Dog Fest 2013

Every year McKinley Elementary -- our neighborhood elementary school and one we hope Coco might attend someday - holds its fundraiser in Duboce Park.  The event - Dog Fest - is pure genius:  hold a neighborhood festival for kids and dogs at a dog park in the middle of the Duboce Triangle.  It's packed every year.  There are dozens of booths for dog food - from gourmet to all organic - and booths for doggie accessories and of course doggie adoption booths.  And there are booths for little kid games like the ring toss and others I didn't get close enough to figure out.  There are hot dog booths too, of course.  In the middle of it all is a dog show with dogs in myriad costumes (that goes on and on and on . . . ).

For Coco, however, the piece de resistance (say that with a French accent), was the bouncy house obstacle course.  Coco, we are learning, is quite fearless and quite physical.  She may end up being quite sporty.  She has recently become quite good at climbing.  For example, she now climbs a ladder - rather than taking the stairs - to slide down the big slide at the play ground.  Well, she loved her some Dog Fest bouncy house obstacle course.  She went through half a dozen times and probably would have kept going all day if we hadn't had to stop because we used up all our tickets.

Check out this video.   

Easter Weekend 2013

We had a really wonderful Easter weekend in the country this year.  Cornelia – at nearly two years old – was old enough to really enjoy the holiday, and we had our friend Josh and his sons Adam and Noah with us for the entire weekend.

Ken and Coco were already in the country when I arrived on Friday night after a week of traveling for work.  I rode up with Josh and the boys.  As I stepped out of the car Coco came dashing across the yard, “Daddy! Daddy” she yelled happily.  Ah, what’s better than that?  But the joy of our reunion was short-lived because from behind me bounding out of the car came Adam and Noah’s golden lab Chewper (a name that’s a combination if his given name Trooper and an unfortunate habit . . . ).  Coco’s shrieked with delight and she was lost to me for the evening.  She followed that dog around for the rest of the night, calling “Chuupa! Chuupa!” again and again, which was quite exhausting for her since the dog was thrilled to be in the country and constantly on the move exploring a world of new and interesting smells.

The boys had a great time as well -- doing what boys do.  On Friday night after dark they were in the backyard with headlamps hunting tree frogs.  Saturday, after a blueberry pancake brunch, they took a trip to the secret pond where Chewper enjoyed swimming after sticks and the boys explored the woods and took to climbing trees.  Two boys, a dog, a muddy pond and the woods?  Does it get any better than that?  In the afternoon we colored our Easter eggs around the dining room table.  (I think it’s been, what, nearly 40 years since I last colored Easter eggs?)  Saturday night was a barbeque at Rielly’s place with the usual Anderson Valley suspects. 

Sunday morning Coco and the boys had their Easter baskets from the Easter Bunny and Coco had another one from Grandma and Grandpa.  Then we went down to Boonville for the Easter egg hunt at the county fairgrounds.  Coco found four eggs.   Then it was back up to the house so the boys go hiking for a bit before everyone headed back to the city.

"Coco do it!" (a regular refrain these days)



Waiting, waiting, waiting . . .



Well, it ain't an Easter Egg.

A rice krispy treat covered in white chocolate.  "Tank yu!" to uncle Mike

Noah, Josh and Adam

 

Basket No. 1

Consider this basket ransacked.

Coco and the boys

February 2013 Report (with videos!)

Coco is still growing fast (I guess I’ll be saying that for about, um, the next 18 years or so . . ..) and her second birthday is just around the corner. 

Her favorite games change as she gets a bit older and a bit bigger, and she definitely likes physical play.  She loves spending time at the park and she goes just about every day.  Just ask her if she wants to go to the park and she’ll say “yes” and go get her coat.  At the playground she charges around between the swings and the slides mostly.  She’s always been pretty fearless at the playground.  Last week Ken took her to the playground at Delores Park which has a really big slide – or at least a slide that should seem really, really big to a two-year-old.  She was undaunted and raced up the stairs and down that slide again and again and again and apparently again many times.  (Check out the video below.)  Our challenge at the park these days is limiting her time on the swing so that other kids can have a turn and reminding her that the slide is not just for her and that she has to take her turn.  “Coco’s turn!” is a phrase she knows well. 

Indoors she likes playing “choo-choo” around the breakfast room table with Mari.  She follows Mari around the table and Mari says, “choochoochoochoo whoo! whoo!”  She likes dancing to her Barbie “Swan Lake” video.  She doesn’t like dancing alone; she’ll point to a spot on the floor and say “dance” pretty emphatically.  She likes Dora the Explorer (of course) and seems to follow along when she watches an episode.  She also discovered the art of getting dizzy, spinning around in her room until she gets dizzy enough to fall down.  She thinks it’s pretty funny.  She likes “chase with daddy” almost every night before dinner.  Daddy sits on the floor in the middle of her room, she hands Daddy the stuffed friend of choice for the day, and then she runs in circles around Daddy while Daddy makes her stuffed friend chase her.  Sometimes we we go through two or three friends before we’re done. 

She is becoming very helpful around the house.  (I hope that lasts awhile!)  She will help set the table for dinner, carrying her little plate, the napkins and the silverware to the dining room table.

Her words are getting really quite good.  She can recite words back almost immediately and pretty clearly.  We think she grasps the concept of “two” at this point, or at least is very close to getting it.  A few weeks ago we made our first visit to a pre-school.   We visited a Spanish immersion school in Noe Valley.  We hope they liked us and we might get a spot if one comes open.  Although we’re not sure yet, we might like to have Coco in pre-school for two days a week starting this summer.

(In the video with the bubbles at the park, listen for the other dad's comment to his little boy about "doubling up."  Pretty funny.)

