Happy new year!

The artist, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Time to kick 2008 to the curb and welcome in a hopeful 2009. May you all be happy, healthy and needless. Joy!

Happy birthday Grandma Juju!

Happy birthday grandma Juju!
Originally uploaded by jessicafm

Thank you for bringing me in to this world and raising me right. And now you're helping raise our beautiful boy and we love you so much for that and everything else. xoxo happy birthday Mom.

The artist at work

The artist at work, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Santa gave Davey an art station. It's a desk that flips up to an easel with lots storage bins for supplies and a stool. I put it together yesterday before his nap and, when he awoke, he got naked and started painting. By the time he was done we were all proud of his newest artwork on the paper and all over his body. It's debatable which had more paint on it... Thankfully he likes baths, too.

One year in 40 seconds

Cool.



One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

Dinner's ready!

Dinner's ready!, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

What else can I say except, "Urp"!?

We had a lovely Christmas this year. Christmas eve afternoon at Mom and Mick's house for Davey and I where Davey and I were both lavished with gifts. What happened to frugal Christmas, Mom? Okay, well... since the gifts were all terrific and given with love, we'll let it pass this time. xoxo



Afterwards, Davey and I ventured to Polly's house for a casual family gathering over a big pot of delicious, homemade minestrone soup. Mark, after working the shop through the morning, caught a ride there with Dad and Linda so he could join in, too, and we could drive home together.



On Christmas day it was showtime: Our first time hosting a holiday dinner and my first time being responsible for the meal, including my first time roasting a turkey. Huzzah, it was a success!



On the Santa front: Davey was blessed by Santa this year with lots and lots of new books, a few movies, a cool car, stylish clothes, basketball sets (oops -- two of them -- two grandma's are in tune with Davey's desires!) and more, I'm sure.



With all the excitement across two days, Davey was pretty spun out by bedtime on Christmas night. He woke up at 4:30am on Boxing Day. What's up with THAT? I drifted in and out of consciousness on the sofa while I let Davey watch one of his new movies: Cars.

Now that I'm on vacation/furlough until January 5, I've got some time to relax a little, which is welcome. Today, Marina and I took Davey to Sausalito to deliver a big left-overs lunch to Mark at the shop, run along the water-front and for Davey to visit "my park" on Cloudview for the first time.


Once we got home this afternoon, I went grocery shopping for a few essentials and when I returned, Marina said that Davey had climbed in bed and requested the blanket and promptly fell asleep. That was an hour and a half ago. I hope it's just all the excitement of the last few days and that he's not getting sick.
It's been a great time off work so far.

Counting to 10

Counting to 10
Originally uploaded by jessicafm

He CAN count to 15. Tonight it was 10... sorta. :-)

12,000 hits on this blog?

Running thru the trees, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

REALLY? Wow.

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Holiday lights in front of our house

Holiday lights in front of our house, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Happy holidays, all! May you all be warm, snug and surrounded with love.

I want a BATH

I want a BATH, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

He was frustrated because I wasn't letting him have a bath just yet.

Who loves Vietnamese caramelized ribs?

Who loves Vietnamese caramelized ribs?, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Seriously. You've gotta make these ribs. I got the recipe from Chubby Hubby. Mine never turn out as dark as those in his photos but man are they delicious.

I Drive

Drivin', originally uploaded by jessicafm.

When getting out of his car seat these days, he's as likely to jump in to the front seat to touch all the controls and grab the wheel as he is to exit through the rear door. Not that I'm trying to encourage this behavior, of course, but he loves it, nonetheless.

Every day David spouts new words and phrases, so much so that I'm giving up on keeping track through a word list. The words are just coming so fast lately that I don't have enough time to note them down and enter them in to the list. Suffice it to say that I'm not worried about his verbal abilities in any way.



The holidays are upon us! This is the first chance I've had to say anything about our fun-filled Thanksgiving weekend.

On the big T-day, we attended a warm and wonderful celebration at uncle Jon Dreyer's house with most of the Dreyers in attendance. Anne was missing because she was with her fiance's family (assuming they're in in So. Cal somewhere).



The next day found us picking olives up at Mom and Mick's with a good sized group of volunteers. That turned out to be a lot more fun than one would imagine. Plus we got a delicious lunch out of the deal and, I believe, we'll be getting some olive oil as well.







I'm now in the process of curing a few cups of olives from that day of picking as well. I'm following this recipe.



