking his fingers through the crust, but let's not quibble about details.)

Using the stepstool that I just bought for this very purpose. sigh. this is just so darn cute and heartwarming.

Update

I intended to have a "Father's Day: part 2" post, but then... I didn't. We had a great day, though. Carlo wanted to have a BBQ, so we did and he spent most of the day cooking piles of food. At one point I commented to him that it was father's day and he was spending the whole day working and he happily said, "I'm cooking for our friends and family!" I married a good man.

Last weekend we went to New Mexico for various family events. Lucca charmed everyone and had fun playing with all his cousins. It was a whirlwind trip - pictures to follow!

This weekend we dipped our toes in the waters of family camping and went up to Cuyamaca to camp with playgroup friends. It was fun and Lucca had a good (very dirty) time. Again, pictures to follow!

And that is all for now.

swimming with the fishes: father's day, pt. I

Today we went to the Birch aquarium in La Jolla - Lucca's first time. Boy oh boy, was it ever a hit. Fish! Water! STARFISH!!

(Note: Lucca's super-cute "La Bota" tshirt is courtesy of Urban Housewife.

Carlo's "Sunnydale" tshirt is courtesy of Frenchy.)

(these are plastic starfish, by the way...)

And finally, proof that Carlo and Lucca are related:

(and no, we are not feeding Lucca potato chips; we're just eating them right in front of him. That's just the kind of parents we are.)

Happy Father's Day everyone!

cheese

Lucca loves string cheese... I got some a week or so ago and ever since he goes to the fridge and makes the sign for cheese at least once a day, usually multiple times. I explained to him that we all want to eat cheese all day every day, but we just can't. That's one of the bittersweet things about cheese.

This afternoon Lucca was looking up at the camera, and I said, "say cheese!" At which point he got this expression:

He's thinking, "cheese? what does cheese have to do with me wanting to touch the camera lens? wait, cheese.... I think I want some cheese..."

playing the big red ball

Lucca loves to rest his head on the exercise ball while Papa drums on it...

...and, being Lucca, the game would not be complete without a little taste.

prizefighter/sleeptalker

Yesterday at the park Lucca fell down and scraped his face. I was standing right next to him, too... chit-chatting with another mom. Mother of the Year!! that's me. sigh.
He's in good spirits, facial injury notwithstanding.

In other news, last night he talked in his sleep. One of his favorite words these days is "car"- he makes the sign and says "cahhh!" This comes up a lot; as it turns out, cars are EVERYWHERE. Last night I had just gotten him back to sleep and was almost asleep myself when he sort of half sat up, made the car sign and emphatically declared, "cahhh!" and then lay back down, asleep. What was he dreaming?

ball