This is not what it looks like. 
It is NOT a toddler in a Cougar oufit watching the Super Bowl
sucking on a lime after taking a tequila shot.
It's only four out of those five things. 

Sunday morning pancakes in the shape of a bunny.

We call it "The Brown Thing" now.  She doesn't want to give it up.  We hide it.

Bubbles at Duboce Park.

Coco and Daddy.

Sleeping Beauty. 
(Puhleez.  Like you thought I wasn't going to use that
as the caption for this picture?)

January 2013 in Review

Cornelia is really showing us everything she's learning these days.  She's saying more and more words all the time.  Too many to count.  She is very good with "please" ("peez") and "thank you" ("taankuu").  Her latest expression is "meechu!" which is her way of saying "Nice to meet you!"  She says it a lot; she says it to people on the street, to her dollies and sometimes even to her daddies.  She's learning the ABC song too, although at this point it's mostly "beee . . . ceee. . ." followed by other sounds.  She knows it's a song and she's trying to get the hang of it.  Ken has been working with her on her colors and she's getting good at them as well.

She really likes Play-Doh right now and Mari keeps her well-supplied.  If we need her to play on her own for a while we just set her up with her Play-Doh and she's quite content for a good long time.  She is starting to play pretend games too.  The usual game right now is the Sleeping Game.  She'll rest her head on her hand or she'll lay down in the middle of the floor, close her eyes and pretend to snore.  Usually she puts her dollies to bed and then lays down next to them and starts snoring.  The other night I brought her down to the kitchen to get some milk before bedtime and she laid down in the middle of the kitchen floor and pretended to sleep.  It's pretty dang funny.  At dinner she likes to hold hands with her daddies and sing her Happy Song, swaying from side to side.  It only has one word - "Happy" - repeated over and over again.  That's usually followed by the Up and Down Game, which is holding hands with her daddies around the dinner table raising our hands up ("up!") and down ("dn!") at her direction.

She has started to watch a bit of TV although she doesn't watch much.  When she knows bedtime is approaching she'll say "Tee!" and run for the TV room.  Mostly she watches the Goodnight Show with Nina and Star on the Sprout channel before she goes to bed.

Ken says this looks like a painting from
the Dutch Golden Age.  I knew I should have taken that
art history survey course in college.

Shopping with her grocery cart and groceries from
Uncle Scott and Aunt Tami.  
"Have you seen the price of peanut butter these days?!"

Out for a ride on her new trike!

We were all packed for the weekend . . .
until I turned my back.

Watching the sun set at the beach.

Helping Daddy with yardwork.

Big cup for a big girl.

Sporting her new handknit sweater from Auntie Karen!

Daddy and Papa

Classic Moment: "Into the Cake"

On Saturday Ken baked a cake for a Sunday night dinner with friends.  The two cake layers were set to cool on the breakfast room table.  Ken was in the kitchen.  Coco was playing quietly in the breakfast room . . . too quietly . . . . oh, so quietly . . . .





Christmas 2012 - Parts 1 & 2

Coco revelled in two Christmas holidays this year.  Part 1 with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Roy in San Francisco and Part 2 with Grandma Connie and Granddad Roy in Savannah.  Both parts included special time with family, some holiday traditions, presents for Coco and some much needed rest for Ken and Mike.

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Roy spent a week with us in early December (December 6 - 12).  The weather was generally good so most days included the usual trips to the Duboce Park playground and walks to Safeway.  The days ended with late dinners as Mike and Ken were both working long days. 

One of the highlights - the second annual trip to see Santa - was reported in a previous post.  Another highlight was The Opening of the Presents from Grandma and Grandpa.  There were presents for Mike and Ken (which were very much appreciated) but let's face it: the main attraction was Coco opening her gifts.  Coco wore her special red-with-white-polka-dots Santa PJs from Grandma, brought specially for the occasion.  Gifts included a pink broom and matching dust pan (Coco is obsessed with sweeping), a trike (with working blinkers, a horn and a radio), sparkly shoes (that flash neon blue, pink and white lights from the toes when she walks) and of course some cute outfits and story books. 

Coco also inherited the Walsh family toy box, a simple wood box first brought home by Edward Walsh (Cornelia's great grandfather) circa 1950 from his job at a munitions factory, for his young daughters including Mary Margaret (Cornelia's grandmother).  The box was passed along to Mike and Scott circa 1970.  It has been tucked away for nearly four decades waiting for the next generation of toys, and finally it has passed to Cornelia.

On Christmas Eve we flew to Savannah to spend the week with Grandma Connie and Granddad Roy.  Christmas Day was a leisurely one, with gifts at a civilized pace in the morning (Coco once again in her red-with-white-polka-dot Santa PJs) and a turkey dinner.  The week was full of remarkable dinners actually - ham on Christmas Eve, turkey on Christmas, fondue the day after Christmas (a Wingard family tradition), and BBQ ribs the day after the day after Christmas.  Fortunately, I managed to run every day!

The Kennesaw Wingards - Kevin, Angela, Kourtnee (12) and Kamryn (10) - arrived the day after Christmas.  One of our family outings was a trip to downtown Savannah which is a great little shopping district - and apparently much chnaged since Ken lived in Savannah which was, um, quite some time ago.   Everyone departed on Saturday; the Kennesaw Wingards left for Disney World and the Gotham Wingards left for home and a week in the country.

Christmas 2012 Part 1 - in pictures

"Manners? What manners?" 
(Daddies were horrified by this picture!)

Priceless!

In case anyone was not clear that she was crying in her picture with Santa . . . .

Horn? Check.  Radio? Check.  Turn signals? Check.
Spedometer at 67 mph? Check.