Another day that weekend, Davey showed he's learning to climb trees and loving it:


He's really such a strong kid! On the playground, he shows a lot more sure-footedness and confidence than most of the other kids I see his age. Is that because of the gymnastics he's been taking for the last year? Which reminds me of one of his latest new words: Flip. "I flip mommy."

And, finally, on Sunday I took David to the Corte Madera Town Center where he met Santa for the first time this year. I haven't had a chance to go back to pick up the official photo. Hopefully they got at least one that's better than any of the ones I took. At least this year he was willing to happily sit in Santa's lap, as opposed to last year when I sat next to Santa and Davey sat in my lap.

Shroomies under pine trees

Shroomies under pine trees, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Pretty but... either moldy or deadly or both?

At least Davey calls these, "No touch." That's a good start!

Hey!

Run away!, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

You're going the wrong way! The playground is in the other direction, silly!

Our little pilot

Digger, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Digging in the sand on a chilly late Autumn morning.

Little Drummer Boy

Drummer
Originally uploaded by jessicafm

No pah-rum-pa-pum-pums here, however. Go, baby, go!

Time for the big boy bed!

Enjoying the conversion to a "big boy bed", originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Recently, as I may have blogged here, David figured out how to climb out of his crib, thus signalling the imminent removal of said rail. Last weekend I bought a "toddler rail" and this morning Mark set to putting it in to use. He took the crib rail off and then installed the toddler rail. The toddler rail can fold down, though I think it's really made for a wider and taller bed. That said, it works but when the rail folds open, it hits the floor instead of lying flat against the side of the bed. No biggie.

Needless to say, Davey was very interested in the whole process. After Mark was done, Davey immediately was climbing in and out of his bed and bouncing up and down.

Let's see what happens at bed time tonight. Or, more interesting yet, when he wakes up tomorrow morning!

Annnnnd it's off!

Davey loves spaghetti, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

The house, that is. After about a month on the market, two broker's tours, two open houses and countless private showings, we have taken our house off the market. Despite how cute the house is, what great shape it's in and the bargain price, we did not receive even one offer! Mark is a little bummed, disbelieving that we didn't even get one low-ball offer. I'm okay with it -- I know we did not receive a low-ball offer because our broker, Tom Dreyer, told people not to bother as we wouldn't even consider taking a major break in our price. It's a sign of the market that our really cute house -- definitely the cutest in the county at our asking price -- doesn't get an offer. There were other homes that were asking a lot less but weren't nearly as cute or in as good a condition. People only want bargains / fixers right now.

So off the market it goes and we'll consider putting it back on in the Spring. Meanwhile, we can enjoy our holidays in our cute, de-cluttered house in peace.

Man from Marin

I don't know the lovely trio that came up with this, but it's very silly and funny and if I'm completely honest, the song reminds me of at least a few men I've known from Marin.

An afternoon in San Francisco

Watching a street musician, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Last Saturday seemed like a good day to take David on his first cable car ride. He's so enthralled with trains, buses and trucks, Mark was working at the shop all day and Davey and I had no plans. I called Mom and told her about it and she thought it would be a fun time, too, so joined in on the adventure. I thought we could head over towards Ghiradelli Square, park the car and either let Davey run around the Square there and then go for a cable car ride, or ride the cable car to Union Square, let him run around THERE and then ride the cable car back to our car.

By the time we left our house, it was time for Davey to take a nap and he fell asleep shortly after we hit the road. We made a quick stop in to Sausalito to deliver a couple of pralines to Mark, which Mom had brought back for him from her recent trip to New Orleans.

Once we got close to Sausalito we saw that what was gray overcast in Novato was a very low to the ground, dense fog and threat of rain. Hmm. We continued across the Golden Gate Bridge and, seeing as David was still conked out, Mom suggested we head to the Ferry Building to get some lunch at Out the Door before heading to the cable cars.

David woke up just in time, as I pulled in to a parking spot outside Shanghai 1930. He was cheery and looking forward to whatever we had in store for him. We then walked the two blocks to the Ferry Building and oggled the stands at the Saturday Farmer's Market. Davey and Mom enjoyed listening to a street performer playing his steel guitar.

We grabbed some take-out lunch for Mom and me, picked up a basket of strawberries (straw-beech) and a Dagoba dark chocolate bar as a treat for Davey (I had packed a lunch for him already) and we quickly inhaled a bit of sustenance while Davey squirmed around and wanted to explore.

Once we reemerged from the building we found that the fog was so thick it was hard to tell if it was fog or rain. Mom and I agreed that this wasn't, perhaps, the best weather for the cable car. And, besides, we already had a parking place there. Why have to deal with that all over again in an even more touristy part of San Francisco? So, instead, we fed the parking meter and headed to a trolley stop on the Embarcadero.

The trolley was packed with people but a nice gentleman gave up his seat to Mom, who was holding David. A little while later, the gentleman next to Mom and David offered up his seat to me.

Needless to say, Davey LOVED riding on the trolley. "Trolley" is now, of course, a new word in his vocabulary, often said in a chant.

We rode the trolley a good ways up Market Street before getting off and walking down the sidewalk for a little bit. We headed in to the Westfield Mall for a short stroll, as I haven't had a chance to see what's in there since it was expanded. Mom and I agreed that we'd really like to go back there, without David, and shop together (unlike BOTH of us to want to shop). blIt was jam packed, bustling and I would never have guessed there was a recession based on how many people were in there shopping. Afterward, we emerged from the mall, got in line and hopped on to the next trolley heading back to the water. Trolley, trolley, trolley!

Next weekend, maybe we'll get on the cable cars.

Absolute and utter joy

Inclusion, hope and running a clean campaign won over mudslinging, lies, racism and fear.

The world is a better place today!

I voted for Obama

I voted for Obama, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Woo hoo!

Google Interactive Vote Returns Map

Twitter Vote Report Map

Check out this interactive map of Twitter vote reports:

My little sous chef

Eating molasses ginger cookies, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

In the past few weeks David has become my frequent sous chef. If I neglect/refuse to hold him to look at what I'm cooking or put him on the counter, he'll drag a chair over to the counter so he can stand up and see what's going on. "Help, help, help," he'll plead, meaning he wants to help ME.

Today he helped me bake cookies for the first time. We made some vegan molasses ginger cookies and he was terrific at helping me add ingredients to the dough and roll the dough in to balls. His favorite part, of course, was licking the beater and the finished cookies.

Also today: When he awoke from his nap, rather than cry out for me to come get him, he climbed out of his crib. I only knew that he'd awoken when I heard the handle of his door jiggle and then his feet padding down the hallway. Yikes! Time to convert the crib to a toddler bed ASAP.

We Stand For Change - Barack Obama Anthem

I'm honored to have been part of the chorus for this beautiful song and video. Pass it on and VOTE OBAMA on November 4!

Dancing to the Hipwaders

Dancing to the Hipwaders
Originally uploaded by jessicafm

Last Sunday Bonnie and I took Davey to the Bay Area Discovery Museum's Goblin Jamboree. Working off Davey's new black and yellow rainboots, Bonnie bought a fireman's costume which she then tailored to fit him better and added stripes to the back of the jacket. She also customized the hat beautifully.



David had a GREAT time at the Jamboree. As you can see in this video, he really enjoyed the Hipwaders and especially liked the inflatable guitars that were available for sale. In this video Davey is using a borrowed guitar, but by the end of the day I bought a gold one for him. You can see him here, playing it standing atop the coffee table after we got home that night:



Davey's got the idea that you make a guitar make music by knocking on the neck. We'll work on that. Meanwhile, anyone playing a guitar is automatically named, "Papa," by Davey. Especially when they're singing, too. Aww.

Please Sarah

San Francisco Bay Area women and girls ask you to think before you vote.

On the market

Novato, Oct 15, 2008, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Today our house was on the Novato Broker's tour of open homes for the first time. It was open from 9:30 to 2 and had about 40 brokers/agents come through. 3 more brokers brought their clients through the house this evening and another broker has an appointment to take a client through tomorrow morning.

The house looks really good, I must say. Here's hoping others think so, too!

David's first time cooking

David stirs the softening veggies, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

This afternoon, David was very insistent that he wanted to help me prepare dinner (17 bean and barley soup). "Hup, hup, hup," he repeated. I realized, "Oh, you want to help me cook dinner?" "Uh huh," he replied.

Okay then!

So I pulled up a chair and had him help me wash, cut and stir veggies. What a guy!

It's official - we've put our home on the market

As cute as our house is, we're putting it on the market.

It's adorable and has been a great starter house. We love its walking-distance proximity to the farmer's market, lots of good restaurants and coffee and how close it is to Dad and Linda's house. However, it's simply not large enough for the three of us and we need more space for Mark's car collection and car-related collectibles. So, while it's far from an ideal time to sell our house, it's a really good time to be in the market to purchase a house.

We have our eye on a place and, hopefully, we'll be able to agree on a price.

In the meantime, our house is on the market if you know anyone interested in a great place!

A list of Davey's words

When I was at Davey's 2 year check-up, Dr. Lee wanted to know how many words Davey has. The answer was, "I don't know." More than I can count? Yes, off the top of my head, more than I can count.

That said, now I'm counting. Time to start keeping a list!

Birthday snuggles

Birthday snuggles, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Our big boy is two years old. Wow wow wow!

On Sunday, October 5, we had his birthday party at Miwok Park in Novato. In attendance were lots of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and a few friends. It wasn't huge, but just right for Davey's 2nd birthday party. Everyone had fun, the weather was perfect, there were other kids on the playground, having other birthday parties... David really enjoyed blowing out the candles on his cake and has most definitely got the hang of opening gifts. It was terrific!

Tuesday, October 7, was his actual birthday. Mark and I took the day off work and the three of us, along with Marina, Dad, Linda and Mom went to the newly re-opened California Academy of Sciences. Once inside we went to the cafeteria for lunch (really good food!) and then we broke out a birthday cake that Grandma Julia brought along. Happy birthday to you, Davey! Then it was time to explore the museum and all it had to offer. Davey seemed to really enjoy it, with his favorite parts being the penguins (in the African Hall) and the surf exhibit in the aquarium.

This morning was his 2 year check-up with Dr. Lee. Not only did Dr. Lee say that Davey is GREAT and has a clean bill of health and development, there weren't even any shots. Plus Davey got two sticks (tongue suppressors) and a Train sticker to boot. Happy Davey! And -- after a year of being off the chart -- David is finally back on the weight chart! He's still skinny, but at least he's on the chart.

Height: 34.25" (+2.25" in 6 months ~50th percentile)
Weight: 23lbs-5oz (+3lbs-5oz in 6 months ~4th percentile)
Head: 19.25" (+.125" in 6 months ~50th percentile)

It's a little early for his Hep-A vaccination, so Dr. Lee asked that we come back in early November for that shot. Other than that, his next appointment will be his 3 year check-up.

Developmentally, David's recently begun stringing two words together but, for the most part, he says one word at a time. However, when Dr. Lee asked how many words he has I was really stumped. More than I can count off the top of my head. He's a real parrot these days. He also sings songs by himself and, recently, sings along with others. He loves drumming and dancing to music, loves to draw and enjoys running around and playing outside. Whenever at the playground he has a tendency to stop what he's doing to watch pretty girls walk by and often tries to get their attention or otherwise engage cute girls.

David loves to climb in to bed with us and snuggle or climb up on us to give us hugs and kisses. Smiley sweet and snuggly, that's David.

He's also very much TWO and pushing his limits to see what he's allowed to do and how much he can get away with. We make use of two minute time-outs nearly once a day. This morning he slapped, tentatively, at Marina for no reason. I looked at him and said, calmly, "Did you hit Marina?" He nodded and I replied, "Well you know we don't hit and that hitting means time-out." He calmly walked over to the fireplace, moved his toy cars off of it and sat down in the prescribed spot until I said two minutes had elapsed. Self correcting... this is good...

Physically, oh boy, David is so strong and so flexible. He can easily hold himself up on the rings in gymnastics class or on the monkey bars. He's great at climbing walls, people, and starting to play with climbing trees.

I'll stop glowing now, but oh, I'm so proud of my beautiful boy.

Happy birthday David!

Opening a present on his birthday, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

2 years -- it's remarkable that it's been that long. Happy birthday to our dearest, sweet and, as so many people mention, COOL son David.

Practice makes perfect!

P1220506, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

For several days leading up to his birthday party, Davey practiced singing the happy birthday song and blowing. All that practice paid off when he blew out his birthday candles all by himself at his 2nd birthday party on October 5. My boy!!

Tomorrow, his actual birthday, I think I'll need to make sure he has a cupcake and candle to blow out again...

Sun cream on Davey and chair

Sun cream on Davey and chair, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Davey sometimes goes to his room and closes his door behind him. I figure that he deserves privacy if that's what he wants. After all, he can open and close the door on his own and his room is basically proofed enough that he can't hurt himself.

Usually when he does this, when I come in I'll find him building with blocks, playing with cars or sitting in the chair, reading to himself.

This time it was a little different.

He'd gotten a hold of the stick of suncream and "applied" it copiously to himself... and the CHAIR.

Later he "helped" Daddy by drawing on last month's shop ledger.

Ah, in just two more days he'll be two.

One day we'll laugh about this.

Actually, I'm laughing now.

A B C D E F G

A B C D E F G
Originally uploaded by jessicafm

It's been a musical morning in Davey's room today. He started out by playing drums and singing a tune of his own composition. Later we turned on the music and he happily set up his drums, played and danced along for a good half an hour or so.

Now he's napping before his birthday party.

Yay!

Drummer boy

Drummer boy
Originally uploaded by jessicafm

I tried giving him different "drum sticks", but he always went back to the plastic broom stick. Okee.

Bus boy jr.

Novato, Sep 28, 2008, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Mark is the original Bus Boy and Davey is well on his way in his father's footsteps.

Sweet and active boy

P1220317, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

My goodness. Over the past week there's been an obvious increase in energy in our little guy. The words are coming fast and furious, he's so energetic that he really doesn't want to stay in his seat more than 10 minutes at meal time and he's wanting to nap less an less.

After dinner with Jackie on Wednesday and all the bouncing around Davey was doing at Harmony Restaurant, I think we may be done with restaurants for a little while. I remember going through a stretch like this a while back and it seems we're back there again. It's okay, it's a phase, right?

He's always loved to throw things (rocks in to water, especially) and lately we've noticed his aim is getting really good, as well as the distance. Tonight he was throwing a ball to Mark really, really well. Equally well, in fact, with both arms. I'm ambidextrous and, it turns out, Mark has tendencies towards being ambidextrous, too. He throws Frisbee left and snow-boards goofy. I throw left and bat right. So it seems that Davey could have a strong chance at similar tendencies.

Davey's love of music is getting more pronounced lately, as well. As always, he loves to dance an is happy to have music playing. This afternoon, when Curious George came on, Davey immediately started dancing. Then, inexplicably, he ran to his room. I heard some rattling around and then he ran back in to the living room with his wooden drum. He set it down on the living room rug, sat down and started playing it like a bongo. With rhythm. Good boy! When the show was over, he drummed more and when the next (terrible) show came on, he drummed to its theme song. Then he wandered off, showing that he has good taste in knowing Raggs is awful.

Mystery solved

The mystery dots were still on Davey when he awoke this morning, yet he still was not bothered by them. I checked in the Health conference on The Well and got advice on things to look for. Nothing seemed to mesh up with anything too nasty, like chicken pox, measels, etc. I called Davey's pediatrician and got us in there for a 10:20 appointment with the nurse practitioner.

It's a viral rash, likely the first signs of some kind of virus (i.e. cold) coming on. Nothing to be done about it and it doesn't bother Davey. It'll go away on its own. He may or may not come down with other symptoms of a viral infection.

All clear.

What are these spots?

What are these spots?, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

When I took off his shirt at bed time tonight, I found these spots on Davey's front and back torso. He doesn't seem to be ill and he's not scratching at the bumps. But what are they?!

10,000 visits?

Sep 14, 2008, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Good lord, but we're going to hit 10,000 visits to this blog today. I wonder how many are from individual people and how many are just repeat visits from friends and family.

Happy September folks. I hope you're not watching your investments go down the stock tubes today.

Here, take a break and share some mangosteen with Davey (what he's eating in the photo here).

Davey in orange

Davey in orange, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

And self-folded carefully in to the back of his toy truck. I love his mischievous grin.

Just released: Jefferson Starship's Jefferson's Tree of Liberty

Today the new Jefferson Starship album, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty was released -- hurray! According to the last time I looked, it's sales rank is #183 in Music on Amazon today.

I've been listening to this CD for the past couple months (thanks Dad!) and I have to say: I love it! Perhaps I'm biased, but it really is terrific.

It's folk music, played gorgeously, with everyone singing with strong, soaring and goose-bump raising voices.

The lyrics of these protest songs still ring true to this day, perhaps even more now than ever. I'm wondering if some of these songs, such as the Imagine/Redemption Song mash-up won't get picked up during the presidential campaigns and/or anti-war protests. I hope they do; they're fitting.